music monday - fearless

Going way back to 1971 and Pink Floyd's Meddle, an album that isn't as well known to many as others, but as influential as they come in my book, here is Fearless. I remembered this song as I reflected on my Monday. It was a hard day. I have a steep hill to climb from here until the end of the semester for a number of reasons that I won't go into. I'll climb that hill in my own way. Every day is the right day.

[For some music and mah jong trivia, apparently the second track on Meddle, Pillow of Winds, was inspired by my favorite game. According to Pink Floyd trivia sources, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and their wives played mah jong while they were in the South of France, and Pillow of Winds is a possible hand one can collect.]

Fearless - by Pink Floyd

You say the hill's too steep to climb
Climb it.
You say you'd like to see me try
Climbing.

You pick the place and I'll choose the time
And I'll climb
That hill in my own way.
Just wait a while for the right day.
And as I rise above the tree lines and the clouds
I look down, hearing the sound of the things you've said today.

Fearlessly the idiot faced the crowd
Smiling.
Merciless the magistrate turns 'round
Frowning.

And who's the fool who wears the crown?
And go down,
in your own way
And every day is the right day
And as you rise above the fear-lines in his brow
You look down, hearing the sound of the faces in the crowd.

(Soccer (football) crowd singing)

on scoring & sacred discards

Recently I enjoyed some e-mail correspondence on the topic of mah jong with Ken S. out in the western part of the U.S. He found my mah jong notes somewhere on the "Interweb," and decided to send a few questions to the e-mail address listed on the notes. He wondered if I would answer since the notes were written fifteen years ago, and in fact I am still at the same e-mail account, and I still love to respond to good mah jong questions!

For those interested in this topic, read on. For those not interested, skip on by this one.

From Ken to Nan:

From: [redacted].com
To: nanpasq@hotmail.com
Subject: your mah jong instructions
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2010 11:56:27 -0700

I found your mah jong instructions online while searching for a set of comprehensible rules for the game. My parents used to play a lot when I was a kid, with a beautiful set of bamboo and bone (or maybe ivory?) my dad had purchased from a warehouse sale of a defunct shipping company. Your rules are the clearest I've been able to find, but I'm still a bit baffled by the scoring. Does "doubling" involve doubling an hand's points, or just the portion that caused the doubling? In your instructions, under "Doubles" it says "1 double is 2x; 2 doubles are 4x", etc--but later you use the notation "1x." What does "1x" mean???? Sorry to be so dense, but the scoring is still pretty confusing to my feeble brain. If your online instructions were to include detailed examples of step-by-step scoring for a few sample hands it would be most helpful for those of us just starting out, or trying to remember.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to post a great set of rules!
--Ken

From Nan back to Ken:

Thanks for the e-mail. I am glad you found the instructions to be helpful. I wrote the notes back in 1995 in order to have a clear set of instructions for a small group of friends as we were teaching ourselves to play this wonderful game, having found none I found to be all that clear. The notes were posted on one web page (not my own) and then went the equivalent of "viral" in the late 1990s. The page you are referencing is actually not one I maintain, so getting any changes made on the web pages is difficult. I have actually since tried to make the scoring instructions clearer...

You have asked a good question. Scoring is a three-step process. The first is determination of points. The winner first gets 20 points for winning the hand, then you examine your four sets and pair within the winning hand to see if any qualify for special points, (if so, add those to the 20 points). Second, after you have that total, you see if you qualify for doubles (and compute the doubles on the total - not just the tiles that qualified you for the doubles). Third, and finally, payment is determined on the amount in the hand after one computes the doubles.

An example of scoring might be:
20 points for winning +

4 points for having one concealed simple triple (2 dots) +

8 points for having a concealed terminals triple (9 cracks) +

8 points for having a concealed honors triples (red dragons) +

2 points for having a pair that contains lucky tiles (prevailing wind) +

2 points for going out on a self-drawn tile

______

44 points

2) Compute doubles:

one double (44 x 2 = 88) for drawing the last tile of the wall +

two doubles (88 x 2 = 176 x 2 = 352) for having three concealed sets +

one double (352 x 2 = 704) for having a lucky dragons set

*Since the limit is 500 points, 704 gets reduced to 500

3) Payment: Let's just say the winner was a non-dealer who went out on a self-drawn tile, the dealer pays 2 x 500 (1000) and the other two players each pay 500 -- for a total of 2000 points for the winner for that hand.

(I figured I would give you a good winning hand as long as I was giving you an example... but often there are not as many points or doubles.)

