Jenn's Corner #3

December 29, 2006

Jenn's Corner #3

Well, it is my last column for the year and it's a long one! Garthe and I are finishing up 2006 in Las Vegas! We are checking out the Poker scene and scouting possible future environments for our life's work in progress, Mahjong.

I would like to use this week to talk about Mahjong Parlors ('jansou') in Japan. There are parlors in other countries as well, but it is definitely an entirely different culture in Japan. It can be compared to card rooms in the US.

Imagine a dark, smoke-filled room holding a few strange perfectly square-shaped tables topped with green. Four people with visible tattoos and greasy hair sit in the middle of the room with cigarettes hanging from their lips, an audience of 7 or 8 scary-looking fellows gathered around and a wad of cash on 2 tables. Sound like a place you wanna visit?

If it is, you are out of luck. The type of place I just described only exists in Japanese comic books. While they are sometimes smokey, many Mahjong Parlors in Japan are clean, brightly lit with low stakes that are highly regulated. Despite operating through loopholes of the law, I always feel safe in Mahjong Parlors.

Finding a parlor in Tokyo, and most other parts of Japan, is a piece of cake. But how do you choose the right one? How do you know what the rate is? What do you do if you don't know anyone there? How much money should you prepare for bad days? What if you can't speak Japanese? A lot to think about, but keep in mind, gambling in a foreign country, especially a country where gambling is illegal, is not a bad thing to be cautious about.

So let's start from the beginning. First, find a place. If you have a friend willing to go, it's is definitely OK to go to a parlor in pairs. Three people is a little tricky, I wouldn't recommend going in a trio unless you plan to play a 3-player game. It is much better to get a fourth and rent a table for yourself. So let's concentrate on casino-style Mahjong. In Japan it's called "Free Mahjong", meaning that you are not tied down to your own friends and are 'free' to play with others. I made that definition up... Anyone know the original meaning?

Moving along, there are many advertisements in the Kindai Mahjong comic biweekly and also signs for most Mahjong Parlors on the buildings in which they reside. Many parlors nowadays have websites. Sometime's you will see Mahjong Tiles on the sign or in the advertisement. These are explaining the rate. The tiles used are dots. The first one is the amount of money per 1000 points. The second is the bonus for the second-place winner and the third is the extra bonus for the first-place winner. Three 5's on the sign is advertising the use of red 5's.

Next, let's walk in. Casino-style Mahjong Parlors have a place to sit while you wait. Sit down and wait to be approached by a Member (staff). They will get you a drink, a towel and explain the rules used in play. If there is a card-system, they will accept your deposit and exchange some cash for house-cards used like chips in a casino. They will take your first game fee out of the deposit. There are many places with subtle house rules, but most parlors stick to the same basics when it comes to play and scoring, so let's get those out first. Some places play for cash and only take your first game fee.

Almost all Mahjong Parlors have a starting score of 25,000 and a return of 30,000. Think of the 5,000 point difference as a buy-in pot that the 1st-place winner keeps at the end. In addition, there is always a bonus or 'Horse' for the 1st and 2nd-place winners paid for by the 3rd and 4th place losers. Unlike the JPML A-rules, there are rarely 3rd-place winners in casino-style Mahjong. A normal Horse is 1-2 or 1-3, meaning that the 2nd place winner will get an extra 10,000 points and the 1st-place winner will get an extra 20,000 or 30,000 points. Most Parlors round a non-dealer's 7700 point hand win to 8000 and a dealer's 11,600 win to 12,000. Most parlors use 3 or 4 red tiles, usually one of each 5 and sometimes 2 red 5 of dots. Sometimes one of the 5 of dots will be gold instead of red. Red and gold 5's always count the same as a Drag (lucky dragon), giving you one extra hand point for each hand won. In addition, there is a monetary bonus for using red and gold 5's.

