SLOPER ON MAH-JONGG

American Mah Jongg (2023 NMJL card). The 2023 card is here! Get your mah-jongg tiles on the table, turn'em all face-up, and follow along. That's the best way to learn a new card, you know; make each hand on the card, make it in multiple different suit combinations... Anyway, let's give the card a once-over (I'll do a second-over next week).

First, I always like to start by looking at each hand to see if it's new, or a repeat, or a variation on a hand from a previous card. Then, I look to see how Flowers and Dragons are handled on a new card.

There are 55 hands listed, with several of them having multiple iterations (with an "-or-" in between), so you could think of them as 70 hands if you want to make things complicated. But why would you?

There are five* hands repeated from last year's card: Evens #2, Consec #5, Odds #1, Odds #3, and S&P #5.

Twenty-one* of the hands are the same as a previous year. I only checked back to the year 2000, but none were repeats from 2000 to 2008, so I could have checked back only to 2009.

The biannually alternating hands are Consec #1 and the pung-kong-pung-kong hands (which were pung-pung-kong-kong last year). This year Evens #3 is 1 or 2 suits, as is Consec #2 (the most powerful hand on the card); when last seen in 2021, these were two suits only. Odds #2 and 369 #1 alternate the usual way. The pung-kong-pung-kong hands are the perennial "switcheroo" hands, easy to switch between and also easy to fool others. They have become even easier with the new single-suit variations. Odds #1 usually alternates shape biannually (mirroring Consec #1), but this year it didn't.

Five hands are variations on previous hands. And the remaining twenty-two hands are new (not seen in the past 20+ years of cards). That's a lot of new hands!

The Addition Hands are all new, simple "1+1=2" through "4+4=8" hands that hog up low and even numbers.

There are no Flower pungs or quints on this card; just kongs and pairs. There are three Dragon pung hands on this card, so Dragon pungs are not dead giveaways. Of interest is Like Numbers #2, which utilizes three Dragon singletons, very unusual. I'd say Like Numbers #2 could prove to be easier to make than one might think.

Next week I'll look into some more aspects of the 2023 card.

* Thanks and a tip of the Sloper hat to Debbie Barnett, who noticed a miscount, which has been corrected!

QUESTIONS about the 2023 NMJL card? See FAQ 16.

COMMENTS
Email . Hit me with your best shot!

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Your review of the new card

On Monday, April 3, 2023 at 10:24:08 AM EDT, Colette S wrote:
April 1 New Card Review
Thanks for breaking down the new and old hands. For some reason I seem to play Odd #1 a lot and see that it hasn't changed in several years.
You did mention that Like Numbers #2 "could prove to be easier to make than one might think" but we have to pay attention that it's concealed. Last year there were 3 Like Numbers -- all exposed. I imagine that'll catch a few off guard.
Good job as always,
Colette S

Thank you, Colette!
Re Odds #1, I think one reason you "seem" to play it a lot is that odd numbered tiles outnumber evens.
Re Like Numbers #2, that's an astute comment!
Play safe out there. And may the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Rochester, New York, USA
Monday, April 3, 2023
Donations appreciated

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Your review of the new card (Column 785), part 2

On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 12:12:19 AM EDT, Elisegk wrote:
addition hand on 1971, 1972 and 1974 cards!
I just inherited a very old set and it included the above 3 mah jongg cards.
all 3 had these 2 addition hands
FF 2222 + 2222= 4444
FF 4444 + 4444 = 8888
3 different suits
so the 2+2=4 addition has been on previous cards, but not in most people's lifetime of playing!!
they also had the FFF 1111 FFF 1111 hand from last year that I had not seen before!!
best,
Elise

On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 12:20:18 AM EDT, Elisegk wrote:
Re: addition hand on 1971, 1972 and 1974 cards!
actually there was one more card from the 1970s in the case and it had the same 4 addition hands that are on our card this year!!

Cool, cool. Thanks for sharing, Elise! There are lots of gaps in my card collection before 2000, so when I'm writing those reviews I only check back as far as 2000.
Play safe out there. And may the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Rochester, New York, USA
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Donations appreciated

Join Johni Levene's popular Facebook group, "Mah Jongg, That's It!" for lively conversations about American mah-jongg and all things mah-jongg. Like the new card, for instance!

The pseudonymous "Bubbe Fischer" is writing her own analysis of the 2023 card at BubbeMJ.blogspot.com.

Where to order the yearly NMJL card: Read FAQ 7i. But you're missing a bet if you don't order your NMJL card directly from the National Mah Jongg League!

Need rules for American mah-jongg? Tom Sloper's book, The Red Dragon & The West Wind, is the most comprehensive book about the American game, a good supplement to the League's official rulebook. AND see FAQ 19 for fine points of the American rules (and commonly misunderstood rules). AND every player should have a copy of Mah Jongg Made Easy, the official rulebook of the National Mah Jongg League (see FAQ 3 for info on mah-jongg books).

© 2023 Tom Sloper. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced without express written permission.