Making Mahjong Card Game

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alban lusitanae
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Re:Making Mahjong Card Game

Post by alban lusitanae » Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:09 pm

Hi to all

First of all, I wish to thank you all for your kind words. I feel proud of the card :) And promise to change it according to the feedback and shall act upon it. :D
The only thing is, you are using a literal translation of \"white dragon\" which is not appropriate here. I believe that the Japanese refer to dragon tiles collectively as \"sangenpai\", and to the dragon tiles themselves as \"haku, hatsu, chun\" for white, green, red dragons respectively.

I have also read, however, that the red and green dragons may be informally referred to as \"aka\" and \"ao\" respectively, after their colors. And the \"daisangen\" yakuman graphic in at one mahjong game I have seen shows three allegorical figures in the colors you would expect. So I conclude that a literal white dragon *picture* on the tile is fitting, but not the two *Chinese characters*.
But you need to know that what we call \"dragons\" are not called \"dragons\" at all is asia. They are called \"gen\" ( \"origin\"? ), the third character in dai-san-gen.

So writing \"white dragon\" in kanji is off-purpose.
Very interesting posts. I also understand they are not dragons in the full aspect of the word.

In fact, culturally, as far as I know, each of the Three Dragons represent the Universe extreme forces: the White Dragon for Heaven; the green Dragon for Earth and the Red Dragon for Man.

This is part of what I have on ancient Mahjong:

The developers of the classical Mah Jong were educated and knew well the classical Chinese philosophical and mythological tradition, particularly the Book of Changes and the Book of Surprises. The elements of the game symbolize interaction of the three extremes of the universe: Heaven, Earth and Man, expressed in many ways, not only by images graved in the tiles, but also in a way the tiles form numerically significant groups and combinations.

Thus 144 is said to be the number of the plan of Earth, and the square formed by the tiles can be seen as a symbolic representation of the universe. Heaven is manifested in the Four Seasons, Earth in the Four regions (East, South, West and North), and Man in the Four Flowers (symbolizing motion or life). The Dragons (\'San Yuan\' or \'San Chi\' in Chinese, meaning \"Extremes\" ) symbolize Heaven (White Dragon, \'Po\', meaning \"white\" or\" blank\" ), Earth (Green Dragon, \'Fa\', meaning \"prosperous\" ) and Man (Red Dragon, \'Chung\', meaning \"center\", i.e. \"between Heaven and Earth\" ).

Furthermore, the suits (\'San Lei\', \"three categories\" ) represent movements of the three extremes. The Dots (properly termed \'Tung\', meaning \"wheels\" ) represent the Wheel of Heaven, the Bamboos (originally called \'Chou\', meaning \"axes\" ) signify Axis of of the Earth, and the Characters (originally called \'Shu\', meaning \"numbers\" ) represent the changes of the life of Man.

The supposed goal of Mah Jong is to collect a harmonious combination of elements (the Chinese actually do not say \'Mah Jong\' when they have a complete hand, but \'ho\' or \'fu\', the previous meaning \"harmony, peace\" and the latter meaning \"happiness, blessing, luck\" ). Symbolically – though not strategically – the most perfect way of going out is completing the pair (thus the reward in the classical Mah Jong given for going out on the pair).

On the other hand, some Chinese authors, who still emphasize the philosophical aspects of the game, might interpret the symbolism of Mah Jong in much more earthly terms, seeing the suits as symbols of food, shelter and money and Dragons as symbols of a high governmental position, first prize of a lottery, and longevity.

As such, I will keep the dragon image, since I like the idea of primordial forces of the universe. I will use the appropiate classical signs of course, and attempt a better version of the card. :)

So expect a revision soon. And feel free to comment on the philosophical text above :)

Cheers

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Re:Making Mahjong Card Game

Post by alban lusitanae » Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:35 pm

Hello again

Here\'s the white dragon Version 2. Decided to not place any corner indicators since the tile is normally blank and it makes a good contrast on it\'s own :) Comments welcome.

Preparing the green dragon. :D Image

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Re:Making Mahjong Card Game

Post by alban lusitanae » Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:53 pm

Hello again to all

Here I leave you with my green dragon card. :) Comments and feedback appreciated and welcomed.

