'We want more people to learn how to play this game we all love'

Slava Novozhenya is the spokesman of MahjongTime, an internet webserver which has become quite popular in a short time. Especially players who like to play the 'new mahjong', a.k.a. Mahjong Competition Rules, can find other players here. For over a year now, MahjongTime has organized national on line championships with MCR rules. Perhaps in the near future also with riichi (modern Japanese) rules. MahjongTime  sponsors mahjong organisations and events, such as the World Series of Mahjong. This interview is about the European on line championships.

When did the on line tournaments start? Do they meet with your expectations?

We have hosted the first International Online Mahjong Community Tournament played by MCR on October 28th  2006. Then we have teamed up with EMA (European Mahjong Association) to offer MORSE tournaments. The first MORSE tournament was OEMC - Online 2007. The tournaments have met our expectations, although we are always looking at ways to encourage more players to play these exciting official tournaments.

Until now, how many tournaments were held? Which one was the greatest success?

We have hosted so far about 14 tournaments. It hard is to pick one as the greatest success, as they have all been popular from the start, and all have had a very high level of competitive play.

Can anyone subscribe, or does one have to have an EMA registration number?

Anyone can subscribe, but only players with EMA numbers will be getting MORSE ranking in the future tournaments.

An American can win e.g. the Dutch championship, but he/she is not listed on the MORSE ranking, right?

Correct, that player would not be listed on the MORSE ranking. However we keep an international ranking, that is available at mahjongtime.com.

What is MahjongTime's target with the on line tournaments: how many subscribers, etc.?

Mahjong Time does not have a set “target” for the number of participants in these tournaments. As with any business, we are always looking to expand and provide our quality game to as many players as possible. We want more and more people to learn how to play this game we all love, and to experience the excitement of tournament mahjong.

Trophies are sent to the winners of the tournaments, but not to the #1 on the ranking, right? Any plans for that?

That is a great suggestion. It t would be fair to reward the highest ranked players in the ranking list. We will look into such an initiative immediately.

Any new initiatives to be expected the coming time?

We are always looking for ways to offer new and exciting tournaments to our players. Mahjong Time is the premier site for playing REAL mahjong, and need to constantly innovate to keep top players happy. For future initiatives, we are looking into RCR-based tournaments.

MahjongTime server

Current MORSE ranking list