Laptop/desktop users: please click here if you do not see a Nav Frame at left and Header Frame above.

SLOPER ON MAH-JONGG

By Tom Sloper
August 4, 2013
No. #573

American Mah Jongg (2013 NMJL card). What would you pass?

1. Too bad this isn't an Elevens year. You want to do something with those flowers and ones. Consec. #3 is a possibility, and Odds #3, and even Sevens #1. Bams and dots can go.

2. Ones and eights don't go together, and never will. You're going to use one or the other, and not both. The eights have four numerical friends (high numbers), and the ones have just two. Think high Consec., and pass winds (I just love saying that).

3. Ones and sevens go together two ways: Sevens and Odds. The fours don't work with either. But the fours do team up well for Consec. #2 with the sevens. The expendable tiles are 4D 5D and the bams.

4. One of those hateful hodgepodge deals. Count highs vs. lows and odds vs. evens: six lows, four highs, six evens, four odds. Does G go with the evens? No, and it doesn't look useful for Consec., either. 369 doesn't look very hopeful, either. Pass a wind, a dragon, and a high odd (like that nine, or 7C if you want to preserve a 369 option).

5. Didn't get anything useful for Consec. #3 or Odds #3, but 7C looks useful. For the across, pass G, W, and any bam.

6. Looking very high-Consec. and not very Evens. Pass lows.

7. Strong for Consec. #2 or Sevens #1. Pass 1B N W.

8. Could go 369 or Consec. If there were any eights, Evens might even be an option, but there aren't. Pass twos and E.

9. No change. Pass 7B N W.

10. Lows and E can go.

11. Lots of possibilities, but G W and bams can go.

12. Looking better for Consec. now, and not 369. Pass 9D 2C and 3B. Keep the Charleston going.

Click the entries in the header frame, above, to read other columns.

Question or comment about this column? I often, um... intentionally... "miss" something; maybe you'll be the first one to spot it! Email and the discussion will be posted on the Mah-Jongg Q&A Bulletin Board.

If you appreciate the free information on this site, your donation would be gratefully accepted, and would help keep this site running as a free service. Thank you!

DONATE!

Where to order the yearly NMJL card: Read FAQ 7i.

Need rules for American mah-jongg? Tom Sloper's book, The Red Dragon & The West Wind, is the most comprehensive book in existence about the American game. AND see FAQ 19 for fine points of the American rules (and commonly misunderstood rules). AND get the official rulebook from the NMJL (see FAQ 3). Linda Fisher's website is the only website that describes American rules: http://sites.google.com/site/mahjrules/.