Dragon symbols on mahjong dice?

[Barticle]

Well, if one thing´s certain it´s that Yakitori is yet another aspect of Mahjong where every house plays a different version!

I\'ve also picked up Eleanor Whitneys fabulous book and have familiarised myself with the modern Chinese presented there which I also like.

I got that a couple of weeks ago and I have to say it´s easily the most useful mahjong book I´ve read.

Been playing Riichi/Reach for a few months now after finding the european riichi rules at http://eng.riichi.nl/rules.htm and took a instant liking to it.

I used the European Mahjong Association guide too - an excellent free resource.

I really like both modern chinese and japanese rules. I prefer Modern Chinese to Ari Ari (Modern Japanese). But the tension and speed of Riichi/Reach brings a fresh approach and I tend to play this exclusively online .. playing Mod/Chinese, Ari Ari or Riichi when face to face depending on the opponents.

Cool - given the length and variety of your experience you´re clearly in a better position than most to discuss the different versions. (I´ve only played Reach.)

In social games I read that the forfeit often takes the form of one or more round of drinks rather than a monetary loss.

That´s kinda fun. Presumably it´s two "rounds" in Japanese mahjong - east and south! :lol:

[Tom Sloper]

I\'ve also picked up Eleanor Whitneys fabulous book and have familiarised myself with the modern Chinese presented there which I also like.

There\'s nothing "modern" about the variant Whitney describes. In fact, most folks refer to that particular variant as "classical" because it goes back to the origins of the game, or at least the 1910\'s and 1920\'s when the game was becoming widely popular. Very few people still play mahjong using the Chinese scoring described by Whitney, especially in China. All that, then, plus the fact that the book was written 45 years ago, make me cringe at hearing the variant referred to as "modern."

Your "modern Chinese" = my "Chinese Classical."

The thing I always liked about Whitney is that it described furiten. I was trying to figure out Japanese riichi/dora mahjong (which Whitney doesn\'t describe, of course) in the early 1990\'s, well before the information was available in English anywhere. Whitney turned out to be my best and only hope, but it took me a long time to figure out that "sacred discard" was furiten. Her description of the 1-4-7 rule was another lifesaver in this regard. And her description of strategy is one of the best.

But the things I dislike about Whitney are the fact that her descriptions of numerous variants are interspersed with one another. I found it difficult to sift through and find only the information pertinent to the variant I was trying to study. That, and that the variants she describes are all old.

"Modern American" = "the way some* people played Chinese Classical during the 1920\'s, in America."

"Modern Chinese" = "the way everybody else* played Chinese Classical during the 1920\'s."

"Modern Japanese" = "Japanese Classical," the way people played mahjong in Japan during the 1960\'s, before riichi/dora was invented. Okay, so her "ready" rule is "riichi." But still a lot of differences between the way the Japanese played in the 1960\'s and the way they play today.

And the fact that when you\'re trying to learn Japanese mahjong from her book, she doesn\'t use ANY Japanese terms.

[HotelFSR]

Having read the Whitney book as well, I agree with Tom.


You seem to confuse some of the terms relating to Japanese mahjong.

e.g. Ari Ari is not a distinct ruleset. It\'s just Japanese Reach Mahjong allowing open tanyao and red fives. EDIT: not red fives, atozuke.

The round wind marker is also NOT called Matsuoka. That\'s the brand name of the particular marker in the picture you posted.

It\'s called the chicha mark.


The versions of the game described in Whitney\'s book are all essentially obsolete.

[Benjamin]

Ari Ari refers to kuitan and atozuke and is a subset of Modern Japanese rules. Neither of the \"Ari\" refer to red fives, but these can be considered to be a subset of Ari Ari.

[HotelFSR]

I stand corrected.

[Barticle]

And her description of strategy is one of the best.

All the worked examples are great too.

And the fact that when you\'re trying to learn Japanese mahjong from her book, she doesn\'t use ANY Japanese terms.

Presumably the book was revised because my ´77 edition has plenty of Japanese terms in the glossary.

Pon, chi(i), kan and riichi all have their own entries, as do the Japanese names for maybe twenty modern yaku and most of the yakuman. (although the words yaku and yakuman themselves are absent, ron too)

Also "fu ri ten" (with spaces) is defined there as sacred discard, and vice versa.

There\'s nothing "modern" about the variant Whitney describes.

There´s certainly been at least one change to the book - I saw the current edition on Amazon and the last three words from the subtitle "how to play, score & win the modern game" have been dropped!

[Tom Sloper]

my ´77 edition has plenty of Japanese terms in the glossary.

Pon, chi(i), kan and riichi all have their own entries, as do the Japanese names for maybe twenty modern yaku and most of the yakuman. (although the words yaku and yakuman themselves are absent, ron too)

Also "fu ri ten" (with spaces) is defined there as sacred discard, and vice versa.

I hadn\'t realized there was a new edition.
Now that you mention it, those glossary definitions exist in the old edition as well. A mention of the terms within the main body of the text would have been far preferable.

the last three words from the subtitle "how to play, score & win the modern game" have been dropped!

Good. I consulted with Tuttle on the book a few years ago and pointed out a number of things to them, and that was one of the things I hammered on. Hadn\'t realized that any of my feedback on that book had had any real-world effect.

[Barticle]

Cool, I wish people did what I told them to! :lol:

It could be worth a look in the new version - they might´ve picked up some more of your suggestions and added dora.

Or they might have just changed the title to save them having to update the text...