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WEEKLY MAH-JONGG

By Tom Sloper

July 29, 2007
Column #329

American Mah-Jongg (2007 NMJL card). Instant death exposures. In column 327 we looked at some two-exposure deaths. This week, single-exposure deaths. Your brain only needs to work half as hard!

1. Why this player is dead instantly: two problems. First, she used a joker to represent a single tile. Look at the back of your 2007 NMJL card. Down near the bottom of the left pane you'll easily notice some words shown in bold type: "NEVER" and "single" and "pair." That sentence says it all.
Secondly, the only exposures you're permitted to make, prior to a mah-jongg declaration, are pungs, kongs, quints, and sextets. A kong is four identical tiles. "NEWS" is of course not a kong; it's four singles.
If a player puts up an illegal exposure but hasn't yet discarded, she may simply take it back, no penalty. But once she's discarded, she's dead.

2. Why this player is dead instantly: two reasons. Firstly, this is 2007 (see date above). Secondly, see #5.

3. Why this player is dead instantly: again, two reasons. Firstly, she used a joker to complete a pair. Look at the back of your 2007 NMJL card. Down near the bottom of the left pane you'll easily notice some words shown in bold type: "NEVER" and "single" and "pair." Hey wait, haven't we already had this conversation? Secondly, see #5 (below).

4. Why this player is dead: She used two suits to make the 2007. The 2 and 7 must always be from the same suit. That ought to be a no-brainer.

5. Why this player is dead: see second reason in #1 (above). "2007" is not a kong. It's two singles and a pair. Illegal to expose except for mah-jongg.

6. Why this player is dead: the only permissible wind pungs on the 2007 card are W and S.

7. Why this player is dead: there are no flower quints on the 2007 card.

Finally, here's a two-exposure death I didn't have room for last time: 888 999 in one suit. If someone shows this, she's dead. Think about it.

麻雀

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Question or comment about this column? Email and the discussion will be posted on the Mah-Jongg Q&A Bulletin Board.

Haven't ordered the 2007 NMJL card yet? Read FAQ 7i.

Need rules for American mah-jongg? Tom Sloper's book, The Red Dragon & The West Wind, is published by HarperCollins, and can be ordered through Amazon.com. AND see FAQ 19 for fine points of the American rules (and commonly misunderstood rules). AND get the booklet from the NMJL (see FAQ 3).