So let's talk rates. The most common rates when playing casino-style in Tokyo are Point 3, Point 5 and 1. This explains the amount awarded for each 1,000 points you have over 30,000 at the end of the game. Point 3 is 30 yen, Point 5 is 50 yen and 1 is 100 yen. Point 5 is a very comfortable rate for both beginners and seasoned players so let's use it as an example.
At your average Point 5 Mahjong parlor, the 'horse' is going to be 10,000 points and 20,000 points. The prize for red 5's will be 100 yen each. Often there is also a 100 yen bonus for pushing someone else under 0 points (also ending the game) and a 1000-1500 yen bonus for winning a Super Hand (limit hand). So the final score and payout would look like this.

The totals are often rounded to the nearest hundred. As you can see, just for getting first place you get a 2000 yen bonus. The game fee usually costs 300-400 yen. So for a Point 5 game, take 10,000 yen with you and plan for 4 games. If you win you can keep going and if you lose, well, think of it as a cheap lesson fee. Also, since the first-place score is often counted last, the rounding errors get saved up into the first-place person's score. That's why the rounded score is 54 instead of 55.

There are also Mahjong Parlors that offer rate-less games just for fun and even Costume Parlors that feature girls in maid, cat and other costumes while they play with you! Check out our 'Parlors' section under the 'Play' menu for Mahjong Parlors in Tokyo. It's not ready yet, but we should have some up in January!

In Garthe's Hands #2

December 26, 2006

In Garthe's Hands #2

Last week, I introduced Value Tiles and Simples, two hands that are mutually exclusive. It is totally impossible to ever have both of those hands in one hand. However, cramming as many of the different kinds of Hand Points as possible into one hand is how one gets more points out of a hand and is thus one of the secrets to winning games of Mahjong. It's similar to Poker in that respect. For example, a hand with one pair, or even a three of a kind is not that great. A hand with both, however, is a full house, and probably worth a lot. Straights and flushes are pretty good, but a hand that is both a straight AND a flush beats everything, yeah?

This week I'll continue with some more simple hands but they're Hand Points that can be found in the same completed hand, and may sometimes even be found in the same hands as last week's examples. I'm talking about Peace and Double-Run.

Peace: 1 Hand Point

Peace (Pinfu in Japanese) is fairly easily achieved though it has some peculiarities which may make it difficult to understand at first. At its simplest, it is merely 4 runs and the "pair" (head). The complications come first with the tiles you're waiting for to complete the hand. The remaining uncompleted run must be an open ended wait. For example, 4-5 waiting for the 3 or 6 would be acceptable, where as 3-5 waiting for the 4 or 1-2 waiting for the 3 would not be. Note also that 4 completed runs plus one tile waiting for its pair to create a "head" is also not acceptable. Another complication is that the "head" may use Honor Tiles, but may not Value Tiles. And finally, it is completely concealed, meaning that only your final tile is allowed to be taken from another player, the rest must be entirely concealed within your own hand.

Peace ex.1

Round: East
Seat: South


Notice the final run (7-8 of bams) is open-ended, waiting on 6 and 9.

Double Run: 1 Hand Point

Since Peace is so complicated, let's make this week's other hand an easy one, Double Run (Iipeikou in Japanese). It is simply two of exactly the same runs in the same suit. This must also be part of a completely concealed hand, so no stealing allowed! Let's look at some examples.

Double Run ex.1

Round: South
Seat: North


In this case there are two runs of 2-3-4 of bams.

Double Run and Peace together ex.3

Round: East
Seat: West


The Double-Run is 5-6-7 of Dots and the final run, 2-3 of bams is open-ended, waiting on 1 and 4.

Peace, All Simples, Double-Run all in the same hand

Round:South
Seat: East


This hand was won on the 3 of dots, completing the double-run. If the 6 of dots had come out instead of the 3, then the double-run would not be completed and the hand would only be worth 2 hand points (All Simples and Peace).

Gemma's Journal #1

A note from Jenn:

Let me introduce Gemma.

She is going to yell at me for using this picture (I am on the right, Gemma is on the left) because she likes to look precocious.

I asked her to write this Journal because when I taught her how to play Reach Mahjong this year (yes, she is my very first student! and I am very protective, so be careful!), I realized that it is tough to teach someone mahjong once it becomes routine for you. It is much easier if someone who is learning themselves explains it, because they know the exact questions that you will be asking as well. So, Gemma is responsible for telling you things that she has noticed, learned and is worried about.

