mahjong anyone?
October 21st, 2010 at 1:31:04 AM
permalink
Madmen program has revived it.
article
article
the next time Dame Fortune toys with your heart, your soul and your wallet, raise your glass and praise her thus: “Thanks for nothing, you cold-hearted, evil, damnable, nefarious, low-life, malicious monster from Hell!” She is, after all, stone deaf. ... Arnold Snyder
October 21st, 2010 at 2:15:58 AM
permalink
I just played Mah Jong for the first time in about 10 years a few days ago. It is a very social game, which despite looking very complicated, is still mostly a game of luck. It is more or less a glorified version of gin rummy.
"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow." -- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NIV)
October 21st, 2010 at 5:36:19 AM
permalink
Quote: WizardIt is more or less a glorified version of gin rummy.
One big problem with it is that the game changes every year, just when you're getting a decent feel for the point values for different combinations. Immutable chances are far superior.
October 21st, 2010 at 9:14:25 AM
permalink
Quote: SanchoPanzaOne big problem with it is that the game changes every year, just when you're getting a decent feel for the point values for different combinations. Immutable chances are far superior.
What I find frustrating is there are so many different sets of rules. Specifically, what are the winning combinations, how many points are they worth, and can you "pong." Every time you play with different faces you have to adapt to a new set of rules.
"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow." -- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NIV)
October 21st, 2010 at 9:45:57 AM
permalink
Quote: WizardI just played Mah Jong for the first time in about 10 years a few days ago. It is a very social game, which despite looking very complicated, is still mostly a game of luck. It is more or less a glorified version of gin rummy.
Aha! I just caught you in an ethnocentric non-P.C. culturally biased observation. (That merits the death penalty where I live.)
What you REALLY meant to say was that gin rummy was a glorified version of Mah Jong. Given the games' relative longevities.
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.---George Bernard Shaw
October 21st, 2010 at 10:04:12 AM
permalink
Both are versions of a Chinese game that dates back to the 11th Century. Mah Jong isn't that old (mid-19th century or later) , and Gin Rummy was turn of the 20th century.
"Then you can admire the real gambler, who has neither eaten, slept, thought nor lived, he has so smarted under the scourge of his martingale, so suffered on the rack of his desire for a coup at trente-et-quarante" - Honore de Balzac, 1829
October 21st, 2010 at 1:50:44 PM
permalink
Since there is in the world a pai gow style casino version of it, is it possible that such will make it to the US? After all, chasing fads can be quite profitable.
I'm thinking there is a fear that it still is not much played by American men, which the article seemed to say. And that any such idea will get shot down by the casino, as women who play it are probably viewed as unlikely to give a casino version a try.
I'm thinking there is a fear that it still is not much played by American men, which the article seemed to say. And that any such idea will get shot down by the casino, as women who play it are probably viewed as unlikely to give a casino version a try.
the next time Dame Fortune toys with your heart, your soul and your wallet, raise your glass and praise her thus: “Thanks for nothing, you cold-hearted, evil, damnable, nefarious, low-life, malicious monster from Hell!” She is, after all, stone deaf. ... Arnold Snyder
October 21st, 2010 at 1:58:57 PM
permalink
There was also a different maj jong based game at the Place Station several years ago. I think it was a huge flop.
"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow." -- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NIV)