Pasted in below for your reference is information from the original page.

In the scoring table 1x refers to one double; 2x refers to 2 doubles. I can see how that is confusing! My intention was to explain the multiplication... The heading on that section should be "Doubles" and I have modified other versions of the notes to say 1 double (multiply by 2), 2 double (multiply by 2 and again by 2 - or by 4), etc.

Feel free to print the scoring section and chart to place with your game so that you can refer to it until it gets to be second nature. It will with practice. If you ever need help scoring a hand, or want to check your work, send me the hand and I'll reply with my scoring.

Best of luck enjoying a wonderful game. (Your set is probably bone and bamboo. Most sets are not made with ivory - thankfully!)

Sincerely,

Nan

[pasted in from Nanette's Mah Jong Notes:]
Scoring

As with the many variations of mah jong, there are many variations in scoring. It is best to agree upon "house rules" when beginning the game. Scoring is a three-step process: First, points are determined; next, the points are multiplied according to any applicable doubles; finally, payment is determined. Whether the winning player is the dealer or a non-dealer, and whether the winning tile was from the wall or a discard, affects both the scoring and payment.

Points: 20 points are given as a reward for winning the hand. Only the winner receives points. Depending upon the combinations held in the winning hand, additional points are added. For example, sequences do not add points, but triplets do. Melded triplets score fewer additional points than do concealed triplets. Simple triplets score fewer points than do terminals or honors. Pairs only score points if the pair is a dragon, prevailing wind or the player's own wind OR if it is a pair of "double wind" tiles(see scoring table). If the last tile is drawn from the wall, the player scores 2 additional points; if the hand was concealed throughout the hand but went out with a discard, the player scores 10 additional points; if the last tile was a last chance tile (the 2nd tile of a pair, the middle tile of a sequence, or the "inside" tile of a terminal sequence . . . the 3 of a 1,2,3 or the 7 of a 7,8,9, the player scores an additional 2 points. Please refer to the Scoring Table to run down the list of point options.

Doubles: After the points are decided (rounded to the nearest 10), the winner shows the ways a hand is worthy of doubles. 1 double is 2x; 2 doubles are 4x; 3 doubles are 8x, etc. the points accrued. There are eight possibilities for earning doubles: lucky sets, concealed hand, groups of sets, ways of going out, special inclusions, no points, consistency, or flowers/seasons. Please refer to the Scoring Table for further explanation.

Payments: Each player begins with 2000, and points are rounded to the nearest 10th prior to determining the doubles. The player responsible for the winner going out (discarder) must pay. If the winner goes out on a draw from the wall, all 3 losers must pay. The dealer must always pay double or be paid double.
There are four payment situations:

1. If dealer goes out on a self-drawn tile, each player pays 2x
2. If dealer goes out on a discard, discarder pays 6x
3. If non-dealer goes out on self-drawn, dealer pays 2x, others pay 1x
4. If non-dealer goes out on a discard, discarder pays 4x (whether dealer or not)

Initial Points and the "Limit": Max score is 500 points AFTER DOUBLING (the limit is the highest final score after doubling). Therefore, the maximum payment would be 2000 points for a non-dealer, and 3000 points for a dealer.To score: the winning player begins with 20 points. She then looks at each of the four sets and the pair and computes applicable points. Then the winner assesses how the last tile affects points. If "no points," and the score is 20, a double will be earned for "no points." Eg. If a "no points" hand was concealed and won on a discard (add 10) then double it for no points and then figure out payment. The winner then computes any applicable doubles, and then figures out payment. Ideally, each player should score own her hand, with other players serving as a "check" for mistakes.

Again from Ken to Nan

Nan--Happy New Year, and thanks very much for getting back to me--I wasn't sure you'd still be reachable so many years after you first wrote those rules! (My brother inherited the old bamboo-&-bone set; mine is just plastic, but it does the job.)

I think I'm getting it now, but let me verify the payment part. Continuing with your example of 500 points for the winning hand, please let me know whether I understand each of the following scenarios correctly:

If dealer goes out on a self-drawn tile, each player pays 2x (i.e., each loser pays 1000 points)

If dealer goes out on a discard, discarder pays 6x (i.e., the discarder pays 3000 points, and the other two losers don't pay anything)

If non-dealer goes out on self-drawn tile, dealer pays 2x, others pay 1x (i.e., dealer pays 1000 points, and the other two losers each pay 500 points)

If non-dealer goes out on a discard, discarder pays 4x (whether dealer or not) (i.e., the discarder pays 2000 points, and the other two losers don't pay anything)

Do I have it right?

