come in and look around

Japanese Reach Mahjong Rules. Strategy, news, sets - anything!

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or2az
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come in and look around

Post by or2az » Wed May 20, 2015 2:18 am

Came upon an Asian Market in Newport, Oregon, which looked interesting from the outside, so I decided to check inside. Besides food, it had all sorts of oriental items including a couple of new mahjong sets. They were in the same case as the one I picked up but the tiles were 2-colored, one back was green, the other purple, and a little smaller, I think. One was $70, the other $80. They had poker chips (smaller size) and that triangular marker thing (that I don't have) which I think indicates a Hong Kong set. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=53280
The store also had these mahjong tile bracelets (made in China) and something which I think were mahjong cards of some sort but I'm not sure because I couldn't read the box. Except for PVC.
I found this to be a very interesting browsing experience (japanese chewing gum for $1.50, cool!)
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Re: come in and look around

Post by Ignatius » Wed May 20, 2015 11:43 am

Looks like those were chinese mahjong cards, but I'm no sure enough...
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Re: come in and look around

Post by Barticle » Fri May 29, 2015 6:25 pm

I got a new mahjong book in the mail today, a 1989 reprint of a 1979 English booklet about Chinese rules.

The flat triangular marker is described as the "Start-Jong Indicator" and simply marks the first dealer. A separate item with a rotating aperture (the "Jong") indicates the round wind.

In most Japanese sets the flat rectangular marker fulfils both these roles (easier when there are only two round winds).

The triangle is marked with 起莊 in semi-cursive text which would mean something like "beginning house".
Last edited by Barticle on Sat May 30, 2015 10:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: come in and look around

Post by or2az » Sat May 30, 2015 3:05 am

Hi Bart,
found a couple of pictures of those triangular markers. (I do have that rotating aperture wind indicator)
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I knew in advance that I was finally going to get a chance at using my big-tile set (for chinese mahjong, unfortunately), so tried to foresee possible problems. These ladies are very set in their ways. I tried to get them to use the dora and kan dora indicators (not the ura dora) instead of the flowers and to have separate discard pools. Explained the rules and the benefits (less luck, more skill), but they politely resisted.
Luckily, I did find a nice large piece of green felt at a garage sale (paid a dollar) to cover the table and I made 2 flexible plastic things to push the wall to the center for convenience. They play with the American style racks and I aim to please. It looked pretty cool.
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Tried again to explain the drawbacks (nicely) with that all-face-down concealed kong. Like I said, set in their ways.
Don't think they were very thrilled that I won 8 of 11 games (but they "concealed" it nicely).

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Re: come in and look around

Post by Barticle » Sat May 30, 2015 10:20 pm

Good work! (on the wins and the wordplay) :)

That purple triangle is the same as the one in my new book. In fact your image appears to be cropped from the exact same photo.

In Amy Lo's book on Cantonese, Taiwanese and Shanghainese mahjong it's called a "Hei Jong" and there's a different image of the same purple design.

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Re: come in and look around

Post by or2az » Mon Aug 08, 2016 4:03 am

Went back to that asian market and picked up these 4 plastic "rulers" for 5 dollars. They were still there from last year at 10 dollars so when she offered them to me for half price, I just couldn't resist. Initially, I didn't see why each of the three packages had 3 green ones and a purple but now it works out fine.
In addition to pushing the wall forward, I am using the purple one as sort of a Chiicha Māku, for use by the first dealer in the game. The rest of us get green ones, looks much nicer than the white ones I previously cut from a window shade. I already had 2 small circular discs which I super-glued together to function as a Round-Wind indicator, showing east on one side and south on the other. This stays in the middle of my seat-wind indicator and gets flipped over when the deal returns to the purple ruler. Cool.
People passing through the room ask what kind of a game this is since the set-up looks different than the other table (chinese game). I reply, Japanese Mahjong, We're Professionals!
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Re: come in and look around

Post by or2az » Thu Aug 25, 2016 2:10 am

The bracelet in the picture at the top of this page was still there from over a year ago and because one of the elastic strings holding it together was badly frayed and would break soon, she gave it to me for free. Anyone have any suggestions on how to clean yak bone?
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Re: come in and look around

Post by Barticle » Thu Aug 25, 2016 5:35 pm

Centuries! :lol:

I'm sure there are some guides online about cleaning bone jewellery and bone carvings. Personally I'd favour a worn and tarnished surface for a more antique look!

However if a preemptive repair seems viable you might want to get a sturdy new cord from a craft store. You could also consider not looping the cord so the tiles can be suspended vertically as a charm off a backpack or rear-view mirror - and maybe splitting the suit and honour tiles into two separate strings.

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Re: come in and look around

Post by or2az » Sun Aug 28, 2016 12:53 am

You're right. A worn and tarnished surface would look better. Decided not to clean them.
So I bought this wooden box at a garage sale for a dollar, add a decal I picked up on ebay, plus a small touch of crazy glue, wave the magic wand and......presto, something to cart my accessories around in.
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Re: come in and look around

Post by Ignatius » Sun Aug 28, 2016 2:16 am

Wow that look sooo awesome!

Really cool work there.
Life is as beautiful as you want it to be, but it´s only one. That´s why you must not get tired of it. Don´t care if you don´t say something that seems "important" because your mere existence is important for someone.

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Re: come in and look around

Post by Shirluban » Sun Aug 28, 2016 8:56 am

Very nice! Image
Cats don't do タンヤオ (tan-yao) but タニャーオ (ta-nya-o).
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