I have an online friend from the other side of the globe. We met in chess.com. But I’d like to try a different game this time. We are not console gamers, but have smartphones. Are there any online games we can try for free that can be played real-time? Looking for something light and can be played in the phone browser.
I second the recommendation of Go. I’m very much a beginner, but the subtlety and variety of every game kind of ruined chess for me.
Some more recommendations of learning or beginner resources:
Go Magic has a lot of really in depth video and interactive tutorials. There’s a paid plan, but the beginner and early intermediate courses are free and way more thorough than anything else online right now.
The Conquest of Go is a great little game on steam that has its own tutorials and a campaign mode with scaling difficulty. It’s my favorite way to play against bots, but you can also connect your OGS account and play online through there.