One other paragraph that I'm not sure I understand correctly is: "A sacred discard occurs if a player discovers that a previously discarded tile (by that player) would permit the player to go out. This tile is a sacred discard and should be declared. If another player discards an identical tile, the "ready" player may not use it unless she has drawn from the wall at least once after their own discard." Does this mean that if you notice that you erroneously discarded a tile that would have allowed you to win, you must then inform the other players of your error, so that if any of them wish to discard that same tile, they can do so safely before your turn comes around again? (I.e., after announcing your error, you must wait until you've again drawn from the wall and discarded before you're eligible to claim another discard of that same tile you need in order to win?)

Do I understand that point correctly? Thanks for your patience in walking me through this!

--Ken

From Nan back to Ken

Hello again, Ken,

Yes, you have the payment scenarios exactly correct.

The concept of sacred discard often trips people up. You have it mostly right, although I doubt that someone would discard something in error and then realize their mistake. More likely, the person would have discarded it when they didn't need it to win, and then later discover that what they previously and unwittingly discarded could have made them win - upon collection of some new tiles. (Strategies for collecting tiles are very fluid right up until the player has made decisions that pens them into one or two end possibilities.)

The reason for declaring that you have previously discarded something you are now looking for is to avoid tricking those who count the discards, and know what everyone has discarded. Say they are looking out at the discard pile in the center and see (3) 2-dots in the mess of discarded tiles... and they know that Nan discarded one of those 2-dot tiles. That person would feel safe discarding a 2-dot, without knowing that could then help Nan win the game. So Nan has to be sure to declare that there is a sacred discard out there once she realizes it, and before she goes out (does not say which specific tile of course), and then has to have one more draw from the wall before Nan can claim a win on a discarded 2-dot. If the 2-dot is discarded before Nan draws from the wall, Nan can't win on that and will have to switch tile-collecting strategies.

Most people don't pay enough attention to even have this sacred discard declaration come into play at all . . . and the people I play with and I even choose not to score sometimes. It can be more Zen to just play. Whether you are paying attention to all the details and finer points or not is a matter of choice.

Best,

Nan

the games we play

From the mah jong mailbag, this was nice...

From: [redacted]@hotmail.com
To: nan
Subject: notes on playing mah jong
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 06:37:31 +0800

Hello,

I am the wife of an American expat living in Taiwan and just discovered your notes on playing the game of Mah Jong! I write to you simply to say, "Thank you".

Earlier this year, I was invited to replace a member of a group of other wives who have been playing together for years. The only instructions I received were, "Just watch us, Honey, and you'll learn." While I consider myself to generally be a quick study, to date the only thing I have learned is how to lose gracefully.

Next week will be my turn to host the ladies at my house and I can't wait to use my new-found understanding of the game ( Oh, so that's what Pung means!!!!). I really appreciate your concise and easy to follow descriptions of the rules and objectives. I do hope that you are still playing the game and having as much fun as I do (even though I have yet to win a hand)!

Warmest regards, Gwen [redacted]

My response . . .

RE: notes on playing mah jong‏
From: Nan
Sent: Thu 4/23/09 7:07 PM
To: [redacted]@hotmail.com

Hello Gwen,
I am so glad you have found the notes to be helpful. Have fun with the game. I don't play as often as I'd like, but it's like riding a bike! Once you learn, you never forget. I hope you win your first of many hands at your next gathering.
Nan

from the mailbag

I wasn't planning to blog today after three posts yesterday, but when I opened my e-mail today, I had a "mah jong mailbag" question, and I figured I haven't blogged on mahj in a long time. Many of the questions I have received lately have been questions about American Mah Jong, and that isn't the style I most frequently play, so most of my replies lately have been referrals to the National Mah Jongg League web site. This one, however, came from someone learning the traditional Asian style, and she had questions about my notes she had read somewhere online. I always try to answer these questions fully. So here goes.


From: [redacted]@aol.com
Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 22:56:02 -0400
Subject: Mah Jong...
To: nanpasq@hotmail.com

Hi Nanette!

I just finished reading your website on Mah Jong. I also am enjoying Mah Jong, which I started playing 4 months ago. I really am HOOKED!

I do have questions though. As far as the prevailing wind goes, the first round, the prevailing wind is East... right?

The second round, the dealer is "East" or "South"?

In the second round the prevailing wind is South... right?

What color chips do you use and what are the pts? I am interested in learning how to score with chips...

