Quantum Go

TL;DR

Quantum Go is a novel board game that simulates quantum phenomena like superposition, entanglement, and collapse through a modified version of traditional Go, offering an educational and conceptual tool for understanding quantum mechanics.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new game, Quantum Go, that models quantum concepts through entangled stones and collapse mechanics, bridging gameplay with quantum physics education.

Findings

Demonstrates quantum-like behavior in a tangible game setting

Provides an educational tool for quantum mechanics concepts

Shows how entanglement and collapse can be represented in gameplay

Abstract

We introduce a new board game based on the ancient Chinese game of Go (Weiqi, Igo, Baduk). The key difference from the original game is that players no longer alternatively play single stones on the board but instead they take turns placing pairs of entangled go stones. A phenomenon of quantum-like collapse occurs when one of the stones in an entangled pair is directly in contact with at least one other stone. The player to whom the entangled pair belongs must then remove one of the stones in the pair from the board. The aim of the game is still to surround more territory than the opponent and as the number of stones increases, all the entangled pairs of stones eventually reduce to single stones. Quantum Go provides an interesting and tangible illustration of quantum concepts such as superposition, entanglement and collapse.