Thank you for this. Playing with my in-laws I’m always completely baffled by the scoring!
Mahjong: A Visual Guide
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Re: Mahjong: A Visual Guide
#12Some (mostly American?) people know Mahjong as a solitaire game [1] that they likely have played on their phone or Windows PC/Mac. This article is talking about the (arguably less known?) 4-player competitive game [2], and assumes you already know the difference (which some may not). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahjong_solitaire [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahjong
Probably it’s less popular in America, but it’s huge in Asia, so I doubt the solitaire version is more well known globally
Re: Mahjong: A Visual Guide
#13I've known about Mahjong for decades but TIL it has many similarities to a game I play regularly, Rummykub. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rummikub describes it as combining elements of the card game rummy and Mahjong.
Re: Mahjong: A Visual Guide
#14Some (mostly American?) people know Mahjong as a solitaire game [1] that they likely have played on their phone or Windows PC/Mac. This article is talking about the (arguably less known?) 4-player competitive game [2], and assumes you already know the difference (which some may not). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahjong_solitaire [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahjong
Probably it’s less popular in America, but it’s huge in Asia, so I doubt the solitaire version is more well known globally
Yes, but most of HN is outside Asia, so I feel the clarification is helpful here.
Re: Mahjong: A Visual Guide
#15> Every fan doubles your base points Did I miss it, or are the "base points" never explained?
Base point is like the minimum payout. All players agree upon a minimum payout (base point) ahead of time. E.g. $10 as the minimum for the first fan. A fan literally means doubling. A 4 fan win means the payout is $10x2x2x2=$80 from each losing party. It can go up very quickly.
Re: Mahjong: A Visual Guide
#16I can finally learn this game!!!
Re: Mahjong: A Visual Guide
#17There are so many different variations of the rules, especially scoring. Scoring can vary even from family to family.
We've been learning for a few years now and still ignore things like prevailing winds and I don't remember what else off the top of my head. Basically we have a document of our own rules and we add to it as we get more advanced. Eventually we'll play with the winds and seasons and the goal is Hong Kong scoring.
Re: Mahjong: A Visual Guide
#18> Every fan doubles your base points Did I miss it, or are the "base points" never explained?
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Re: Mahjong: A Visual Guide
#19This is a really nice website!
In China it turns out there are lots of rule sets. The city I'm currently living in (Changsha) has it's own ruleset for example, with less tiles than these examples.
Re: Mahjong: A Visual Guide
#20There are so many different variations of the rules, especially scoring. Scoring can vary even from family to family. We've been learning for a few years now and still ignore things like prevailing winds and I don't remember what else off the top of my head. Basically we have a document of our own rules and we add to it as we get more advanced. Eventually we'll play with the winds and seasons and the goal is Hong Kon…
just played with an American friend who was learning for the first time yesterday. The winds are by far the most annoying part. Not only is the order of them different than what most people are used to (ESWN vs NESW) but the points you get for each depend on what wind you are and this is on top of having to memorize the Chinese characters (although of course some sets number them). Great game but so many little special cases that can make it intimidating to learn.
Don't even get me started on scoring when you are gambling (although the dynamics of who pays who and how much is interesting)