Thanks,
Linda
p.s. where are you located? I am in California.. :)


RE: Mah Jong...‏
From: Nan(nanpasq@hotmail.com)
Sent: Sun 4/05/09 10:00 AM
To: [redacted]@aol.com
1 attachment ScreenHun...gif (9.8 KB)


Hi Linda,
Thank you for your e-mail. I'm glad you are enjoying the game! You have some good questions, and I think it will become clearer as you go along. The first round / prevailing wind is indeed East, and the second round / prevailing wind is south (third is west, fourth is north).

In each round, the dealer is always East and the deal rotates. What happens is that during the first round (East round), the first dealer is East during the first game of that round, and then it rotates to the right so that the person who was South is now East, West becomes South, and so on, for the each next game of the round. During each round (4 games), each player takes a turn being each different wind (E, S, W, N) during the four games of that round. Players do not change seats, the deal merely rotates to the right and every player's wind "shifts."

In the South round, the person who was originally South first in the first round is now the dealer / or East. (So essentially the deal skips over the first person to deal when the round changes.) Just as in the East round, during the South round, each person will take a turn at being the dealer as it rotates to the right for each of the four games.

I find it helpful to have a little piece of paper with the Chinese compass on it and arrows showing the directional movement to help you keep track. You can simply rotate the drawing throughout the game so that you remember. After all, there are 16 total games during the four rounds if you play the full game. (Also note, the Chinese compass is not the same as the compass we are accustomed to.)

As far as the prevailing wind tiles go, this is only important for the person who wins, because it makes wind tiles in the winning hand more valuable for points. If the game is won during the West round, someone who has West tiles in the winning hand would score more points because those are the prevailing winds. If the winner actually was West during the West round, that person's tiles are considered doubly lucky, or Double Winds, because her own wind is the prevailing wind. So it will depend on the round, the wind tiles in hand, and what the winner's wind is in order to determine prevailing winds and double winds.

As far as scoring with chips, I have seen a number of different ways to score. You can assign a value to each color chip (1000, 500, 100, 50), and divide them up among the players and then score that way. With the different "bones" that some sets have, you do the same thing with assigning values based upon the number of dots on the scoring bones. I actually stopped using chips or bones to score some years ago, because I found it was a bit cumbersome, and I prefer the speed of paper and pencil, so I just make a scoring sheet with four columns on it. It's kind of fun to find those odd scoring sheets years later and see the names and the scores.

Good luck, and enjoy. I am located in New York, but I do have a very fond memory of playing a game of mah jong in a micro brew pub in San Francisco quite a few years ago -with a pretty travel set I had picked up in a nearby Asian grocery store. I still have that set and it is one of my favorites. I love California!
Best,
Nan

PS I am attaching an image (.gif) file with a compass you can cut out and use.

mah jong mailbag - two-person mahj

It's been a while since I've posted on mah jong, but I do still occasionally get an e-mail asking a question from a complete stranger who has found my instructions on the Internet somewhere. Here is a recent e-mail thread:

Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:07:08 -0800

From: [redacted]

Subject: 2 player MJ instructions sought

To: nanpasq@hotmail.com

Hi Nan,
I inherited an old Mahjong game ten years ago. I've decided it's time to learn how to play but have only one other person. Do you know where I can find instructions for two players only?

I appreciate your efforts to educate new players like me.
Thanks in advance,
Best,

Will Spurgeon

RE: 2 player MJ instructions sought‏
From: Nan (nanpasq@hotmail.com)
Sent: Sat 12/20/08 9:16 AM
To: [redacted]

Hi Will,

I am sorry for my delay in responding. I am really happy that you have decided to learn to play mah jong. Having an old set in your possession for 10 years must seem like a mystery waiting to unfold. It is a great game, and one of the things I like to imagine about old sets is the fun that the tiles have seen as they have passed through the fingers of friends or family before!

While I have played 2-person mah jong in the past, I haven't exactly come across rules for 2-person mahj per se. They may exist, but if they do, I am unaware of them. It really is more fun to play with 4 people, because part of the game is the sequencing of the "pung" and the "chow" in terms of who a player can take a tile from, and if you play with only one other, you will always be taking tiles from the one partner, and there is less game-tension and decreased odds.

That being said, you can still do play with just 2 people. What I would recommend is setting up the tiles with four walls as if you were setting up for 4 people. Instead of playing with all four wind directions, E, S, W, and N, you will just be playing E and S and skipping W and N. I trust you have my directions with diagrams from the Internet somewhere, but if you don't, let me know and I can send them. Play a few open hands first so that you and your partner can learn the rules, and you will have to imagine that with 4 people, the game is a bit more complex and fun. If at all possible, find another 2 people who might like to learn with you. However, you can still have fun playing with just one other.

