"chaz_heritage.WGC1RX"@XEROX.COM (04/04/89)
A trivium from this month's 'ST World': "The word 'Atari' is shouted in the ancient oriental game called 'Go' to indicate victory." Just think of all the other possibilities that they must have rejected before picking this one. Regards, Chaz
schewani@cod.NOSC.MIL (Brian K. Schewanick) (04/04/89)
And I thought 'Atari' stood for "I got you!". Refering to an addiction as in video games.
rjung@sal22.usc.edu (Robert allen Jung) (04/04/89)
In article <890404-063300-6253@Xerox> "chaz_heritage.WGC1RX"@XEROX.COM writes: >A trivium from this month's 'ST World': > >"The word 'Atari' is shouted in the ancient oriental game called 'Go' to >indicate victory." That's an old story, and not even complete. The whole story goes like this: Nolan Bushnell, founder of the _original_ Atari (you know, before Warner and Jack and the Sears Tele-games system), needed a name for his new company. He wanted something exotic and unique, and tossed out lots of ideas even wilder than Atari. He eventually fell on the word "Atari" because of the Japanese game of Go. In Go, the player says "Atari" when he is in a position to almost completely conquer his opponent; The Western analogy is "check" in chess. It gets stranger. If you will recall, Nolan Bushnell started up a new arcade game company about 5 years ago, called Sente (now part of Bally games, guess it didn't do so hot B-). What does "Sente" mean? "Checkmate". >Just think of all the other possibilities that they must have rejected >before picking this one. Ya gotta admit, that Fuji logo looks neat. (The most popular rumor is that the logo is a stylized "A", with some symbolism for the game of Pong) --R.J. B-) ============================================================================= Disclaimer: This message was written with my authorization # ## # # ## # Mailing address: rjung@nunki.usc.edu ## ## ## (It's easier to just use the reply function, tho) #### ## ####
t68@np1.hep.nl (Jos Vermaseren) (04/05/89)
The meaning of Atari in go is like check in chess: you threaten to conquer one or more stones and you warn your opponent that you are doing this. This may or may not be vital (unlike in chess). The meaning of the word sente is different from what the previous poster said. Sente means the right to move first. If somebody comes out of a local fight in sente he is the one who is at liberty to choose the next confrontation. This can be a big advantage. It can determine whether you are on the offense or on the defense (gote). So atari tried to put some companies in `atari' (did capture one company but that wasn't a good move after all). Jos Vermaseren .
rob@kaa.eng.ohio-state.edu (Rob Carriere) (04/06/89)
In article <3382@nunki.usc.edu> rjung@sal22.usc.edu (Robert allen Jung) writes: >In Go, the player says "Atari" when he is in a position to almost completely >conquer his opponent; The Western analogy is "check" in chess. Not quite. Atari is used to indicate that a (group of) stone(s) can be taken on the next move if the oponent doesn't do something. The appropriate analogy in chess is ``threatened''. This is much weaker than check, which indicates that the king is threatened, which will end the game if no action is taken. A (by no means the only) analogy to check in Go would be an atari worth, say, 40 points. >What does "Sente" mean? "Checkmate". Wrong. Sente (as opposed to gote) is a move that leaves you with the intiative (ie your oponent has to react to it, and can't just wander off on a tangent like with a gote move). >>Just think of all the other possibilities that they must have rejected >>before picking this one. Like Aji Keshi? SR
EHARNDEN@AUVM.BITNET (Eric Harnden) (04/09/89)
atari is go's equivalent of 'check' in chess. 'checkmate' is 'sente', which was under consideration for a while as the name of the company that nolan bushnell would use when he re-entered the pc market... which he didn't. Eric Harnden (Ronin) <EHARNDEN@AUVM> The American University Physics Dept. (202) 885-2758
achowe@tiger.waterloo.edu (CrackerJack) (04/10/89)
>atari is go's equivalent of 'check' in chess. 'checkmate' is 'sente', which [...] >Eric Harnden (Ronin) 'Sente' is not 'Checkmate' but means 'initiative' and is used in GO to denote who seems to be leading play. ie. the better player normally plays white and is often be said that he has 'sente' or that he is forcing black to respond to threats. It is possible for 'sente' to switch back and further between players. But it does NOT mean checkmate. - Ant achowe@tiger.waterloo.edu | "Murdered by pirates is good." __ _ | - The Princess Bride (movie) / _ _ _ |/ _ _ | _ _ |/ | \__| `<_\<_ |\|= | ` \_/<_\<_ |\ | disclaimer...