how not to play mah jong
Feb. 17th, 2008 07:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dubdobdeeooh i found my instruction book in among the kidlit! we bought it opposite the british museum after the whole family had seen the MUMMY (except i didn't dare look at it just in case!) in 1971 or so -- also we bought two nice little furry chinese dragons on cardboard bases but they came to pieces eventually
anyway as i said, it contains MUCH BOGUS NONSENSE about how to play in regard to "special hands", which the chinese don't use (or anyway they only use some):
some hands in the book i am unconvinced have kosher provenance viz:
GRETA'S GARDEN
one of each dragon, one of each wind, a run from 1-7 in one suit
GERTIE'S GARTER
"knitting" hand, viz ALL PAIRS, but the pairs = pair of 1s, pair of 2s, pair of 3s, pair of 4s, pair of 5s, pair of 6s and pair of 7s, in one or two suits only
HITLER'S BLUNDER
Run from 1-7 in same suit, pung of dragons (ie 3 of the same colour) and one of each wind
in successive paras on the first page, the author
a: quotes a disgruntled "chinese gentleman":"We Chinese have played Mah Jonh one way for a thousand years, but you foreigners have played it a thousand ways in one year!"
b: then argues (surely correctly?) that "if all players would strictly adhere to this set of rules they would more or less become UNIVERSAL" -- yes more or less they will
c: And continues (with monumental cheek, given the fact of HITLER'S BLUNDER et al): "After all, the game was invented by the Chinese and their rules should be followed as closely as possible"
anyway as i said, it contains MUCH BOGUS NONSENSE about how to play in regard to "special hands", which the chinese don't use (or anyway they only use some):
some hands in the book i am unconvinced have kosher provenance viz:
GRETA'S GARDEN
one of each dragon, one of each wind, a run from 1-7 in one suit
GERTIE'S GARTER
"knitting" hand, viz ALL PAIRS, but the pairs = pair of 1s, pair of 2s, pair of 3s, pair of 4s, pair of 5s, pair of 6s and pair of 7s, in one or two suits only
HITLER'S BLUNDER
Run from 1-7 in same suit, pung of dragons (ie 3 of the same colour) and one of each wind
in successive paras on the first page, the author
a: quotes a disgruntled "chinese gentleman":"We Chinese have played Mah Jonh one way for a thousand years, but you foreigners have played it a thousand ways in one year!"
b: then argues (surely correctly?) that "if all players would strictly adhere to this set of rules they would more or less become UNIVERSAL" -- yes more or less they will
c: And continues (with monumental cheek, given the fact of HITLER'S BLUNDER et al): "After all, the game was invented by the Chinese and their rules should be followed as closely as possible"
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Date: 2008-02-17 07:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 01:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 01:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 02:08 pm (UTC)Hitler's Blunder - yeah, REAL Chinese
Date: 2008-02-17 08:06 pm (UTC)I have a Mah Jongg set of cards with a fortune-telling book to go with it - only basic instructions on how to play the game, no names for any hands at all. I used to play a lot with my friends (it's fun!) and we would take to calling cards various things - the Toad would become Crapaud and thus be called "the crapper" and Earth would be pronounced in best Flash Gordon-style as "EEEERRRRRRRTH" - and of course whenever the East card came up, it wouldn't just be East but "The East Is Red!"