I have to state upfront that Mahjongg is not strictly speaking a card game since it is normally played with domino-like tiles as I have already explained in a previous blog. Still its similarity with the Rummy family of card games as well as it’s addictive gameplay make it more than just worth a mention or two in this blog.
Some months back, in late 2011, I finally got around to purchasing a good set as published by Gibson's. It’s a solid set that comes in a well-finished case with all you will ever need to play either traditional Mahjongg or most of the other versions out there with the exception of the American variant (this set does not come with any Joker tiles). The only aspect of the set which I did not like (but which I worked around by changing the items in question) was the size of the dice that came with it. 3 tiny dice that somehow did not feel right with the rest of the equipment put together.
That said, ever since I bought the set I played many sessions with family and friends and I loved every moment I spent playing. The problem with Mahjongg is that ideally you play in 4 but I have found out that it is possible to play in 3 (should putting 4 players together prove problematic) and still enjoy the game. When you do play 3-handed, one full circuit of hands is logically shorter but this is offset against each individual hand taking a bit longer to complete.
As with any game that is imported, so to speak, from another culture, teaching new players Mahjongg can be somewhat daunting. Regardless I was very pleased with my teaching skills when I managed to not only impart the fundamentals to my 80-something-year-old grandfather but to also see him win his first ever hand of Mahjongg on the third hand played.
The real challenge lies in the imagery adopted on the tiles which is indeed alien for westerners unless someone sits down to actually explain the various pieces. If you are planning to teach someone how to play Mahjongg I have the following recommendations to offer which might help you with the task.
1. Forget about special hands and Chinese/Asian names, at least for starters keep it simple.
Mahjongg really comes into its own when a player starts using special hands to score extra points. However if you are still teaching a beginner how to put a valid winning hand together it pays to keep special hands out of the equation since in most cases these hands do not strictly speaking adhere to the standard structure of a winning hand. Also rather then call a run of three tiles a “Chow” call it a Run and rather than call a set of three identical tiles a “Pung” just call it a Set. Likewise call a “Kong” a Set of 4 and be done with it. Basically use terminology the beginner is familiar with, leave the exotic names for later.
2. Some scoring rules need to be kept if anything to maintain the spirit of the game.
I more or less adopt the British Mahjongg Society rule set when I play the game. Following this rule set for instance you are entitled to have either one Chow or run or else all Chow (special hand). Since you would be teaching the game to a beginner just tell him or her that for now he will only be entitled to have one Run in hand and leave it at that.
The following rules should be imparted immediately as they will offer valid building blocks for intermediate or advanced play.
- The first rule that should be emphasized is that a hidden Pung or Kong(formed by drawing a tile from the wall) is normally worth twice as an exposed Pung or Kong formed by picking a discard.
- Tiles are picked from the wall in a clockwise direction but gameplay is anti-clockwise
- If a player claims a discard out of turn (which is allowed under specific circumstances) play will proceed from the player to that player’s right and not from the one who was due to play next.
- Runs (Chows) can only be formed from discards made by the player to your immediate left since direction of player is anti-clockwise.
- Chows are worth no points, they just help you go Mahjongg.
- Flower and Season tiles are never used in play, when a player picks one up he just sets it aside and takes another tile from the Dead Wall proceeding normally after that. Any Flowers or Season tiles score the player holding them 4 points (British Mahjongg rules) each in the case of victory.
- You Cannot have a Run (or Chow) of either Dragon tiles (e.g. Red, White, Green) or Wind Tiles (e.g. North, South, West), you can can only have Sets of 3 (Pung) or 4 (Kong).
- For the precise situation of teaching a beginner how to play, only a player going Mahjongg wins any points.
With the above rules in hand a beginner can get down to actually playing some Mahjongg while familiarizing himself with the tiles and what they mean. Obviously it would also help if the tile set were to have Arabic style ciphers as well as Chinese to help in the identification of the various tiles. This is all the more important for the suit called Characters which relies on Chinese characters for the numbers in question to differentiate one tile from another. In time as a player becomes increasingly accustomed to handling the tiles, he or she will learn what each Chinese character stands for. To be fair you only have to learn Chinese numbers from 1 to 9 since these are the only numbers you will have to handle when playing with a Mahjongg tile set.
So far I have made some assumptions for this blog, namely that I am addressing persons who know the game but who would like to teach it to a beginner. However if you would like some fairly good guidelines to playing various variants of the game click here! May I point out before you venture reading the material at the recommended link, that a full Mahjongg set inclusive of Season and Flower tiles is composed of 144 tiles. If you use such a set in its entirety then each wall built will have to be composed of exactly 2 rows (one on top of the other) of 18 tiles each. If on the other hand you opt the leave the Flowers and Seasons out, then you would be using 136 tiles which would make each of the 4 walls of exactly 2 rows of 17 tiles each.
If you are as yet not familiar with the diversity and global appeal of this game you will be surprised to note that there are countless variations out there spanning countries and entire continents. My suggestion is stick to the one you find more congenial and learn that one well before venturing to learn other variations.
The feeling I get when searching for Mahjongg related materials is that currently the Japanese variation has gained significant momentum, though as with all fads surrounding a game or sport, this might change in the future.
That’s all for today, some time over the coming months I might try putting a blog together regarding the full British Mahjongg rule set as well as my experiences playing this variation.
Until next time!
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