SLOPER ON MAH-JONGG

By Tom Sloper
Cinco de Mayo, 2024
Column #806

American Mah Jongg (2024 NMJL card). Various quandaries.

1. Only one pair: greens. Sparse friends, but big things start small. Some same-suit and opp.-suit hands in Consec (#2 and #5). Also could go 369 #6 (but that needs four flowers and we got none), or even S&P #5 (six tiles). W-D #6 needs a pair of flowers, which (as noted) we don't got. Winds are likely to blow in during the dance, but not flowers, so forget W-D. High numbers outnumber lows. Pass E W 4B.

2. Two pairs: flowers and twos. Problem: all those high numbers make poor "friends" for these two pairs. Since it's early in the dance, stay on the low road, and pass high odd numbers.

3. Pairs of ones and twos, and a pung of sevens. The pung is strong, of course, and it works with the twos for Lucky Sevens #2, so keep all craks. Preserve the 1D pair for joker bait (at least for now).

4. Two pairs: ones and threes. This looks better for 369 than anything in Consec, which spells trouble for the 1D pair. Not strong enough to stop the Charleston. Pass 8D 7B 2D. Maybe the 1D pair will be useful for joker bait. (Why does that sound familiar? Déjà vu?)

5. With all those eights and nines, Consec #4 is an option (eight tiles), and of course Any Like, nines outnumbering eights (but only six tiles, meh). S&P #3 might work (nine tiles). This is an optional pass; offer your two sixes, or one, or none.

6. This looks like it wants to go Consec, but is it really good for any hand in the family? For #4 you would have to ditch a whole suit and get single threes, and for #8 you need a pair of sixes from scratch. Go Any Like Numbers instead. Fours outnumber fives. Throw 5B if it's too early for joker bait.

7. Nothing in Odds uses kongs of threes and sevens. This is Addition #3. Hot tiles are F 4D; flowers are key.

8. A set of evens and a set of odds, does that look confusing? These numbers are not too far apart for Consec #7. The hot tiles are 3C 4B.

麻雀

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Questions about the 2024 NMJL card? See FAQ 16

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! You'll thank me later.

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. Note that every owner of the book also needs the errata, which are updated ongoing, as needed. 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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