You are cordially invited to Mahjong Night Number Nine: Wednesday, January 15th, at 6pm. Let's continue our momentum in this "Totally Chill" First Winter Mahjong Season.
I hope to see you there.
~love HanaJojo
Scoreboard
Check out the final season results!
Learn more about Mahjong: Rules & References
Mahjong Journals:
Very Chill Mahjong Night Number Ten (January 8/2025) On this night Goul,
(Jan 8/25)
Hanajo, and CaveDyke um... Iphigenia gathered in the cold evening to settle the question on some people's minds: Is Hanajo even any good at this game? Feeling the pressure I tried my best on got very lucky with two menzentsumo riichi back to back wins in the first half of the game. Then I was able to hold on to the lead even after Goul got organized and won by tsumo in the final hand depriving me of any dealer repeats. But thanks to hand 1's mangan I held on to first place. So Hanajo finally wins a match for the first time since starting to host Mahjong night.
Match Score for First "Totally Chill" Winter Season's second night.
| Player | Raw Score | Minus 25K | Rounded | Final w/ Uma* | Rating adj.** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hanajo | 36,300 | 11,300 | +11 | +16 | 1+16 = +17 |
| Iphigenia | 22,100 | -2,900 | -3 | -1 | 1+1 = +2 |
| CaveDyke | 21,600 | -3,400 | -3 | -1 | 1+1 = +2 |
| Goul | 20,000 | -5,000 | -5 | -10 | 1+1 = +2 |
In case of a tie after rounding
* uma: 1st place +5, 2nd place +3, 3rd place +1, 4th place -9 Players tied after rounding share the average of the total umas they should receive. So Since I and C were both -3 at the end of the game they recieve (3+1)/2 = 2 each. Clear?
** Rating: Attendence/participation plus spirit points. These points get added to each players seasonal rating.
Totally Chill First Winter Season: New Year's Day Opener (Jan 1/2025)
Thank you everyone for coming out to an auspicious openning to our first "Chill Winter" Season of Mahjong. The afternoon festivities commenced with the arrival of Goul, SparkleFluff, Dev, Wolffriend, Agachan, CaveDyke, Elliot, Atapi, *P, and *K. This was enough players to divide up into two tables featuring the Champagne Glitter set on the Red Table, and the mini Riichi Black set on the kotatsu.†
The cool thing about the Riichi Black set is that it is specifically designed for Japanese Riichi play, it has blanks for white dragons by default and it has 4 red fives. (I am curious if anyone ever plays with all four (I think pin is doubled).) It also lacks any roman letters or arabic numbers so players are challenged to memorize the ranks of man tiles by learning the Chinese characters for numbers 1 through 9. Our newest player, SparkleFluff, making her Mahjong day debut opted for this table, scorning any invitation to maker her life easier by joining the Red Table. She further disdained the offer to play an open hand and insisted in jumping into the icy cold water of "chill winter" mahjong without any accomodation for her freshness to the game. This should have been a warning to the rest of us. Joining her at that table were Wolffriend, Hanajo/Agachan (as a team), and Goul - last season's champion.
At the tall Red Table, four other veterans of the "forgiving" fall season got ready to start building up their seasonal ratings from the fresh start. CaveDyke, Elliot, Atapi, and Dev built the wall with every intention of unlocking its secrets.
At the kotatsu SparkleFluff asked lot's of cute, innocent seeming questions and lulled her opponents into a false sense of security before laying an evil trap which the intrepid Wolffriend fell directly into. SparkleFluff declared ron!! with a Bakaze yaku and 7su dora for a 40fu/2han hand which would have cost Wolffriend a cool 2700 in riichi sticks. Luckily for the lupine interloper, SparkleFluff was called away just then on urgent business. The kotatsu tompussen was terminated early and all payouts canceled. But SparkleFluff has made her point. She will not be taken for granted in the future. We are now well warned. In lieu of a final score I will award her a +2 (semi-uma) in addition to a spirit point for sacrificing her game play to help some other players out (that urgent business) and the attendence point for a total +4 to her seasonal rating.
