Topic: Mahjong in the Twin Cities, Minnesota

I organized my first semi-public mahjong event today. I was there, along with 8 friends I've taught to play, and 9 brand new players too.

We are learning, teaching, and playing Zung Jung style, and today several tables had score sheets going. A very successful event, with four tables going for a couple of hours, and games started at 4:00 and the last table stopped just over five hours later.

I'm looking forward to more mahjong!

Are you planning to do another get together soon? Myself and a couple of my friends have been wanting to play more frequently but our schedules never match up well.  

We had another event last week. We only had ten people this time, but there was short notice.

I'm working on setting up another game soon. I got your email address from the signup form here:
Twin Cities Mahjong League: Stay Informed

Anyone who is interested is welcome to sign up there too.

Chris

Oh wow! So nice I asked you twice, huh?

Sounds great. Can't wait to play with you guys.

Btw, what are the differences between the rules you play and japanese riichi mahjong? I know red dora aren't used in other rule sets. Do you use flower tiles?

~Nikki

We play Zung Jung style, developed by Alan Kwan. It's used in the World Series of Mahjong tournament.

Official Zung Jung site: Zung Jung Mahjong official website
World Series of Mahjong: http://www.wsom168.com/

We don't use flower tiles… usually.

Some of the differences:
- no riichi declaration
- no dora
- no kong limit
- additive scoring system
- no doubling dealer's payments
- deal always moves each hand
- more different ways to score, and scores for most patterns are the same if concealed or exposed

Hope to see you soon!

Sounds very simplified.

Does anyone that's come to previous meets play any other rule sets?

Just a couple - my wife and I taught nearly all of them to play mahjong. We've only taught Zung Jung to them.

But one player who showed up last time is from Japan, and has played Zung Jung, Riichi, and probably other styles. He also lived in Portland until recently, and played Zung Jung and Riichi there. My wife is also familiar with MCR, Chinese Classical, and European Classical.

I would give Riichi a serious try, and we could probably get one or two others to give it a go.

That'd be cool. I've looked into a few of the other rule sets. It seems like any of the American styles get over simplified. Makes me wonder if they thought we're just too dumb to learn a Chinese gambling game.

We've been talking about playing some Chinese Classical for a change but so far Riichi seems the most fun. I recently acquired a translucent tile set for Washizu Riichi Mahjong. Another style we've wanted to play for a while. Haven't had four people in the same place at once to try it out yet though.

Tom Sloper says that learning American style first breaks many people so they are then unable to learn Chinese styles. There are no sequences! And every year you have to learn 60 or more new hands. bah. I would also be up for a game of MCR.

In any case, you're on the invitation list for the next event!

Have to agree with Sloper on that one. Trying to teach an "American" player Riichi, although not impossible, is much harder than teaching someone who's never touched a tile before.

World Series rules, I like… As a stepping stone into Riichi. It's a fairly bare-bones version but, with many of the hand combinations that easily translate into Riichi Yakus. Itsu, Tanyao, Chii Toitsu, etc. etc. They may not know the names of them right away but, they'll pick it up eventually.

Minnesota is a bit too far from Portland, OR for me to join you but, I wish you all the best with your newly formed group. Although, it may be time consuming (the larger it gets, the more so) but, teaching and playing mahjong (in any of its forms) is very rewarding, IMO.

Mhm! I didn't think Riichi was that difficult. I self taught myself. I've taught six of my friends how to play and since they've taught a few others. I think the most complicated for us was scoring but we just used the charts until we picked it up.