(This is written in a novice's point of view. Please take this in consideration.)
I think I got the hang of learning mahjong. I mean, I dont think of myself as an expert, nor do I revere myself as such. So... Here we go!
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When you play Mahjong, yyouhave about... 14 tiles? When you play it in an arcade, you have 14 buttons - A through N - that represent the tiles.
You can have the Marbles (or is it Balls?) Tiles, which look like the sides of a die. Like a deck of cards, they are nunbered from 1 - 9.
The second (and my personal favorite of the bunch) happens to be the deck of Bamboo. The Bamboo tiles do not start off as bamboo all the time! The fun part is that the Ace of the tile deck is a bird (or is it a sparrow? It's always green and red!) Those are also numbered from 1 - 9.
The third pair that I know is the suit of characters. The characters will have a red symbol underneath its respective number. Those are numbered from 1-9.
And last but not least, the HONORS tiles! There are four that represent the Four Winds - North, South, East, and West. I honestly dont know what the green one is... But I know there is a blank tile and a Dragon tile. Further research clears up that the three other tiles represent dragons - white, green, and red. Having an Honors tile in your meld can give you higher points.
When I play these mahjong games, I find that making a Yakuman is like finding needles in a haystack. Those are "rare combinations" that can give you boatloads of points! I find that having points equals lots of awesome opportunities to soar! I mean, I find playing mahjong fun and frustrating.
Here's why!
1) Under normal circumstances, you have no access to reading the opponents tiles. That's probably to avoid cheating. Every time I find the right tile, I feel like the opponent can read and access amenities otherwise unavailable to players. Not fair!
2) When you win, sometimes it's just for naught. At the beginning of some mahjong games, the opponent may start with higher points than you. (Hint: 1500 < 8000, for example).
3) When it goes to judgement time, no - ten and ten - pai [I]matters[\I]! That actually determines if you are ready to reach. Reaching technically signals the opponent that you have a winning hand. All you'll need is one more time to complete the set. Personally, I will try to get a variety of tiles to get a good hand.
4) My opponent sometimes trumps my skills. It pretty much infuriates me when I get my tile and my opponent calls!
I hate that!
Plus, this is just knowledge I acquired years ago!
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