Meanwhile back at the Red Table things were heating up... perhaps it was the Macau-style blackened egg-tarts in the oven, or perhaps it was the relentless breath of Chun the Red Dragon. In the first East Round, CaveDyke lost their East-wind seat by dealing in to Elliot's 2000pt ron. CaveDyke, called out upon the same mission that took SparkleFluff away, retired from the tall table tompussen. Goul, fleeing the carnage at the kotatsu stepped in to fill the spot. In the second round, Elliot's promising dealership was gut short by a tsumo win by Dev who lured three red dragon tiles into his hand to start the year out with strong fortune. Atapi obtained the East wind seat then, but fell foul of Goul's devastating honitsu plus multi-dora Managan! (First mangan of the season)! You might think this would make her more careful, and yet... The tompussen would end in the next round, under Dev's benign dealership, with Atapi dealing in yet again to Goul - this time earning another red-dragon's breath fueled Mangan number two!!
† Low table, intended for using from a floor seating position.
Match Score for First "Totally Chill" Winter Season's first Tompussen:
| Player | Raw Score | Minus 25K | Rounded | Final w/ Uma* | Rating adj.** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goul | 40,200 | 15,200 | 15 | 20 | 20+1 = 21 |
| Dev | 26,800 | 1,800 | 2 | 4 | 4+1 = 5 |
| Elliot | 26,300 | 1,300 | 1 | -3 | 1+1 = 2 |
| CaveDyke | 22,500 | -2,500 | -3 | -8 | 1+2 = 2 |
| Atapi | 8,600 | -16,400 | -16 | -21 | 1+1 = 2 |
* uma: 1st place +5, 2nd place +2, 3rd place -2, 4th place - 5 Ties are broken by initial wind seating. East>South>West>North
** Rating: Attendence/participation plus spirit points. These points get added to each players seasonal rating.
Second Red Table Match of the Day
| Player | Raw Score | Minus 25K | Rounded | Final w/ Uma* | Rating adj.** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CaveDyke | 30,800 | 5,800 | +6 | +11 | +11 |
| Goul | 26,500 | 1,500 | +2 | +4 | +4 |
| Atapi | 23,500 | -1,500 | -2 | -4 | +0 |
| Hanajo | 19,200 | -5,800 | -6 | -11 | 0+1+1=2 |
First Kotatsu Game points
| Player | Raw Score | Minus 25K | Rounded | Final w/ Uma* | Rating adj.** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SparkleFluff | 27,700 | 2,700 | 3 | 8 | 8+1+1 = 10 |
| Wolffriend | 25,000 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 + 1 = 3 |
| Goul | 25,000 | 0 | 0 | -2 | +0 |
| Agachan | 25,000 | -2,700 | -3 | -8 | 1 + 1 = 2 |
Extra Mahjong, December 25/2024 Pokey Hall Inagural
On this chilly December 25th, Hanajo accompanyed by Wolffriend and Aga-chan introduced Riichi Mahjong to family members on the North Mountain. Eli, Harlow, Henry, and Abraham joined in.
For the first East round hand, Aga-chan and Hanajo taught the new players how to build the wall before any other instruction. Sometimes one might try introducing the tile shapes and names first, but of the two options, I tend to prefer building the wall first. After building we assumed East wind without any ceremony and dealt out everyone's tiles. Aga-chan suggested an open hand. Again I agree that's the best way to begin teaching the game when there is any more than one new player at the table. Probably even with just one. In this case there were three. Harlow in South, Henry West, and Eli in the cold North Wind seat. With open hands everyone focussed first on simply sorting the tiles. Learning the mysteries of winds and suits. Harlow introduced everyone to "pon" and "chi" calls. Aga-chan felt obliged to encourage this precosity and dilligently dealt into him until he was able to call "Ron" with a tanyao plus dora costing the dealer 2600points.
In the second East round, Hanajo and Aga-chan retired and entrusted their depleted stack of points to Abraham. Harlow made his debut as dealer but was unable to hold on to the position. Abe dealt into Eli's East wind bakaze yakuhai for a cool thousand points dropping the teachers score even further.
