This took me down the rabbit-hole of the author's website, mindsports.nl, which has a number of interesting problems in puzzles and games. I was particularly piqued by the China Labyrinth and related family of puzzles:<p><a href="http://www.mindsports.nl/index.php/puzzles/tilings/china-labyrinth/" rel="nofollow">http://www.mindsports.nl/index.php/puzzles/tilings/china-lab...</a><p>It will be more difficult to sleep now that I know nobody has answered the question: "<i>Why do both known 16x16 solutions to the Octopuszle feature the same diagonal complex?</i>"
Fascinating, Hex in particular looks interesting, I never heard of it. Once I understood where the article was going, I was looking for a mention of Dots and Boxes though.. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dots_and_Boxes" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dots_and_Boxes</a>
The ko rule in Go can get a bit more complex.<p><a href="https://senseis.xmp.net/?Superko" rel="nofollow">https://senseis.xmp.net/?Superko</a><p>This gif has an example of a Superko (which would likely become illegal depending on what ruleset you use): <a href="https://towardstengen.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/superkoless-loop.gif" rel="nofollow">https://towardstengen.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/superkoles...</a><p>Different rulesets (Japanese, Chinese, Korean) define and handle Superko differently.
Go, is more organic in that structures tend to grow and die over the course of the game.<p>Chess rewards calculation moreso than Go. Games are often won in a few tactical sequences.<p>On the other hand, in Go structure and shape is more important and more long term strategizing is required as plans involve building structures in many parts of the board.<p>While there are local tactical fights that are important to read, one most also think more globally.<p>So, I'm not sure that the property that one game is more organic is really the essential differentiating factor between the two games.
I'm a passable Havannah player, and a passble Go player, and I've read Freeling's writing before, but I confess that I don't really know what organicity is.