Good luck. If you have any questions, feel free to send an e-mail and I will do my best to answer.

--Nan

it's a small mah jong world

I've lost track of how many places online my mah jong notes have gone. They went "out there" back in 1995, and since then, I periodically get e-mails from all over the country and actually, the world. Correspondence has come in from Brazil, England, Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain. Here is a recent note received from a woman in California. The writer just hoped I lived nearby Sacramento.

From: [redacted]@aol.com
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:47:45 -0400
Subject: Mah Jong
To: nanpasq@hotmail.com

Good Morning Nan,

My name is Donna H.(redacted) I live in the small town of Camino (Applehill). We are located on Hwy 50 out of Sacramento, Placerville on the way to Lake Tahoe. I am so hoping that you are possibly in the Sacramento area. I copied off your directions to Mah Jong a while ago when I bought my Mah Jong set of tiles. On our recent vacation a very nice person showed my friend and I how to play, in a two hour period. I have returned home and have my set out and find that some of the info is a little hazy. I'm kind of a hands on person. I have your instructions plus another 3 books. Yours are the best. Setting up the wall is OK, but I get lost on the dealing. I do understand the sets to win (kind of) but would sure love to sit at a table with 3 others and just play. That is the way I learn. I am writing in hopes that you are near and or that you know of a club in my area that would do such a thing. Also the lady that showed us didn't know scoring.

Anxious to hear from you.
Donna

I replied:

Hello Donna,

Well, it turns out that I don't live anywhere near Sacramento! I am fully across the country. But I do think that your idea for how to learn is a good one. I learned the same way. Try to find three others and just muddle through playing some open hands until the rules start to gel and the game makes sense. Feel free to e-mail me if you get stuck, and I will try to explain.
Best, and enjoy the game,
Nan

to dream, perchance to win

This week in the mah jong mailbag I had this nice little conversation with a new found friend, Linda.

Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:23:15 -0700
From: [redacted]@yahoo.com
Subject: mah jong
To: nanpasq@hotmail.com

Dear Nan,
I appreciate your notes on Mah Jong. I have been playing for a short time and am getting discouraged that I never win. It appears that I am always trying for the next to impossible hands. Could you please give me a few pointers so that I can shake this bottom of the barrel.
Thank you,
Linda

I responded:

Hello Linda,

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that you are always trying for those "big" hands . . . and you are not winning that much. Just like not every talented actor makes it to Hollywood, and just a few lucky ones hit those big breaks, those big hands are rare and you can take all the joy out of the game by trying to win big. Instead, go with the hand you are dealt and make the most of it. Winning "little" and winning first is still winning! And of course, winning is not the only thing! In fact, often I have more fun when I play and lose, because
I can see the happiness in my partners when they win. I guess mah jong can be a little like life that way.

Good luck,
Nan

She wrote back:

Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2008 06:17:13 -0700
From: [redacted]@yahoo.com
Subject: RE: mah jong
To: nanpasq@hotmail.com

Dear Nan,
You sound like a person that I would choose to know should we live near one another. I enjoyed your philosophy of life.

One question though...How do you choose what tiles to keep to build on for the mah jong? I try to give myself an alternative out, but as soon as I choose which way to go, there go the tiles in the discard pile that I can't take. I think doubles are the hardest. I try to involve the doubles should I end up with any after the charleston. How do you decide which way to go?
thanks,
Linda

And I responded:

Hi Linda,
I see that you play the American style with Charlestons - etc. I actually occasionally play that style, but only rarely. I prefer the Asian styles - they are more relaxing! That said, I usually try to keep the non-terminal sequences so that I can build on either side of a chow, and I usually keep the doubles until the last minute because they become the pungs or kongs. I actually don't think I am all that scientific - I just constantly read the discard pile to see how many are out there so that if my chances are slim of picking up something I might need for a set, I abandon based on what is out in the discard pile. I think reading the discard pile is probably the most important thing.

Good luck! Enjoy the game!
Nan

mah jong FAQs

Every once in a while, I will pull out some mah jong questions from my e-mail files...

The Question:

>From: "Carlos"
>To: >Subject: instruciones en espanol por favor .
>Date: Mon, 30 May 2005 11:18:41 -0500>

>Por favor me pueden enviar la informacion en espanol

>Gracias mil

>Atentamente.

