Mahjong
I have had a phobia for Mahjong for more than three years. Most of my encounters with Mahjong usually result in three very happy friends, as I usually enrich them in the game. In those days, if you were to play Mahjong with me, you could pretty much leave home without money, cos' after playing with me, you will most likely return home with lots of money. My last encounter with Mahjong in early 2003 made me $50 poorer, while my friends were laughing all the way to the bank. Ever since then, I've avoided Mahjong like the plague, passing up invitiations by friends who lacked a fourth player (while I'd like to think it is because they enjoy my companionship, most likely it is because I usually enrich them in the process).
It's not that I did not know how to play the game. Sure, I knew the basic rules -- that you had to get 3+3+3+3+2, where 3 could be three consecutive numbers of the same pattern, or three tiles that are the same, while 2 refers to two tiles (otherwise known as "eyes") that had to be the same. My phobia for Mahjong stemmed from the complexity of the scoring system.
I mean, what's with the direction of my wind? Was I supposed to be passing wind in a certain direction? For good luck? Since Mahjong is a Chinese game, and with all this Chinese superstition about fengshui, who knows. What's with the animals and the flowers? Why do I have to cough up double the amount of what others have to pay? Why is it not enough for me to just get 3+3+3+3+2? What's with all the patterns like qing yi se (清一色), shi san yao (十三么) etc? What's with the "big" tiles such as fa (發), zhong (中) or white board (白板)? Alas, my understanding of Mahjong was superficial. Inevitably I had to pay "school fees" to figure out how to play the game.
What's worse -- I have been paying school fees many times without gaining more than a cursory knowledge of Mahjong. Finally admitting that I had no talent in Mahjong, I stopped playing the game in January 2003.
Later, I heard from friends and colleagues that the smarter you are, the better your Mahjong game play. Playing Mahjong was supposed to be good for the brain, and that businessmen played Mahjong to stimulate the mind. Everybody was expecting me to be a Mahjong whizz just because I had attended university early. Perhaps this was evidence that I am really dumber than most people think.
This evening, once again, I have decided to overcome my phobia of paying school fees and pick up Mahjong once more. To aid me in this purpose, I requested the assistance of Geoffrey (who so kindly agreed to help after I promised him half of my winnings). With his help, I was slowly able to figure out the rules, and the strategies used to play the game. For example, I never knew that it was important to see what tiles people were throwing out. Yeah, I know it should have been common sense, since there was a maximum of four of the same tiles. Somehow I seemed to lack that common sense.
My first couple of games went pretty poorly -- I suffered a string of thirteen consecutive losses. Thirteen losses !! All the while, in the background, the results of the 2006 General Election was playing out on Channel Newsasia. For several moments, I empathized with the candidates who had lost, for surely they must have felt the same way as I did. At least they had the consolation of getting back their election deposit. My situation was precarious -- I was about to pay lots of school fees once again !! The sequence of calamitous events reduced my confidence in Mahjong even further. Still there was three more rounds, and I played on to the end.
In the 14th round, my fortunes started to reverse. I think my three friends must have gotten complacent, because they had accidentally allowed me to win with tiles of the same pattern , otherwise known as qing yi se (清一色), finally reversing all my losses. At the end of it, I was even able to come back to the black !! Yay !!
No longer shall anyone treat me as a cash cow for mahjong !!
It's not that I did not know how to play the game. Sure, I knew the basic rules -- that you had to get 3+3+3+3+2, where 3 could be three consecutive numbers of the same pattern, or three tiles that are the same, while 2 refers to two tiles (otherwise known as "eyes") that had to be the same. My phobia for Mahjong stemmed from the complexity of the scoring system.
I mean, what's with the direction of my wind? Was I supposed to be passing wind in a certain direction? For good luck? Since Mahjong is a Chinese game, and with all this Chinese superstition about fengshui, who knows. What's with the animals and the flowers? Why do I have to cough up double the amount of what others have to pay? Why is it not enough for me to just get 3+3+3+3+2? What's with all the patterns like qing yi se (清一色), shi san yao (十三么) etc? What's with the "big" tiles such as fa (發), zhong (中) or white board (白板)? Alas, my understanding of Mahjong was superficial. Inevitably I had to pay "school fees" to figure out how to play the game.
What's worse -- I have been paying school fees many times without gaining more than a cursory knowledge of Mahjong. Finally admitting that I had no talent in Mahjong, I stopped playing the game in January 2003.
Later, I heard from friends and colleagues that the smarter you are, the better your Mahjong game play. Playing Mahjong was supposed to be good for the brain, and that businessmen played Mahjong to stimulate the mind. Everybody was expecting me to be a Mahjong whizz just because I had attended university early. Perhaps this was evidence that I am really dumber than most people think.
This evening, once again, I have decided to overcome my phobia of paying school fees and pick up Mahjong once more. To aid me in this purpose, I requested the assistance of Geoffrey (who so kindly agreed to help after I promised him half of my winnings). With his help, I was slowly able to figure out the rules, and the strategies used to play the game. For example, I never knew that it was important to see what tiles people were throwing out. Yeah, I know it should have been common sense, since there was a maximum of four of the same tiles. Somehow I seemed to lack that common sense.
My first couple of games went pretty poorly -- I suffered a string of thirteen consecutive losses. Thirteen losses !! All the while, in the background, the results of the 2006 General Election was playing out on Channel Newsasia. For several moments, I empathized with the candidates who had lost, for surely they must have felt the same way as I did. At least they had the consolation of getting back their election deposit. My situation was precarious -- I was about to pay lots of school fees once again !! The sequence of calamitous events reduced my confidence in Mahjong even further. Still there was three more rounds, and I played on to the end.
In the 14th round, my fortunes started to reverse. I think my three friends must have gotten complacent, because they had accidentally allowed me to win with tiles of the same pattern , otherwise known as qing yi se (清一色), finally reversing all my losses. At the end of it, I was even able to come back to the black !! Yay !!
No longer shall anyone treat me as a cash cow for mahjong !!
