Go Equipment Buying Guide

On this page you'll find recommendations for good baduk equipment to buy. Further down I go into the differences between the types of go stones and gobans that you may notice when deciding upon which goban or go stones to buy.

Cheap Go/Baduk/Weiqi Boards/Stones/Sets

The cheapest baduk sets are metallic and plastic sets. These are good for traveling as they are usually foldable, and don't weigh all that much. Here are some good products I found on amazon:

A magnetic traveling go set: Traveling Portable Go Game Set.
An interesting set that includes a bag for the go board: Go Portable Roll Up Set.
Here's an inexpensive foldable wooden go board with stones: Beechwood Veneer Folding Go Game Set.

Mid-End Go/Baduk/Weiqi Boards/Stones/Sets

It's nice to have your own go board. You can use it to study games, josekis and play against friends, and it's much better than using the computer. Here are some good go equipment to consider:

A nice 2 sided 19x19 and 13x13 go board with a beginners go book(stones not included): Bamboo Go Set(Reversible Board 19x19 / 13x13).
Here is the same baduk board with some really nice go stones, nice looking go bowls and the same go book: 3/4'' Bamboo Go Game Board Single Convex Stones Set. The same set with double convex stones: 3/4'' Bamboo Go Game Board Double Convex Stones Set. You can find different variants of this go set depending on the stones that comes with it. There's more info on go stones differences on the bottom of this page.
If you want a goban with a little better quality, I recommend getting a "shin kaya" board. Shin kaya gobans resembles the traditional wooden kaya boards in both feel and look. The problem with kaya boards is that the kaya trees grow slowly, so they have become really rare and expensive. Shin kaya is therefore a good and much cheaper alternative. Take a look at this inexpensive shin kaya board: 1-1/8'' Solid Shin-Kaya Spruce Go Game Table Board.
Here is a thicker shin kaya goban with go stones, go bowls and a carrying case included: 2'' Shin-Kaya Spruce Go Game Table Board.
You can also find go boards with legs. This is useful if your table is low or you want to play on the floor. Here is a good shin kaya board with legs(stones, bowls, travelling case and book included): 1-1/2'' Shin-Kaya Tibet Spruce Go Game Floor Board.

The quality of all these go boards is perfectly fine. If you are a beginner, there is no need to pay for super high end kaya boards that can cost thousand of dollars.

If you decide to buy go stones separately, I recommend these high quality professional go stones: Yunzi Stones 9.2mm Bamboo Bowls for Go Board Game Sets.

High-End Go/Baduk/Weiqi Boards/Stones/Sets

If you are willing to pay a little extra for your baduk set, take a look at the following links:

This is a nice shin kaya set with legs: 2-3/8'' Shin-Kaya Go Game Yunzi Stones Set.
Wouldn't it be cool to have a really big floor go board? Here is a nice big bamboo board that isn't that expensive: 5.9'' Bamboo Go Game Floor Goban Board.
This floor go board looks awesome: Agathis Wood Go Game Table Set (L).
If your mind is set on having the best quality go board, then traditional kaya is your answer: Premium Grade Japanese Hyuga Kaya 2-3/8'' Go Board.
As for go stones, I still recommend the yunzi stone set: Yunzi Stones 9.2mm Bamboo Bowls for Go Board Game Sets.

Goban Information

When buying baduk equipment it's helpful to know what the alternatives are and what makes the goban and go stones different from one another. The prices of go boards are widely different depending on the material that is used, where the two major factors are rarity and quality.

There are two types of gobans, floor boards and table boards. Floor boards have legs and are usually much thicker than regular table boards, which also effects the price.

Weiqi boards are usually made out of one of these materials:

Kaya - A slow growing tree that has become a rarity, and high quality kaya has now become extremely expensive.
Shin Kaya (New Kaya) - Shin kaya boards feel and look like real kaya, but is much cheaper.
Bamboo plywood - A relatively recent invention consisting of bamboo strips. Bamboo boards are very durable.
Katsura, Hiba and Kaun - These are some other common materials used for making go boards.

Go Stones Information

Roughly speaking, there are four common types of go stones:

Magnets - Used with magnetic weiqi boards designed for travelling, and also for large boards(used by go teachers)
Glass stones - Usually shipped with inexpensive to intermediate go sets. Fairly cheap but of pretty good quality.
Yunzi stones - Great professional level go stones with Chinese origin.
Slate and clamshell - The most expensive stones. There's really no reason to buy these unless you're a collector though.

There are 2 other factors that characterizes go stones, the size of the stones, and whether they are single or double convex.

Go stone size: The size of go stones commonly varies from 21 to 23 mm in diameter. For single convex stones 5-7 mm in thickness is normal, while for double convex stones 7-10 mm is the most common.

Double vs single convex: The difference between double and single convex go stones is that double convex stones have a curve on both sides of the stone, while single convex is flat on one side. I personally prefer double convex, and so does the Japanese. In China however, single convex is traditionally used.