What Is Smart Games (smart-games.com)?

Updated

Smart Games LLC is a small computer game software development and publishing company wholly owned by David Fotland, focused on turn-based strategy games with strong engines and easy-to-use interfaces. Its main focus is Go, which the site describes as by far the most difficult strategy game for computers. The site is the company's product and download hub, offering a free evaluation copy of its flagship Go program, a free 9x9 Go player and tutorial for Windows, a free Arimaa program, and a supercomputer implementation of its Go engine.

What the company makes

The catalog is narrow and specialized rather than a broad games portal:

Product What it is Platform notes
The Many Faces of Go 12.0 Flagship Go program with calibrated levels from 1 Dan to 18 kyu, combining Monte Carlo Tree Search with traditional knowledge-intensive techniques; includes joseki and fuseki tutors, commented professional games, and Go problems Windows XP through Windows 10; Mac users run it via WINE, Crossover, or Parallels
Igowin (Windows) Free 9x9 Go player and tutorial that adjusts to your strength and never repeats a game Windows XP through Windows 10
Arimaa Program for the two-player strategy game Arimaa, with an adjustable opponent Free download; rules and trial play at arimaa.com
Supercomputer Many Faces of Go Implementation for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 clusters using MPI Free download

The site also mentions a program that generates mazes for you to solve, listed among the free downloads.

How the Go program is sold

The Many Faces of Go 12.0 is a free download that runs as an evaluation copy. After evaluating it, you can buy a version 12 license to get registration keys that unlock the full version on all of your computers. The site also notes a free update to version 12.024 that fixes Windows registration code issues — relevant if you already hold a license. Pricing figures are not stated on the page, so check the purchase flow for current cost.

The engine's credentials are listed on the site: 2011 TCGA World Champion, 2010 ICGA World Champion (13x13), 2008 ING Cup Champion (19x19 and 9x9), 2002 21st Century Cup winner, and 1998 Ing Cup World Champion.

What is no longer available

Igowin Go-playing and training apps for iPod, iPhone, and iPad were sold under the Igowin name from 2010 to 2020. Apple made incompatible changes to its software and removed them from the App Store, and the site states they are no longer available. If you find references to Igowin on iOS elsewhere, treat them as outdated. The Windows 9x9 Igowin download remains offered.

Who this is for

  • Go players who want a sparring partner with graded strength — the calibrated 1 Dan to 18 kyu levels are the main draw, along with tutors and problem sets for study.
  • Players curious about Arimaa — the free program plus the rules at arimaa.com give a low-commitment way to try a less familiar strategy game.
  • Windows users — every downloadable product targets Windows; Mac support for the flagship program depends on WINE, Crossover, or Parallels rather than a native build.

If you want a native Mac or mobile Go app, this site is not the place to start. If you want a long-running Windows Go engine with a documented tournament record and a free trial before buying a license, it is.