In the movie Pi , there are several scenes where the movie's protagonist takes a break from his work to visit his teacher and mentor. During these visits, they play an ancient asian game called Go . Basically, the Go board has a grid and some black and white stones. The rules of Go are incredibly simple, yet mastering the game is a lifelong, and sometimes life-consuming, effort. Indeed, the game is much more than just a game to its devoted players.
Some people kill themselves when they lose.
Some do it for a living. Some people even believe that it could save our public education system. Pi was originally supposed to pit student and mentor against each other in a game of chess, but they changed it to Go, and the movie benefits greatly. I recently purchased a veritable plethora of computer hardware in an attempt to build my dream machine. Ars Technica was an invaluable resource for my efforts, especially their system recommendations and how-to guides .