In 2021 we had a huge Spring Cleaning, as we had to clear out one of our warehouses in Japan. Instead of throwing away unsold inventory, we decided to find free homes for some of our Go Boards in a huge Easter Giveaway. You can read our blog post about it here. In 2022 we decided to continue the tradition, and you can read the update here.
All told, we've given away $6500 worth of equipment!
Boats and planes carried these boards around the world to their recipients, making the Go world just a bit richer. We didn't mind taking a loss on the gear itself, but we're seeking help from the community with the enormous shipping costs (we also ask players receiving the largest boards to contribute a portion of the airmail fees, if possible).
We hope to continue the tradition, so long as it doesn't cost us much more to save the boards than to dispose of them. If you'd like to be a part of buying a stranger a free Goban, simply add this item to your cart and complete Checkout.
Edit: We received almost $700 in donations in our first year. At this rate we'll break even sometime in 2023, so we will continue the tradition of a Spring Giveaway every year - please sign up to our newsletter for updates.
You can use the Drop-Down Menu to select the amount you'd like to donate. We'll credit your purchase towards the shipping cost already paid for players that purchased the Free Goban item (currently out of stock, sorry). This is nearly covered, so after that we will credit your purchase towards future boards.
Updates will be made each time we get closer to our goal. Here's the nuts and bolts:
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The Gear:
2021 Free Gobans awarded: 18 = $5000 in gear
2022 Free Gobans awarded: 5 = $1500 in gear (so far)
Total Free Gear = $6500
Shipping Costs:
5 Table Boards: $254
11 Small Gobans: $862
7 Large Gobans: $1968
Total Shipping Costs = $3084
Donations:
1st Year Pay-It-Forward donations: $680
1st Year recipients (5) paid $750 of their own Shipping fees
2nd Year Pay-It-Forward donations: $1275
2nd Year recipients (2) paid $380 of their own Shipping fees
Total Donations Received: $3085
Remaining to goal = $-1
Thank you to James, Evan, Paul, Tom, Nicholas, Timothy, Joseph, Eric, Solomon, Max, David, Douglas, Thomas, Jason, Anonymous, and Jacob for your support!
This info last updated: December, 2022
