Riichi Mahjong (not yourjong)

[N1njaSquirrel]

Does anyone here play Mahjong?

 

I've been playing this game now for about a year or so, and I love it.

 

When I was at uni, me and my friends would spend every Friday night sitting round a table playing Mahjong, and listening to jazz. These evenings have been the most memorable and enjoyable time I've had at uni.

 

Even now I occasionally go down to Leeds for a weekend to play Mahjong. Last weekend was an example of this, and this happened:

 

 

It was a glorious event, which won me the game. In the third round. For those who don't know, this hand is called '13 Orphans' and has a 1 in 23 billion chance of getting.

 

So yeah. Anyone here play? Would anyone be interested in learning how to play? It doesn't seem popular at all in Europe. How about in the US? I remember watching a Modern Family episode and seeing a bunch of grannies play it. Which surprised me.

[SecretAsianMan]

I play it, by which I mean I know how to play and own a set.  I haven't actually played since I was a child and I was never good at it.  I tried to teach some of my friends how to play in college (even bringing a set with me on one of our spring break trips) but they weren't interested.  I think these days the common perception of mahjong is the tile matching game which I've complained about before.

[TheLastBaron]

I know how to play and used to play with some friends that played it a lot and it was a pretty miserable experience because they were all basically these guys

 

I was just so much slower than everyone, like I cant even lift up the wall at once, and when I draw a tile I have to think for a few seconds what to do versus they instantly know if they're going to keep it or throw it away.  I don't think they actually cared, but I felt so out of place.  Btw this wasn't riichi mahjong, it was just the standard version I guess (Chinese?).

It doesn't seem popular at all in Europe. How about in the US? I remember watching a Modern Family episode and seeing a bunch of grannies play it. Which surprised me.

Well Where I live (Bay Area) it's really popular because there's such a large Asian population.  Other places it's probably not very big.  When I was in middle school every Friday me and a bunch of friends would go hang out at the mall and my friend's mom would drop us off on the way to mahjong and pick us up after, and I think it was a pretty big social thing.

[Dewar]

My wife has a nice set and used to go to a club here, but club hours weren't condusive to her work schedule so she had to quit. There's a website she plays on occasionally, all in Japanese, that she seems to like even though she constantly gets her butt kicked.

[N1njaSquirrel]

I know how to play and used to play with some friends that played it a lot and it was a pretty miserable experience because they were all basically these guys

 

I was just so much slower than everyone, like I cant even lift up the wall at once, and when I draw a tile I have to think for a few seconds what to do versus they instantly know if they're going to keep it or throw it away.  I don't think they actually cared, but I felt so out of place.  Btw this wasn't riichi mahjong, it was just the standard version I guess (Chinese?).

 

That looks like the Chinese version. It's simpler than the Japanese version. It's like rhummy is to poker I guess? To be honest, I don't know much about the Chinese version. I noticed that there's no dead wall, need to call riichi (although that could be because everyone's hand is open), and it looks like you can take any tile from the discard pile, whilst in Riichi mahjong you can only take the last one that was discarded.

 

I know how it feels to be the slowest one there. Luckily I learned in an environment where they used the game as an excuse to shoot the shit.

 

I also agree with SAM that people always get it confused with the solitaire version, which baffles me as to why it's so popular, as it's so darn boring. XD

 

 

My wife has a nice set and used to go to a club here, but club hours weren't condusive to her work schedule so she had to quit. There's a website she plays on occasionally, all in Japanese, that she seems to like even though she constantly gets her butt kicked.

 

Is the site tenhou.net? It's great. but yeah, people are good. Too good for me :S

[SecretAsianMan]

I guess technically I'm also talking about the Chinese version, which to me is simply mahjong.  I wasn't paying close attention and didn't realize that N1njaSquirrel was talking about a variation.  I've also seen skilled people playing the game incredibly fast, to the point that I can't keep up.  It's not unlike watching a video game speedrun.  They even do the mundane stuff like washing the tiles faster and better than I would have thought possible.  Although a lot of parlors in China have automatic tables which do all the washing and stacking for you.  They're pretty cool actually.

 

I haven't watched that video, but if it is indeed the standard version of mahjong, you can't take any discarded tile, just the most recently discarded one and only if it forms a set such as the 3 of a kind (pong) or 3 in sequence (chi) or would win them the game.  I don't really know how other versions of the game are played and I don't even fully understand the rules for scoring in the standard version.  In my family the kids just played it for fun and our only goal was to win a hand, stuff like scoring and betting just made it complicated.

[BobbyBesar]

I haven't watched that video, but if it is indeed the standard version of mahjong, you can't take any discarded tile, just the most recently discarded one and only if it forms a set such as the 3 of a kind (pong) or 3 in sequence (chi) or would win them the game.  I don't really know how other versions of the game are played and I don't even fully understand the rules for scoring in the standard version.  In my family the kids just played it for fun and our only goal was to win a hand, stuff like scoring and betting just made it complicated.

 

I always played with my family, in similar circumstances: basically just a friendly game of cards with no stakes. My grandparents did have a specific padded mahjong card-table like that one, albeit a cheap portable one. I know vaguely that the flowers have something to do with points for gambling purposes, but don't really remember much beyond that.