What kind of game is this?
- Details
- Created on Thursday, 23 December 2010 22:43
- Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 November 2012 18:00
- Written by Martin Rep
- Hits: 2805
AMSTERDAM - Just before Christmas, I received an e-mail from my mahjong friend Dan Glimne. Dan lives in Sweden and I met him, and his daughter Lynn, during the first World Championship in Mahjong, Tokyo 2002. (Nowadays he is involved in the internet mahjong server eMahjong.net - but that's another story.)
Dan travels a lot all over the world and since he is always looking for mahjong stuff, he sends me reports every now and then of remarkable findings. This time, however, he reports about what a friend of his found.
This is what Dan wrote to me.
"Hi again, Martin! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Mahjong Year in 2011!
"And in the meantime a little mystery, as you can see in the attached picture which a friend of mine -- and she is a mahjong player too! -- photographed a few days ago in Saigon in Vietnam, in the former Presidential Palace (now the "Reunificiation Palace"): clearly mahjong tiles, but only nine for each player? And why is the wall in an "H" shape? Feel free to post it on the Mahjong News web site and see what your readers can say about it."
So I gladly pass Dans question to the visitors of this website. If anyone thinks he or she knows the answer - or feels like discussing about it - please fill in the comment form below. I am just as curious as Dan Glimne! A nice pastime for the holiday season ;-)
But Bert may be right. Probably someone who knows nothing about mahjong has made this strange H-wall.
I count 136 tiles in all (including the mismatched "player hands" and all the tiles in the wall), so it's likely a set of basic tiles with no flowers. As Bert suggests, the best possibility is that it's a display put up to represent a game, but made by someone who doesn't know the game -- or rearranged by a visitor sitting at the table. One shouldn't draw any conclusions about a "new unknown variant" from this photo.
Happy New Year my friends and I wish you all the best, successful and happiness for 2K13 !
(Private Joke :Année de la baise)
I agree with my virtual friend Senechal on two points. But, These two points of view conflict (or not) :)
> Loto-riichi as a high-ranking French player (NC) would call it. : I AGREE :D
> The problem I have is that this is being used to "make news". It tarnishes whatever people like me perceive to be attempts to improve the individual and overall...
the real problem is not a "makes news" or something like that, the real problem is now I can't trust M.P around the next Event/tables:)
seriously Martin, I can't believe that...
All that fuss for what ??! Really 1K?
Next time, take some tiles into your pockets and try to make Yakuman...
Play for the overall, hmm why not. But please... Next time will do it clean,not like that.
I think, this story you should have expected narrate it in the winter, around the fireplace. Not on Mahjong News... That's all.
Last but not least Garence Kutukdjian, she my mentor, In fact she's RER Mentor ^^
Cheers
NC
Martin Rep
That's a big difference between live and computer play; computers don't let you make mistakes, or bluff!
So then the real question becomes: on who is the onus to declare chombos? Is a player required to self-incriminate?
Personally, I would say no. The penalty clearly exists because players, being human, are capable of mistakes, and the rules take this into account... so mistakes are, according to the rules, part of the game. That mistake could be the player who erroneously declares mahjong, but likewise your opponents also made a mistake in not catching it. In this case, for you anyway, two wrongs did make a right!
But should you feel guilty? I would again say no. You didn't discover your mistake until after you had already irrevocably declared ron, so you didn't do it on purpose. There's no dishonor in being human. And once declared, that hand is out of your control, and the onus falls upon your opponents to verify your win. In competition, there's no obligation to coach your opponent on how to play, so there's no dishonor on your part for your opponents' weakness in not checking your hand.
The problem I have is that this is being used to "make news". It tarnishes whatever people like me perceive to be attempts to improve the individual and overall level of gameplay, especially since MN is the most prominent news outlet for EMA events. The verdict is that there is no improvement, and you don't need to participate in 3 tournaments to figure it out.
I'll keep my money from future events, unless the majority of players come from the #1 English riichi community website. My advice for the rest of you: claim haneman+ every hand. Eventually, people will count...
More importantly, will people take this episode as a learning experience or wake-up call to learn more about Japanese mahjong, or is this the last stop yanked out of the road to turn EMA-sponsored mahjong into "tile-clacking version A" and "tile clacking version B"?
Loto-riichi as a high-ranking French player (NC) would call it.