The third round would ultimately be the last. Harlow had business to attend to so Wolffriend stepped in and took control of his North seat. Henry surely was looking forward to his first dealership and had everyone on the edge of their seats as he crept steadily forward towards an eccentric nagashi mangan (to win by reaching an exhaustive draw having only ever discarded honours and terminal tiles). But it wasn't meant to be. Wolffriend flexed her Mahjong seniority with a tsumo honitsu costing the unlucky dealer 1000 points and ultimately securing a decisive win for the Harlow/Wolf team.
Final scores
Wolf/Harlow: 29,600 -> +4.6
Eli Diamond: 26,000 -> +1.0
Henry Rogers: 24,000 -> -1.0
Double A Team: 20,400 -> -4.6
All agreed it was an introduction to an exciting game. Will we play a fourth hand? Will there be a re-match? Will Henry ever win with his wild hand building strategy? Only the four winds and wise dragons know the answers to these mysteries. Let us wait and see.
Mahjong Night #8, December 18/2024 Unexpected Final Match
I'm sorry to spring this on you but after the fact I have decided to declare last night the final night of our Forgiving First Fall Season of Mahjong. This freezes all rating accumulation for the First Autumn Season. But it opens up glorious opportunities for grand new contests and adventures!
So let us review the dramatic conclusion of a sweet and gentle introduction to Mahjong:
First to acknowledge our atendees. Final night welcomed another new player and yet Zain immediately proved themselves no newbie to Mahjong. Heavy hitters like CaveDyke returned, Hanajo hosted, and the big event we've all been waiting for finally arrived: the grudge match between Elliot and Goul! Read on to find out how this Clash of the Titans played out!
Hanajo introduced the Traditional menthod of seating assignment today. Some critics may wonder if the arcane procedure was not merely a sneaky way for her obtain a first round dealership position. Who can say? However whatever the truth may be, she completely failed to capitalize on the advantageous position and lost her dealership by ending up noten (not ready hand) after an exhaustive draw. Only Goul managed to get into tempai by waiting for a chiitoitsu (seven pair) hand. In my view, chiitoitsu has a curious effect on a round, by kind of messing up the discards in a way. Is that a real thing? I don't know. But in the future we may all become such savy players that we'll be able to detect such skullduggery and put and end to it more quickly. The players in the first round were Goul, Elliot, Hanajo, and Zain. CaveDyke to "support position" and earned everyone's gratitude serving tea and soup.
For the second east round CaveDyke settled into the chilly North Wind Seat and Hanajo wandered off to read rulebooks and think about what she did wrong. True to reputation, CaveDyke (the Mangan Monster) started their reign of terror with a bakaze sangenpai honitsu plus dora Mangan win! You might think such an openning would have compeletely demoralized the opposition, but keep reading to learn how it only strengthened the resolve of our soon-to-be-revealed seasonal champion.
Before the third east round, Zain relinquished their player position and Hanajo returned to the game in the North Wind Seat, clearly hoping that coll breeze would bring them the same luck it blew CaveDyke's way. But no. Goul had other plans and won a quick sangenpai ron taking 1000 pts from Elliot along with their dealership. With that, Elliot decided to retire to serve tea and cookies while contemplating their devastating losses.
With such a fast game so far we weren't ready for what was to come in the fourth east round: first CaveDyke and then Hanajo both made chombo level errors by calling winning hands that weren't any such thing. In the spirit of the Forgiving Fall Season the chombo penalty was reduced to a mere 500 points from each disgraced player to those who might otherwise been able to complete the round. Since Goul was in tempai she was allowed to retain her dealership for the first renchan of the game.