Another thing, what do you think I should place as a master base in the coin suit? I-Ching coins? Have a nice pic actually...

Cheers

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Re:Making Mahjong Card Game

Post by alban lusitanae » Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:55 pm

I really should know how to work with the image place holder better... sigh...

Here it is Image

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Re:Making Mahjong Card Game

Post by alban lusitanae » Sat Sep 05, 2009 10:52 pm

small edit, I think it\'s better like this Image

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Re:Making Mahjong Card Game

Post by Shirluban » Mon Sep 07, 2009 2:55 pm

Nice!
Another thing, what do you think I should place as a master base in the coin suit? I-Ching coins? Have a nice pic actually...
I don\'t have time to search what \"I-Ching coins\" are, and I don\'t know what your pic looks, so I can\'t answer.

I think any thing barly round will do the job.
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Re:Making Mahjong Card Game

Post by alban lusitanae » Mon Sep 07, 2009 5:01 pm


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Re:Making Mahjong Card Game

Post by Barticle » Mon Sep 07, 2009 5:09 pm

I was interested in the I Ching when I was younger, although I only ever used UK coins rather than Chinese ones (or yarrow stalks). I have a few books on the subject and wrote a computer program to calculate and draw your trigrams, hexagram and moving lines. (A bit like the I Ching calculator in one of Douglas Adams´ books!)

I think they would look good on your cards - they´d certainly give a suitably oriental vibe. For added authenticity, be sure to use Japanese ones. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_mon_(currency)

Out of interest I looked up the kanji \"pin\" (in Pinzu) and it just means cylinder, tube or sleeve (in Japanese at least). (i.e. nothing about coins!)

http://nihongo.j-talk.com/parser/search ... ?pick=457B

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Re:Making Mahjong Card Game

Post by Tom Sloper » Mon Sep 07, 2009 5:50 pm

The suit is based on old money-suited cards, so I\'d just go with Chinese coins. Brass discs with a square hole in the middle.
But that\'s just me.
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Re:Making Mahjong Card Game

Post by alban lusitanae » Mon Sep 07, 2009 9:58 pm

Thx Barticle, but the link doesn\'t work.. do you have another? :unsure:

I was also inclined to the option of the chinese coins, like Tom said. I will find a good ancient japanese coin and make the coin suit and change it midgame if I feel like it :)

Bart, do you have good high resolution japanese coin pics? :laugh:

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Re:Making Mahjong Card Game

Post by alban lusitanae » Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:50 pm

aha made it, I can see the pics again :D

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Re:Making Mahjong Card Game

Post by Barticle » Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:54 am

Barticle wrote:For added authenticity, be sure to use Japanese ones.
I think I could´ve worded that better. What I should´ve said was... You could use Japanese coins to make the deck appropriate to Japanese mahjong or Chinese coins to make it authentic to the game´s Chinese roots.

Either way I think you´d want the iconic round coins with square holes, so perhaps just choose the image that looks best on the cards, keeping in mind that the resolution will need to be high enough to look okay enlarged on the 1 Dots and that it needs to look good as a red version too.

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Re:Making Mahjong Card Game

Post by alban lusitanae » Tue Sep 08, 2009 9:14 pm

no problem. got the point, was actually my thought on it

Just need top find a good res for it.
I\'ll start searching as soon as I finish the red dragon card.

Btw, what is the most traditional Bamboo 1? a Peacock?

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Re:Making Mahjong Card Game

Post by alban lusitanae » Tue Sep 08, 2009 10:01 pm

Here\'s another. :) Image

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Re:Making Mahjong Card Game

Post by Barticle » Wed Sep 09, 2009 12:37 pm

alban lusitanae wrote:Btw, what is the most traditional Bamboo 1? a Peacock?
My obsession with MJ has extended to collecting books, old and new. I did a quick survey and found three with peacocks and five with an S-shaped diving bird. Some sources describe the traditional bird as being the mythical creature Pe-Ling.

Personally I much prefer the peacock!

Your red dragon looks good, although the kanji does look a lot like a dagger sticking into the poor dragon´s head! :dry:

Perhaps move the dragon down a little to centre it (the kanji means "centre" so he should be well centred! :laugh:) and make the white border on the kanji a little thicker so it stands out better?

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