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December 25, 2005 (Year of the Rooster)

Column #246

Chinese Official Tournament Rules. Some first-discard exercises, courtesy of the new and improved COMJ program [no longer available] from Nine Dragons Software.

For each of the following, what would your first discard be? My answers in italics below. No picking ahead!

1. A toughie. Not very strong towards All Types. There are three pairs, and all the suit tiles are "connected." My seat is W and S is worthless, so my first throw is S.

2. Chows, possibly Mixed Straight. But be prepared to make Mixed Triple instead. For now, lose any honor.

3. It could be a challenge to make eight points with a two-suit hand. The bams are strong. Keep the honors for the time being, throw 9D.

4. Two pairs, and numerous lone honors. The lone honors bring Knitting to mind - but every suit wants to be 258, and none of them wants to be 147 or 369. Could become a standard Mixed Shifted hand. Best way to preserve maximum options is to discard 2C.

5. Strong indication of a clean or pure (Half Flush or Full Flush) hand. 1D is most expendable.

6. The mah-jongg gods are trying to tell you something - if only you could figure out what it is! Even with that natural pung, the most likely hand will be made of chows. Options worth preserving right off: Pure Straight (bams), Mixed Straight, Mixed Shifted. The 7Bs will probably be reduced to a pair later, so for now lose the extraneous 2B.

7. A strong candidate for Knitting with honors. The 258 will be in craks, the 369 in bams, and the 147 in dots. Your immediately available discards are: 4B, 8B, 5D, 6D. Pick one.

8. Three pairs - possible makings of an All Types hand. Maybe pungs or pairs, but that's never a certainty. A variety of possible and valid discards, including W and 1D at the top of the list.

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Photos of the Third China Majiang Championship and Forum in Beijing, 2005.
The official website of the Third China Majiang Championship and Forum in Beijing, 2005.
The official website of the Open European Mahjong Championship
Photos of the 2005 OEMC
Photos of the 2003 CMOC.
Photos of the 2002 WCMJ.

Want to play Chinese Official rules on your computer?

• Four Winds from Lagarto & Armadillo Graphics is available at http://www.4windsmj.com.
• Give Mahjongtime some of your time at http://www.mahjongtime.com
• Jade Dragon Mahjong is playable at http://www.jadedragonmahjong.com/
• Download Chinese Official rules for free: http://www.mahjongnews.com/comj.htm.
• FAQ 22 answers the most frequently asked questions about Chinese Official scoring.
• Tom's home-made booklet goes into strategy and provides a little info about some rule refinements that have occurred since the downloadable book. See http://www.sloperama.com/tour/rulebook.htm.
• For more help with your C.O.I.R. strategy, see www.tilehog.net.
• If you can read Chinese, the full and complete official rules are at http://us.mjclub.com/RulesAndScore.

© 2005 Tom Sloper. All rights reserved.