Goul won her first dealer repeat with a handy 2 dora tiles and honba bonus, taking 6300 points from Cavedyke and extending her dealership into a SECOND renchan (possibly another first for Mahjong night). Finally Hanajo was able to halt Goul's ghastly game plan with a modest 1 han victory, augmented by 600 points thanks to the renchan honba bonus. This cost CaveDyke the last remnantsof their Mangan jackpot. With the end of the fourth east round, the game could have ended but all agreed to extend it an allow CaveDyke a chance to redeem themselves during a dealership. But Goul's appetite was simply too strongand the game ended with Zain dealing in to the newly crowned Mahjong Monster and ultimate Champion of the First Fall Season: Goul!!***
Final Score
Player Score
----------|------
Goul |+13.7
Hanajo | -0.4
CaveDyke | -0.9
Zain | -2.0
Elliot |-10.0
Mahjong Night #7, December 10/2024 Birthday Bash
So the seventh night of the First Fall Season was special to me because it was the first time I've ever played Mahjong on my birthday. I think I will have to consider making it a tradition. What better gift could I ask for than the delight of meeting new Mahjong players. And tonight we welomed not one but TWO new players! Dev and Bluejay!! Both who displayed truly excellent deportment on the the occasion of their Riichi debuts.
With their presence the roster of Riichi contenders consisted of the following: Goul, CaveDyke, Hanajo, Dev, Ky, Bluejay, and P* (persistant shadow player---"Mahjong's not really my thing."). At six o'clock we began our Tompussen (a half-length game, featuring only the East wind round.) Determined to learn by jumping off the 3 meter board directly into the deep end, Dev declined the offer of playing an open hand. Distracted, perhaps (not really) by my pedagogical obligations, I dealt in to Goul's completely straight forward green dragon Yakuhai hand and had to hand over 1800 points relinqish my dealership.
The East Wind left me in its dust and blew nothing but good luck toward CaveDyke who smashed our house record with a double-wind win (when the dealer wins with the East wind it's worth double han because it's obviously their seat wind at the same time), plus an open honitsu (2 han) and the dora for a total 5 han Mangan win. Although Goul and Ky both won Mangans on the Fifth Night, CaveDyke's victory has the glory of being our first ever dealer Mangan and in so doing cost the brave deep-water diving Dev (who dealt into it) a devastating dozen g's (12,000 points!). I think this is the first time the 10,000 points sticks have even changed hands.
Since the dealer won, we had to repeat the East second hand for CaveDyke with a honba marker on the table. Determined to regain some of my lost status from my earlier blunder I put together a cheap and fast hand winning with an open tanyao, dora, plus the honba for a total of 2300 point ron, and ending CaveDyke's dealership. CaveDyke took this opportunity to walk quietly away with their winnings still in hand. Ky and Bluejay stepped in (by sitting down) to fill the vacancy.
Goul greeted Ky with a coolness that rivalled their first awkward meeting two weeks ago by setting a trap for Ky that ultimately cost them 2900 points (dealing into a Riichi pinfu with substantial fu I guess). Goul extended their dealership and was well on her way, I am sure, to setting up another trap. However she was unprepared for my secret weapon. I had the great fortune to have acquired a deputy player BlueJay, who's tremendous luck turned the tides in my favour. BlueJay drew our winning tile himself giving us a clean tsumo bakaze win worth 1400 in total. Feeling the exhilerating East wind blowing in hist favour, Jay decided to go off on his own, leaving me to take over dealership perhaps counting on his skill and luck (and the East wind) to carry the day. Due to the vissisississitudes of this turbulent game, it was not to be. Not only did Ky deal into my tremendously cheap hand, but they did so after Jay had followed some of the very questionable guidance of his fellow players and declared Riichi. This turned my modest win into a respectable 2000 point prize and also ended the Fourth East round. And so concluded our Heavenly Seventh Night of Riichi. What will happen next week? I cannot say, for the future remains clouded in the fog of mystery, but when the mist clears, you can be sure you can read about it here!
~hanajo
Final Score
Player Score
----------|------
CaveDyke |+12.0
Hanajo | +3.3
Goul | +1.0
BlueJay | +0.4
Ky | -4.3
Dev |-12.4
† Spirit points tonight will go to Dev and BlueJay for such sportsmanlike conduct on their first Mahjong night, to CaveDyke for generously forfeiting their seat for new players and to the shadowy support player for water, soup, food and congenial shit talking.
Dont forget to check on the running seasonal player rating
Mahjong Night #6, December 4/2024
As we creep up upon the dark long nights of solstice, our First Autumn Season of Mahjong is burning brightly to stave off winter. Even as the ice grows upon the oval, the fervour of our brave new Mahjong players warms the table and cheers our host. Tonight was another successful Mahjong Night.