>Carlos A. Gonzalez Aguilar

>Escandón, México D.F

The Answer:

Hola Carlos -
No tengo instructiones de mah jong en espanol... (yo no hablo espanol - solo un poquito!!) Lo siento mucho. (Perhaps someone can translate my notes online?)
Nan

The Question:

>From: Christine
>To: nanpasq@hotmail.com
>Subject: Mahjong Questions
>Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2001 13:08:53 -0700
>
>Hi Nanette,
>Thank you for posting your Mah Jong notes... they were much
>easier to follow than most others... but I need
>clarification on a couple of things if possible.
>
>The first thing that I am not clear about is how the
>flower/season tiles are used, why you have to declare them,
>how are they like jokers, and how are they used for scoring.
>
>The second question is about declaring in general. Am I
>correct in thinking that players have to announce to
>everyone when they are one tile away from going out, or are
>there special circumstances for this? And I don't
>understand the sacred discard... how does everyone know the
>discard in question was yours... can the player then claim
>it... why does it need to be declared?
>
>Finally, on scoring doubles... in your list of types of
>doubles, most carry a 1x value and I am uncertain what is
>meant by that... does it indicate 1 double, or does it mean
>the points are multiplied by 1 (which, of course, would be
>meaningless), or is it that the points are doubled once (so
>2x would mean doubling the points twice, etc?).
>
>Thank you!
>
>~Christine.

The Answer:

Hi Christine,
I am happy to answer your questions.

Regarding doubles - 1x means double the score once and 2x is double the score twice -- beyond that usually the "limit" is noted (500 points maximum doubles.)

Flowers and seasons - when drawn - are like a "free card" to display and then draw another tile in its place...increasing your chances to draw a tile that will be useful to your hand. If you win, and you have flowers/seasons - then you use them to double your points - one double for a corresponding flower or season (to your own wind and/or to the prevailing wind).

Yes, you have to declare "READY" when you are one tile away from winning. Some players study all discards of every person. Therefore, if you noted that I had discarded a 3 bam - you might assume I didn't need that tile to go out. You may have just discarded at 3 bam; Since I now need it - I must declare a sacred discard and if I have drawn from the wall at least once since my own discard, I may take that to go out. This rule, honestly, is ignored by a lot of people in playing the game and can easily go unnoticed unless everyone is watching carefully and chooses to follow the rule. Our house rules usually allow a player to take the tile right away even if they have previously discarded an identical tile. I hope that helps. It is a confusing rule.
I hope these answers help and that you continue to enjoy the game.
Nan

mahj question from down under

This e-mail recently came in from Australia:

Dear Nan,
I recently inherited a lovely old set and am starting to learn how to play. In searching the web I came across your notes and found them to be very helpful, thank you.

One thing puzzles me though. The set I have inherited has scoring bones that differ slightly in appearance than those usually seen in that instead of having dots representing the numbers 2, 10, 100, 500, they show dots as follows:
2 red dots
8 red dots
3 green and 1 red dots
6 green and 6 red dots.

(see attached photo of a similar design from another website)

I have been looking everywhere to find out the value of each of the 4 bones, but to no avail. I am hoping that you may have the answer and can help.

If you can find time to reply I would most appreciate it.

Thank you,
David Hall-Johnston

I didn't know the answer to this one . . . and if anyone does, please comment! When I get a bit of time, I will research it. Here is my response:

Hello Dave,
Thanks for sending the photograph. If your set is of the same ilk of that in the photo, it sounds like you have a lovely, old set! I wish I could help you, but to be honest, I have not paid much attention to the variation in the scoring bones I've seen. I think you could assign any value you wish that seems to make sense to you until you find the answer. Best wishes, and enjoy the game-
Nan

not declaring your hand is ready . . .

Good Saturday Morning to you!

I received this mah jong question via e-mail this morning:

From: "Tim" [redacted]@hotmail.com
To: nanpasq@hotmail.com
Subject: Not declaring that your hand is ready
Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2007 11:28:16 +0100

Could you please advise on the consequence of not calling one[self ready] to Mah Jong?

and this was my response:

Tim,
Your question brings up a funny memory. When I was new to playing mah jong, I played very strictly to the rules. One time, a good friend did not declare he was "ready" and tried to go out on mah jong, and I stuck to the strict penalty that he couldn't go out - had to discard something - and then try again. This penalty is pretty tough because then the others get an inkling about at least the suit or sequence of tiles the player was collecting. This recollection has been a source of much laughter and teasing of me for about 13 years.

