About Northwest Go Server (and the old server)

This new Northwest Go Server is the successor to the old NWGO Server that was based on the open source Dragon Go Server that ran for years at braindog.org — a quiet place for friends to play Go at their own pace, a move at a time.

The old server had serious security vulnerabilities that were systemic and were exploited on July 1st 2026. A full security audit revealed that it would be more work to update the code and fix the issues than it would be to rebuild it from scratch. Rather than let the community and its years of game history disappear, the site was rebuilt from the ground up on modern, low-maintenance infrastructure — it's faster, works well on phones, and is built to keep running with very little upkeep.

What came across

Your history came with you. Accounts, games (finished and in-progress), ratings and ranks, private messages, profiles, and open waiting-room challenges were all migrated from the old server. See What carried over from the old server for the details.

What returning players need to know

• Your old account is waiting for you — you just need to claim it and set a new password. See Claiming your old account.
• The game itself is unchanged — correspondence Go, plus real-time games when both players are online. See Correspondence and real-time games.
• This software is brand new, so there may be rough edges. If something looks wrong, please tell us — see Reporting a bug or suggestion.