In attendence were some famliar faces P* arrived early along with an ebulliant companion who asked to be addressed as Sasha. Not long after, Elliot arrived, early in hopes perhaps of getting the jump on their arch rival Goul. Goul took this affrontery in stride, and (spoiler) casually crushed the upstar, but that's getting ahead of ourselves. While the wall was being built Ky arrived and agreed to play as Sasha's deputy (An honourable gesture which will be well rewarded with the advent of generous spririt points).
The first East Round hand was cleverly won by Sasha and Ky with a dealer tsumo netting them 2400 points (800 all). At some point during this openning hand CaveDyke arrived. I suggested immediately breaking up the game to start another table of Sanma (three player Riichi) but the K2 team refused to be broken up. Understandable in light of their openning victory. However Goul offered to rotate out for the next hand allowing CaveDyke to step into the South Wind Seat just in time for Team K2's first renchan. I'm sure they hoped to capitalize on their victory and rack up points but it was not to be. The second East Round ended in an exhaustive draw. As the only player in tempai this netted Hanajo 3000 pts but left everyone feeling vaguely unsatisfied.
Demurely, Hanajo took her winnings and rotated out in Goul's favour for the third East Round. But the table doldrums only intensified and despite more than a few false promises of victory delivere yet another exhaustive draw. This time every player was sitting in tempai and thus each one earned 25% of zero points. Now I'm sure everyone was unsatisfied in vivid detail.
At this stage Hanajo decreed that voluntary rotation out of play would be rewarded with spirit points. Seizing this opportunity Elliot gallantly invited Hanajo to take their seat. The fourth East Round was yet another renchan this time CaveDyke was repeating their dealership. Hanajo greedily targetted the honba sticks with a fast and cheap yakuhai ron ending CaveDyke's dealership and taking 1300pts.
Despite warding off the Winter's chill, no amount of Mahjong cheer could stop time itself. With the hour growing late, consensus was reached that the next hand would be the last. Hanajo formed a cunning plan to win that last hand but she foolishly failed to account for the unnatural luck of of the goulash player Goul. "Ron!" Goul called out and with an evil laugh revealed her fiendishly finessed open ikkitsuukan (a "straight" of triplets (123, 456, 789) all in a single suit!) To add insult her hand included a pair of dora. As she was the dealer, Hanajo was liable to pay 6000 points completely reversing their positions. Hungry for revenge Hanajo lobbied for another game but the night had run its course and bedtime would not be denied.
Final point tallies at this point were: Goul 30,200; Ky 28,100; Hanajo 23,500; CaveDyke 22,700; and Elliot 20,500. Converted this resulted in the following score.
Final Score
Player Score
----------|------
Goul | +5.2
Team K2 | +3.1
Hanajo | -1.5
CaveDyke | -2.3
Elliot | -4.5
Spirit points going to Ky for being team player, P* for universal support, Goul and Elliot for voluntary rotation, giving up their seat for a round or more. See the Scoreboard for the updated seasonal player ratings.
Mahjong Night #5, November 27/2024
Players: Goul, Ky, Atapi, Hana-jo
At long last, after much anticipation, the day arrived we have all been waiting for: Ky's first awkward encounter with Goul in the lobby. (Surely it wont be the last). But no, seriously Goul and Hanajo were very excited to finally welcome Ky to Mahjong Night. After a couple practice hands during which Hanajo said the phrase "secret sauce" a nauseating number of times everyone was up to speed. When Atapi arrived we were ready to jump into our first full tonpuusen (East wind round game). Of course we didn't know it then but it would be a night of several other firsts.
First hand dealership went to Goul. The hand ended smoothly when Hanajo, greedy for points carelessly discarded a late-game Chun (Red Dragon) and dealt-in to the dealer's ron! (1 han, 30 fu, 1500pts). This earned Goul a renchan (dealer repeat) but Hanajo retaliated with a non-dealer ron! taking back 1000 pts from Goul (who had called riichi) and 1300 from Atapi who dealt in to a Hatsu (White Dragon) yakuhai. Hanajo's win also cost Goul to lose her dealership and the East wind passed to Ky.