So I guess my answer to your question is, it depends. If you are playing a serious game, do what I did. The "offending" player has to discard a tile and can't go out on mah jong. The rationale for the rule is that it is possible that someone could fail to say they were ready in order to gain unfair advantage. People tend to heighten their awareness of what they discard once they know a fellow player is ready to go out. They will scan the discards carefully and may attempt to make it more difficult for that person to win.

On the other hand, if you don't feel it is a subversive ploy and the person sincerely didn't realize they were ready (which was truly the case with my friend), I would recommend doing what I soon learned to do soon after - just relax, let the player win the game they won, and have fun! Thanks for writing with a great question.
Nan

So, Paula and Cliff, if you are reading this, have another M&M and a good laugh, again!

World of Mah Jong

For several years I have been corresponding with people all over the world regarding mah jong. It is kind of strange for me, because all I did really was to share my notes on mah jong and how to play with a few people online -- who shared them with a few people -- who shared them with a few people, and eventually some people seem to think I am an expert. I hardly am, but it has certainly been fun to be in this loop.

Here are some examples of e-mails I have received:

麻雀博物館
Sent : Monday, March 4, 2002 8:06 PM
To : nanpasq@hotmail.com
Subject : Mahjong Museum

Dear Nanette:
This is the Mahjong Museum in Japan. We keep in touch with the persons concerned Mahjong in the world.
We would like to present our material to you, and exchange information with you. We are planning to hold "World Championship in Mahjong" under the auspices of Athletic General Assembly of Ningbo city,China in Ningbo, China in October this year. We would like to send you material about the Championship, too. We will give you it for nothing, please let there be no misunderstanding about this. So, please let us know your address by email.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Kyoichiro Noguchi,
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mahjong Museum
Our contact addres:
MAHJONG MUSEUM
Tokyo office (Take shobo Co.,LTD)
2-7-3, Iidabashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
102-0072 Japan
Tel: 03-3264-1816 Fax: 03-3261-0249
mahjong_museum@takeshobo.co.jp

And here is my response after sending my address and receiving a great package in the mail:

Dear Mr. Noguchi,
I was delighted and honored to receive your materials in the mail today. The mahjong book and medal are extremely beautiful, and I will read the pamphlet and materials with interest. Thank you also for sending the playing cards. I hope to someday visit the Mahjong Museum in Japan. As someone who appreciates mahjong and as a student of karate, I have a strong desire to travel to Japan at some point.
Again, thank you for including me among those in the world mahjong community to receive your publication. I will promote the tournament as much as possible, although I do not think I will personally be able to participate. My best wishes,
Nanette Pasquarello

Over the years I have kept a number of interesting e-mails. Some of them go something like this:

Alessandro Franchi
Sent : Wednesday, March 20, 2002 6:38 AM
To : nanpasq@hotmail.com
Subject : Mahjong

Esiste una versione italiana del tuo manuale di istruzioni per Mahjong
Grazie ciao
Alessandro Franchi

OR

María Teresa Barros
Sent : Monday, February 18, 2002 9:41 PM
To : nanpasq@hotmail.com
Subject : mahjong

Tengo su explicación del juego mahjong en ingles, intenté traducirlo pero se me ha armado un lío tremendo. Cuando chica lo jugaba con mis padres y ahora no me acuerdo, de esto hace alrededor de 30 años. Agradecería me enviara una manera en español.
María Teresa

Luckily if the inquiries come to me in Spanish or Italian, I can usually figure out what they say and can write back enough in their language to say I do not speak their language and hope that they can write in English. I was able to do so with Flavio from Portugal, whose English was decent enough to ask me if he could translate the notes into Portugese for his site and he would link me as the original author. Cool, huh? I wish I could find a very nice conversation I had with a woman from Australia who was teaching her three daughters how to play using my notes. It appears I didn't save that thread. I did find this one though - and the Dutch are just some of the MANY people in this world who speak two and three languages... making me feel completely inadequate as an American:


Fam. Steenbergen
Sent : Sunday, June 3, 2001 4:16 AM
To : nanpasq@hotmail.com
Subject : mah jong

Weten jullie ook een site waar je in je 1tje het spel Mah jong kan spelen??
Groetjes Saskia

I knew this was Dutch because of the ".nl" at the end of the e-mail address -- and I had also corresponded with someone in the Netherlands who had translated my notes for his page. My response was:

Hello. I am sorry, but I do not speak/write in Dutch -- only English. You may wish to consult your original site and e-mail the owner. I am simply a link for questions in English. Best wishes, Nan

and her response back was:

Oh, i'm sorry! But my question is: Do you know a site where i can play the game Mah jong??? I hope that you now undestand me:) Greets Saskia

and so it went from there... (And if you are wondering where to play on line, as Saskia was, my advice is the 4-person live game on Yahoo games. It is the closest thing to a real game. As tech-loving as I am though, I much prefer the actual game to the virtual game any day.)

