NHN announced on August 22 that the company is hosting the 2026 Hangame Baduk Festival (HBF) for users of its webboard game Hangame Baduk & Omok. Sponsored by Hangame Baduk & Omok and hosted and organised by All That Mind, this customer appreciation event aims to bring the joy of Baduk to players through a 19x19 board tournament and professional player simultaneous exhibition matches. Notably, the online preliminaries for the 19x19 board tournament kick off on October 27, while the main tournament and the professional simultaneous exhibition event are scheduled to take place offline on November 28 at S-Factory Building D in Seongsu-dong, Seoul.

The online preliminaries for the 19x19 tournament will run for two weeks from October 27 through November 9 via the PC and mobile versions of Hangame Baduk & Omok. Adult users aged 19 and older are eligible to participate, and applications can be submitted directly through the in-game HBF page. Participants will accumulate HBF points by playing 19x19 promotion and relegation matches. Divided into three divisions based on skill level—Master, Intermediate, and Beginner—the top 32 players from each division, making a total of 96 contenders, will advance to the main tournament.

The main tournament for the 19x19 competition is set to unfold at the offline event on November 28. The Master division will feature an even-game singles format, while the Intermediate and Beginner divisions will adopt a handicap team-match format. The total prize pool sits at 21 million KRW, with the Master division champion taking home 1.5 million KRW, and the winning teams of the Intermediate and Beginner divisions receiving 2 million KRW each. Final notifications for those who make the cut for the main tournament and simultaneous exhibition event will be dispatched on November 23.

The professional simultaneous exhibition event will also run offline on November 28 alongside the main tournament. This experiential programme allows Baduk fans to test their mettle in direct matches against professional players. Professional players Go Yoon-seo and Yoon Ra-eun are slated to participate in this simultaneous exhibition to face off against users. Applications for the event will be open from October 27 to November 9 via the 'Simultaneous Exhibition Event' tab on the in-game HBF page, with 16 lucky participants to be selected via a raffle.

Oh Sang-min, head of the Classic Webboard Business Group at NHN, noted that HBF was prepared as a gift to express gratitude to the users who have cherished Hangame Baduk for a long time. The group leader added that the company will turn this into a festival where everyone who loves Baduk, including those who have been together since 1999, can fully enjoy themselves both online and offline. Detailed information regarding participation methods and schedules for HBF can be checked on the HBF page within Hangame Baduk & Omok starting on October 27.