Ky celebrated by generously dealing in to Mahjong Night's first ever Mangan (a hand that scores 8000 points), scored by Goul with a suuanko (three concealed triplets) plus three dora! Perhaps with some relief Ky passed the East wind Marker to Atapi, but there was no relief in sight for the neophyte. Atapi scored a dealer ron! taking away another 3900 pts! A lesser person may have despaired in the face of such cruel treatment, but not our Ky who bravely rallied and spoiled Atapi's first renchan by scoring Majong Night's second ever Mangan, this time by tsumo! (self draw). With the renchan bonus this netted Ky a cool 8300 pts and the distinction of becoming the player to have both lost and won the greatest number of points in single hands in Mahjong Night's short history.
Dealership passed to Hanajo who won the first "last hand" with a cheap tanyao (all simples) yaku. She then took the opportunity offered by her first renchan to commit a noten riichi chombo (the shameful crime of declaring riichi when not actually having a ready hand). If someone else had won the hand she would have got away with it too, but as fate would have it the last round ended in an exhaustive draw, forcing her to show her humiliating noten hand. This cost her 3000 points distributed to each other player who was in tempai (having a ready hand).†
With that we successfully completed our first complete tonpuusen. Happy and content, players dispersed once more into the mysterious Halifax gloom. But fear not, they shall return.
Final Score
Player Score
----------|------
Atapi | -1.0
Goul | +6.9
Hanajo | -3.8
Ky | -3.1
† Out of curiosity I looked up all the penalties and infractions I could recall from the game. If it weren't the forgiving First Autumn Season of Mahjong Night and we were enforcing all penalties my noten riichi chombo should have cost me the equivalent of a mangan (8000pts). I looked a little further and learned about lesser penalty called agari houki meaning "dead hand". It is administered to players for infractions like having the wrong number of tiles in your hand (Goul!) or drawing a tile from the dead wall by mistake (me again!!). Let us all rejoice in the spirit of patient compassion that distinguishes the First Autumn Season and grants us amnesty for our little foibles.
Sidequest Hanajo: Novemebr 25/2024 Mahjong Soul Victory
Last night I hit the milestone of reaching ADEPT rank on the Mahjong Soul website. I put some screenshots up on my new player profile page. Hanajo's Player Profile
Mahjong Night #4, November 20/2024
Players: Atapi, Elliot, Goul, Hana-jo, CaveDyke, X*, P*, K*
CaveDyke and K* formed a team to continue their Mahjong education. For their pedagogical benefit the table started the Tonmpussen (East-only round) with an open hand. Atapi, in their fervent ambition to make up for last week's losses seized the opportunity to win a dealer ron against Goul who so obligingly dealt in losing 5800pts† for her trouble. A dealer win forces a repeat of the hand with added stakes. Elliot "the disciplinary dragon" did not waste the opportunity and capitalized on the chance with a second dealer ron, this time punishing X* for just trying to learn a new game! Elliot's 26fu/1han green dragon yakuhai hand cost X* 1500 points, plus 300 for the renchan (dealer repeat)! Devastating! Some people would just get out of the pool after such a cold reception. But not X*!
To break the ice I kindly requested Elliot to give up their cozy chair at the South end of the table and let me play a hand or two. Sated with victory they obliged. X*, perhaps feeling a weight lifted, began to soar. Making call after call she was suddenly threatening a pure flush toitoi. (All triplets, all the same suit). But it wasn't meant to be. Atapi, perhaps sensing disaster, made a desperate move and declared ron on a triple South wind, unfortuneately for her she was sitting in West at the time. CHOMBO! Lucky we're still in the forgiving First Autumn Season of our Mahjong adventure and CHOMBO comes with no addtional sanction (beyond the humiliation of having her infamy documented here) . And so ended the third hand.
