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Mah-Jongg (Chinese 麻將/麻将 Májiàng [game of the] sparrow) is a traditional Chinese game using illustrated tiles, with game play similarities to rummy. It is a popular gambling game, but wagering real stakes is by no means necessary to have fun playing.
The tiles consist of three suits numbering 1-9 (Dots, Numbers or Characters, and Bamboo, the "Ace" of which almost always looks like a bird), three different dragons (Red, Green, and White [white is unusual in that it may look like a silvery dragon, or like a picture frame, or blank - think "White dragon in a snowstorm"), and the four winds (east, south, west, and north). There are four copies of each tile. This totals to 136 tiles. In addition, special Flower, Season, and Joker (American version) tiles may also be used.
Four players take turns drawing from a stock (the wall), or from the other players' discards, in an attempt to form sets of numeric sequences (e.g., 5-6-7 of the same suit, which can only be drawn from the player at one's left, by calling "Chow"), triplets and quadruplets (which can be drawn from the discards out-of-turn by calling "Pung"), pairs, and other patterns. "Pung" takes precedence over "Chow", and "Mah Jongg" takes precedence over all (and is the only situation one may draw "Chow" out-of-turn.) What happens if a single discard would give two (or more!) players "Mah Jongg"? Precedence goes to the player who would play next in normal sequence.
Originating in China in the mid-19th century, it was introduced to the U.S. in the 1920s. It is now played in different forms throughout Asia, Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Although the rules for game play are fairly constant, there are an immense variety of scoring schemes. A few general categories of rule-sets include: Chinese Classical, Hong Kong Old Style, Japanese, Taiwanese, Western, and American.
- Many melds provide flexibility and options.
- The annual change in melds keeps the game fresh in a novel way.
- The tile passing mechanism is crucial for strategic play.
- The complexity of melds can be overwhelming initially.
- The changing ruleset might be a con for some, though presented as a pro for freshness.
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- hand management — Players draw and manage a hand of tiles, deciding which to keep and which to pass.
- Melds — These are specific combinations of tiles that players try to collect to score points or win a round. There are many different melds, and some change annually.
- set collection — The game involves collecting specific numbers or suits of tiles to form melds.
- tile passing — Players frequently pass tiles around the table, which is crucial for deciding what to go for and what opponents might be pursuing.
- Variable scoring conditions — The specific melds that can be completed change, with some elements, like the year, incorporated into scoring combinations annually.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I think that's a pretty neat element of American Mahjong.
- I'm kind of fascinated by the idea of a game where the core rules stay the same on an ongoing basis, but every year some important elements of the game changes that makes it that keeps it fresh, basically.
- It broke my brain a little bit because Mahjong has a lot of different, I'll call them melds.