Monopoly, Freesias And Chapter 4

I was playing with three lovely women this week, one of which was the famous Wendy, one of my mahjong heroes. The other two were also shit hot players. I love it when the clickety clack goes quickly.

Today I won with a Traditional mahjong,  Jean’s medley and (I think) Three philosophers. I went for Little joe, Moon at bottom of well, Dragonfly and Numbers doubled (a new one for me) as well as Bombshell and Run pung and pair. I got a few games fishing and played two goulash games although one was by accident. I was so focused on my hero saying she loved playing goulash, I popped the white tiles into the mix, forgetting completely that one of the others had won only seconds before!

We played it anyway.

So a good chat about how old scrabble is, the joy of monopoly in all our youths - taking over a day to play a complete game - and how scrabble is harder these days because of all the new words in the English language.

But Mahjong is Mahjong and although different countries have slightly different rules, the main principles of the game are common to all.

The week has been interesting. My chapter 4 has caused me some difficulty but other than that, I have spent some time questioning my characters for the current project. I am writing a paragraph about each - their reason/ circumstance supporting their raison d’être. Just giving me a bit more insight into their dialogue reactions.  I’m also painting freesias at the moment; badly but it’s a start.

Won’t assault you with my poor painting at the moment. Give me a little more time to accomplish before I show and tell.

Interesting fact about Mahjong this week is…”The general strategy is to keep removing matching tiles so that each removal opens up more possibilities for future tile matching. If you have a pair that does not open anything, leave it until you need it. Don't forget that you should open up new tiles with every matched pair.”

Now if that makes any sense to you then you’re a better man than I Gunga Din (as says my mother).  Perhaps that’s the internet’s approach to American or Hong Kong Mahjong.  But it makes no sense to me. Unless it’s for a traditional Mahjong hand and even then, I’m not sure what it means. If you understand it, please leave a comment explaining this further (Ta).

COMBOs

TRADITIONAL MAHJONG - three pungs, a chow in the same suit and a pair of winds

JEAN’S MEDLEY - two white dragons and four crazy chows

THREE PHILOSOPHERS - three chows in different suits, a crazy chow and a pair in any suit

LITTLE JOE - A chow in each suit, a crazy chow and a pair of winds

MOON AT BOTTOM OF WELL - all one suit, four chows and a pair

DRAGONFLY - one of each dragon, a pung in each suit and a pair in any suit

NUMBERS DOUBLED - pair of winds, two pungs of same numbers in two suits (no 1s or 9s)

BOMBSHELL - chow in each suit, concealed pung of winds (no saying ‘PUNG’) and pair of dragons

RUN, PUNG AND PAIR - run 1-9, pung and a pair in the same suit

9 games in two hours, that’s not bad..

For those of you who are interested in playing, you need to get the book (cover shown above) for the English Rules.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” Abraham Lincoln

Pip pip everyone, be kind to yourselves and each other.

J