What is PromoteGo.org?

PromoteGo.org is a new site under development, dedicated to promoting the game of Go in the United States and abroad. Currently it's the work of one person, but I need a lot of help in realizing the vision of PromoteGo.org! If you're interested in helping in any way, email me (click here), or you can join our Google Group for discussing the application.

Get Go games out into the public eye

First and foremost, it will be a place for people to arrange to play a game of Go in person in local public places, such as Parks, Libraries, Coffee Houses, and Pubs. By getting more games in public, we can raise awareness.

On the day that people stop asking us if the game we're playing is Othello, we can declare success in this goal.

Create a viral method of promoting Go

Second, it can function as a viral method of promoting the game of Go: We can provide fliers to promote the site, and have a point system for referrals so we can recognize the most active members, and maybe give away T-shirts and stuff as incentives. When people see the in-person games, sign up because of a flier, and schedule a teaching session through the site, the site will grow.

In order to meet this goal, we will need to offer teaching sessions and teaching games through the site, rather than just one-on-one games.

Provide a better club list

Third, it can provide a club list to the community. The current site at usgo.org doesn't offer a radial search for people to find the nearest club, but only lists all clubs on a state-by-state basis. We can make it easier for people to find the closest club.

We already have this in place! I'll be trying to convince the AGA to link to the promotego.org list and use it as the authoritave U.S. list. Wish me luck!

Assist in creating new clubs

Fourth, it can provide a catalyst for creating new clubs. New club proposals will be included in club search results. When no club or proposed club is found in a local club search, a user will be able to propose a new club in their area. Clubs could start out as ad-hoc meetings at one of the public location types, and organize from there.

Open Source Software

PromoteGo.org is Open Source Software. This means anyone can download our source code and contribute to it, or even customize it to their own needs. PromoteGo.org is released under the MIT License You can download the source from our github repository.