Stymied, but not dismayed, X* offered her unlucky seat to CaveDyke who slid up to the table determined to make their mark. And this they did, calling ron on poor Goul. This added a 1300 point insult to her earlier injury. And with that Mahjong Night #4 drew to a close. With tears and joy friends departed once more into the night but never fear, they shall return!
†Goul, if you're reading this, I'm sure you're shocked by this development. Sorry, I misread the scoring table earlier and severely undervalued Elliot's hand. Elliot: congratualtions. I think this is the highest scoring hand since official Mahjong night has been documented.
Final Score
Player Score
----------|------
Atapi | +/-0
Elliot | +7.6
Goul | -7.1
CaveDyke | +1.3
Hana-jo | +/-0
K* | +/-0
X* | -1.8
Side Quest: Hana-jo's weekend game Saturday, November 16
Read an account of my game on Saturday, November 16. Also find a link to a fun teen tv drama about Mahjong. Boardgame Weekend at Sam's house
Hey! If you have any Mahjong Adventures you want to share. Just write to me and I'll be happy to add them to this page.
~hana-jo
:-)
Mahjong Night #3, November 12/2024
Four players: Goul, Elliot, Atapi, and Hana-jo entered the arena to vy for mahjong supremacy. By the decree of the dice, Hana-jo was first in the East wind seat. Despite her efforts to acheive a ready hand, Elliot dealt into the Goul's devastating Chitoitsu Seven Pairs closed hand. Like a bolt of thunder, the Goul declared "RON!!" and ended the hand.
By virtue of the seating arrangement, dealership (or parenthood) passed to Goul for the second hand of the East Round. Once again the south wind carried a lucky scent, this time bestowing the fashionable chitoitsu (Seven Pairs hand) upon Atapi. Sadly it was Elliot again who bore the cost, dealing in once again. Chitoitsu is perhaps especially difficult to defend against because it's a closed hand and contains no sequences.
As the evening was wearing on, all agreed to end after the next hand instead of pressing on to complete a full East Only game. As the parental perogative and East wind passed finally to Elliot, everyone had to wonder if their luck would finally turn. Early in the hand Hana-jo generously discarded her lone Green Dragon into Elliot's pon, establishing them as a threat with a visible yaku-hai on the table. Hana-jo and Goul played with all due paranoia and avoided dealing in but Atapi was ultimately entrapped and handed Elliot a winning tile only a few turns before the exhaustion of the wall. Atapi's payout was nearly enough to bring Elliot back into contention. Had the East-round continued we might have all witnessed a glorious comeback. However the session end dropped the curtain on Elliot's dreams.
Another successful Mahjong night was concluded. Warmed by tea, soup, veggie snacks and a lucky box of Ritz crackers, the players dispersed into the howling North-westerly winds of a Halifax gale. But rest assured, they will be back!
Final score†
Notable - two chitoitsu wins; no dealer wins in 3 hands
Player Score Rating
----------|------|------
Goul | +1.6| 2.6
Atapi | +0.3| 1.3
Hanajo | 0 | 1
Elliot | -1.9| 1
† Round score is calculated by subtracting 25000 from final point score and dividing by 1000. Rating is a total of all positive points won over all Mahjong nights plus one point for every Mahjong night atended.
November 6/2024
Players 4 and 5 returned. Players 6 and 7 teamed up and made some devastating calls. The first match ended in an exaustive draw but Player 5 won a menzentsumo riichie worth at least 4 han! That would have cost each other player 2600 pts... wait no I think I counted wrong. Possibly 3600! Amazing. Sadly bedtime meant that players 4, 6, and 7 were long gone and didn't have to pay out. Player 5 and Hanajo played a yaku-building drill afterwards and developed a strong "no-fu" hand. Players beware!!
October 30/2024
Players 1, 2, 3 returned for the innaugural Mahjong Night. Players 4 and 5 made their debut. Hanajo ran around serving tea and causing as much confusion about the rules as possible.
Precursors to Mahjong Night
October 19/2024: Saturday learning session
player 1 and player 2 Joined Hanajo one Saturday for a fumbling brief explanation of the rules followed by playing some open hands with 3 players. Player 3 arrievd later and practiced with Hanajo as well.
Hana-jojo's Mahjong History
coming later