Please click here if you do not see a Nav Frame at left and Header Frame above - you'll need them!
2007年
8月
19日
Japanese Modern (riichi/dora).
We've all experienced frustration when playing majan. That's part of the appeal of the game - if we never experienced frustration, the game would be so easy it approaches boredom! And some of us like to share our frustration with others. Maybe that's why so many of my recent columns have been written about frustrating situations I've found myself in. I've been playing on Ron2 mostly, of late. For each of the following, would you throw the same tile I did? Answers in italics at the end.
Column #332
1. I threw 8S. Probably should have gotten rid of terminals to go for tanyao. Not that it mattered. Somebody else won before my 2nd discard after that.
2. I threw a 3S, calling for 1S or 1P. Not that it mattered. Somebody else won right away.
3. Pretty obvious - the chun (R) is the standout sore thumb here. Everything else looks pretty promising, but a long way to go. Well, forget it. Another player won shortly after.
4. I had been thinking to throw 5M, but picking 4M changed that plan. However, there's all those pairs - doncha hate it when you have four pairs? 'Cuz now ya gotta think chii toitsu, seven pairs. Easy to go for when you have five pairs, but hell when you have four. Toi-toi (all pungs) is another possibility, so I threw 8S.
5. Fairly easy this time: 9M. Everything else is connected, although the 2446 combo is awkward. And that long run portends itsu (pure 1-9 straight). But never mind, somebody else won.
6. I threw 5P. Nobody bit, but this one got away too.
7. Looks really good for pinfu tanyao, right? That's what I thought too, so I threw 9P. But somebody beat me to the win yet again.
8. Threw 3P, waiting for ao (G). Somebody else won before I got one. And that's the way it goes.
Click the entries in the header frame, above, to read other columns.
Question or comment about this column? Email 
and the discussion will be posted on the Mah-Jongg Q&A Bulletin Board.
Links about Japanese-style mah-jongg:
© 2007 Tom Sloper. All rights reserved.