SLOPER ON MAH-JONGG

American Mah Jongg (2012 NMJL card). Continuing defense by the numbers. You know the drill by now; an opponent is showing two exposures.

1. Quints #4; 2C is hot.

2. Quints #2; 3C is hot, and she needs singles that could be 1C 2C 4C or 5C. Hard to tell! Tread carefully.

3. Quints #4 again; 1B is hot.

4. And again Quints #4; this time 5C is hot.

5. The hot tile could be any dragon (Quints #3). Look for clues, but they can fool you (she could have any number of jokers).

6. Quints #4; 4B is hot.

7. Quints #3; F is hot.

8. Evens #5. Hot: sixes and eights (in the other suits).

9. Consec. #2; hot tiles are 3C 3B 5D.

10. Consec. #1 or Consec. #3; hot tiles are1D 2D 5D, plus fives and sixes in bams and craks.

11. Consec. #3; sixes and sevens are hot (in the other two suits).

12. Evens #4; the hot tiles are 2B 4D 8C.

13. Consec. #2 or #3. Hot tiles could be 3D 3B 4B 6C.

14. Evens #4 or #5; hot tiles are 2B 4D 6D 6C.

15. She's dead. Consec. #6 is a concealed hand.

16. Evens #5 or Consec. #3. Hot: 2B 3B 5B 5D 7D and 8D; she's given you quite a puzzle!

This week's column was put together in a slapdash manner. Find my mistakes and get a tip o' the Sloper hat!
Note: six days went by without anybody detecting the mistake in #16 (I found it and fixed it myself). So putcher thinking caps on this week!

Here's that hat right here...! And it goes to Michael G, who spotted a flub on September 28. Sharp eyes, Michael!

Click the entries in the header frame, above, to read other columns.

Question or comment about this column? I often, um... intentionally... "miss" something; maybe you'll be the first one to spot it! Email and the discussion will be posted on the Mah-Jongg Q&A Bulletin Board.

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Where to order the yearly NMJL card: Read FAQ 7i.

Need rules for American mah-jongg? Tom Sloper's book, The Red Dragon & The West Wind, is the most comprehensive book in existence about the American game. AND see FAQ 19 for fine points of the American rules (and commonly misunderstood rules). AND get the official rulebook from the NMJL (see FAQ 3). Linda Fisher's website is the only website that describes American rules: http://sites.google.com/site/mahjrules/.

© 2012 Tom Sloper. All rights reserved.