Mahjong: Difference between revisions

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Mahjong is generally played on a square table, with one player seated on each side, as in contract bridge. The game is played using rectangular tiles, with four identical tiles of each type in the set, and at least 34 different tiles, for a total of at least 136 tiles.

The set of tiles contains three regular Suits, with individual tiles having a value from one to nine:

* '''Characters''' (萬子/万子), sometimes called "cracks" or "craks", are classical Chinese numerals. Each tile has the specific value written on top (usually in blue), and the ''wán'' character for "ten thousand" or "countless" (signifying prosperity) on the bottom in red. Modern sets are commonly marked with Arabic numerals in addition to the Chinese ones. There are in fact four possible ''wán'' characters; the first two (the most common ones) are 萬 and 万, and the the other are 卍 (no longer seen on Western sets [[No Swastikas|for reasons which should be obvious]]) and 品 (both of which are rare).

* '''Stones''' (筒子), also called "balls", "dots" or "circles", use little circles to represent the number.

 

 

=== Scoring ===

The winning hand is awarded points for patterns and winning conditions, then these hand points are converted to [[Scoring Points]], usually on an exponential scale. If the hand was won by a discarded tile, the discarding player pays the value of the hand to the winner. If the hand was won by a tile drawn from the wall, all three players pay the winner; how the value is split up or duplicated depends on the variant. If the dealer is the winner, he keeps the dealer button for an extra hand. If there are not enough tiles left in the wall and nobody has won, the hand ends in a draw; in most variants, this occurs at 14 tiles left. In the event of the draw, the dealer usually keeps the dealer button. Being the dealer often has scoring advantages, although the specific advantages depend on the variant.

 

 

Notably, the NJML was founded by primarily Jewish players, and even today in the US many Mah Jongg players are of Jewish descent.

{{tropelist}}

* [[Calvin Ball]]: That's what it looks like when someone tries to explain the rules. Or when one looks at the length of this page.

*** Heaven: If the east player already has a complete game before discarding or picking up another card.

* [[Obvious Rule Patch]]: The "kuitan nashi" house rule in the Japanese Riichi variant.

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* ''[[Ten]]''

** Chin Yisou, one of the original series villains, had somewhat of a Mahjong theme.

** The occasion of Sanzo's astonishing draw was doubly symbolically loaded, in that it was concluded with a West tile (as referenced above), suggesting both the group's westward journey and its frequent consequences.

* [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|Kakei]] from [[Legal Drug]] is revealed in an omake to love Mahjong. Considering he's a [[Seer]], it's a wonder why anyone agrees to play with him.

* The third series of ''[[Kaiji]]'' has a two-player variant called Minefield Mahjong.

* At one point in ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' "Ura-Dora" and "Mangan" are used as code phrases.

 

* There's a quick gag in ''[[Annie Hall]]'' when Alvy is riffing on his Jewish background:

{{quote|'''Alvy''' ''(performing standup)''''':''' I was thrown out of N.Y.U. my freshman year for cheating on my metaphysics final, you know. I looked within the soul of the boy sitting next to me. When I was thrown out, my mother, who was an emotionally high-strung woman, locked herself in the bathroom and took an overdose of Mah-Jongg tiles.}}

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* The ''[[Breaking the Wall]]'' series by Jane Lindskold has an entire [[Functional Magic|magical system]] based on mahjong.

* ''[[The Joy Luck Club]]'': Jing-Mei mentions having played mahjong with "some Jewish friends" in college, prompting Lindo to note that that game is entirely different.

* The [[Agatha Christie]] novel ''[[The Murder of Roger Ackroyd]]'' features one chapter titled "An Evening at Mahjong". This particular round concludes with a Heavenly Hand (instant win after the distribution) by Dr. Sheppard.

 

 

== [[Music]] ==

* Seen a few times in ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]''.

* In ''[[Chowder]]'', Truffles is a Mahjong player. Since Truffles is a classic ''[[Alter Kocker|yenta,]]'' it's probably the American game.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Useful Notes/Japan]]

[[Category:Useful Notes/China]]

[[Category:Tabletop Games]]