You can see from some of these photos that mah jong is truly a game played all around the world. If you ever want to play, and we have some time to spend, just let me know! Have tiles and will play!


Photo caption: Burwood Anglican Parish, New Zealand

Robbing a Kong

[Okay, so I am obviously going to pick e-mail correspondence that has been really nice - but the fact is - most of it has been! My guess is that I correspond with a lot of older people who have the nice manners of past days...]

Question in the Mail:
While searching for the answer to a question on Mah Jongg, I came across your website http://www.xs4all.nl/~korntner/mahjong/nanette/nan_notes.html .It appears that the way you play Mah Jongg is pretty much identical to the way I was taught (by a Chinese girl). Therefore I thought you could be the best person to resolve my problem. If I rob a Kong to complete Mah Jongg, who pays me? Is it the person that was trying to complete their Kong, since they were the ones that gave me the winning tile? Or is it everyone, since the tile was never discarded? I can see both sides of an argument there, and wondered which version you would use, and why? Any help or advice you can give would be appreciated.
Thanks and regards, Evelyn

My Answer:
Hello! In my opinion, the person you rob is the one who pays because they are giving you the winning tile. Even if it wasn't discarded. Why should the others pay? The person would have had to discard it if there weren't kongs... so that is my conclusion. That being said, however, I am a proponent for house rules, so if a table agrees that everyone would pay, as you said an argument can be made either way. The phenomena happens so rarely, it has not been a point of contention in games I've played. Best- Nan

Evelyn's Response:
Hi! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I think your point about discarding the tile if there weren't Kongs is a good one that I had not thought of. I also think that everything you've said makes perfect sense, and I think (as long as house rules go) I will be using this method in the future. Thank you again for being so helpful, I really appreciate it. Kind regards, Evelyn

On Mah Jong

As some of you know, I fell in love with the game Mah Jong back in 1994 when my friend Paula, who had received a mah jong set from her mother, decided it would be fun for us to learn how to play. At that time, before Matthew came into our lives, we had a "work hard, play hard" life ethic that involved a lot of socializing when not working. In the winter months especially, we would find ourselves sitting in front of the fireplace at Paula and Cliff's, and mah jong seemed like it would be a nice way to pass the time when we got together with these friends and the circle of friends we hung out with in those days.

Figuring out how to play mah jong, however, turned out not to be as easy as just sitting down to read the directions to Monopoly or some other game with roots based in the English language. I found several poorly translated instruction sheets and some books that were also not all that helpful. I also learned that there were many variations on how to play the game. Given my love of organizing and trying to make things clear and simple, I decided to put together some notes on how to play one version of the game - using a few good sources - and I put together "Nan's Mah Jong Notes" in 1995 -- initially for my group of friends.

After doing some web surfing and corresponding with a few people who had sites devoted to mah jong, I decided to share the notes so that a few of these people could include some "how to" on their sites. My e-mail address was listed in the notes as an address so that those learning to play the game could e-mail to get answers to questions. Well! The notes got a lot of attention. Before long, I was being contacted by other site hosts for permission to link the notes, including some from different countries who wanted to translate the information into Italian, Dutch, Spanish.... I also began to receive questions on mah jong from people around the U.S. and from as far away as Brazil, France, England, and Australia.

As it turns out, the notes have kept me connected to this wonderful game through the e-mail correspondence, because as life has changed, I certainly don't play mahj as often as I used to. For awhile I was trying to play with a group of four once a month. That lasted about a year. Now, our foursome gets together 3 or 4 times a year due to all our busy schedules and responsibilities. Matthew and Tom and I play sometimes (Matt loves the game), but because it is a time consuming game, those game nights tend to revolve around other selections that will finish within an hour or so.

Despite the fact that I put my notes onto my own fledgling web site in 2002, I tend to get more hits from some of the original posting sites. While the mailbag has slowed down some from the early days, I still get e-mails from folks, and I try to answer them in a timely fashion. So periodically, I will try to post some of the e-mails and answers for those among you who might be mah jong mavens ... and for those who aren't, feel free to skip these posts or MAYBE you will develop an interest in the game! If you do, please check out my mah jong links on the right, and you will find a link to my notes (PDF file) and some other cool mah jong sites.