SLOPER ON MAH-JONGG

American Mah Jongg (2023 NMJL rules). There's a new rulebook edition, just published at the end of 2023.

Mah Jongg Made Easy has been subject to revisions since the original 1984 edition was superseded by a new edition in 2013, with revisions in 2018 and 2020. Herewith, some observations on the 2023 edition.

1. Every page except the blank pages at the back has been modified.
2. Fine detail was paid attention to, from punctuation marks to the use of capitalization or bold/italics.
3. Many clarifications are now inserted into walkthroughs or numbered rules, filling in some gaps in a good way.
4. Example: page 5, 3rd paragraph, now says "any flowers" instead of "same flowers."
5. Another: the last sentence, where tile groupings are introduced, it explicitly (finally!) says that groups like NEWS, 33669, and 202x are singles and pairs, so may not include jokers.
6. Another example of an improvement: page 10, where the description of the dealing process is much cleaner. One of the three diagrams has been removed.
7. There was a lot of reorganization of concepts, intended to group information or make it walk the reader through the concepts in a logical way.
8. The downside of the reorganization, for me, is that my FAQ 19 provides source references for many of the rules, and now a new set of page numbers and rule numbers will have to be added throughout the FAQ. Some of the answers cite MJME2020 page numbers and rule numbers, for example, and now it's necessary to cite MJME2023 page numbers and rule numbers throughout. That'll be a lengthy project!
9. A pictorial error was fixed on page 5. Alternate modern red and green dragon images have replaced the old erroneous Chinese red and green dragon characters. Previously, the page 5 image showed a modified "East" character for the Red (instead of the correct "center" ideogram), and a "crak" (10,000) character for the Green (instead of the correct "fa" ideogram). Now the image just shows two sets of American-styled Reds and Greens.

It's not all improvements. There are some places where information stated previously is repeated.

10. Example: page 5, where it says that East pulls the end wall tiles "flush against the rack," twice (once to state the procedure, and a second time when describing an example). Saying it twice is likely to confuse some novices.
11. Another example: page 13, 2nd paragraph from the bottom (begins with "Note:"). Sentences 5 and 6 just repeat sentences 2 and 3.

(To be continued.)

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

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).

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