Here is a brief background so you don't feel like strangers. She is from Tavistock, Devon, United Kingdom (don't worry, I never heard of it either). She already has 2 degrees: a BA in Japanese studies at the University of Sheffield and an MS in Chinese Language/Business and International Relations. That means she is way smarter than me (and probably Garthe too). She is very well-travelled, well-read and enjoys languages. One of her most favorite things to eat is Natto (just kidding, she apparantely can't stand it). She likes Pearl Tea, is a wine drinker and likes mochi. When she isnt playing mahjong,she said she likes to "wind up my brother" and kill cockroaches, which she hates.
So enjoy!

December 23, 2006

Gemma's Journal #1

Well my first time playing Mahjong and it doesn't seem so difficult - well at least not as difficult as Amy Tan made it out to be! Reminds me mostly of Rummi, having to make sets or runs to create a hand, just with lots of pieces of plastic rather than fifty two cards!

So far I've learnt that to create a hand you have to make a hand that consists of four groups or runs, plus one pair. (Groups are three of a kind; runs are three tiles of sequential numbers of the same suits.)

Maybe to make my point clearer it would be best to use some examples:


That would be a hand of all runs and one pair.


That would be a hand of all groups and one pair.



That's a hand with a mix of runs and groups.

However, I have been warned that not all these hands are necessarily worth hand points and therefore won't win you a game! This is just the basic rule you need to follow to create a hand. All of us are beginners so we haven't been worrying too much about hand points this time, but Jenn threatens next week to start teaching us the hands. I'm suspecting that this initial feeling of understanding is going to be quickly undermined with hands to learn and scoring systems. (I have an absolutely terrible memory!)

Apart from that building the wall is also not half as bad as I anticipated (blame Amy Tan again!) although I do keep knocking down parts of the wall as I pull tiles for my go, so if nothing else at least this game might improve my hand-eye coordination!

It was really enjoyable though and I'm looking forward to next week even if mixed with a little apprehension that my brain won't be able to cope!

Jenn's Corner #2

December 20, 2006

Jenn's Corner #2

Heloooooo everyone.
Did you miss me this week?
I hope you enjoyed my first corner, however lengthy it may have been.
How about In Garthe’s Hands? Now taking bets on how long Garthe will be able to keep up with a weekly column!


So here is my second corner, only halfway away from a room!

Some exciting news we got an interview with the winner of this year’s Japan Professional Mahjong’s OUI Tournament. That will be up this month so stay tuned! Also be warned girls, he is definitely the hotty of Mahjong players in
Japan~ I would also like to announce that starting Friday, my very first official Reach Mahjong student, Gemma, will be posting her journal about the difficult but worthwhile task of learning Reach Mahjong! Beware, Gemma is from the UK so you might not be able to read her spelling sometimes, but the content is definitely worth the confusion (~.^)v

It seems like I should mention something about the rules since it may not be clear how Reach Mahjong specifically is different from any other kind of Mahjong. The simple answer is that Reach Mahjong is the best in the world (^.^)
Not enough to quench your curiosity? Ok, fine, I will continue.

So yes we all should know by now that Mahjong itself originated in China. But, like many things (Valentine’s Day, etc.), Japan somehow made it more complicated. In the case of Mahjong, it became much more interesting and much more strategic. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you ‘other types of mahjong’ players should renounce all of your Mahjong beliefs and convert directly to Reach Mahjong. Like Poker rules (Texas Hold’em, Omaha, etc.), Mahjong rules too can co-exist in the world and we, as a human race can be free to promote all types of Mahjong rules to the world! Yay for us!

The point is that the concept of one set of International Rules is not only ridiculously unnecessary, it also creates a limited and quite boring environment for what should otherwise be healthy Mahjong playing. So here is my challenge: I challenge you to learn at least 3-4 types of Mahjong rules, including Reach Mahjong, so that you can reach the obvious conclusion that Reach Mahjong is the best!

Alright, so the differences between Mahjong rules throughout the world. That is a huge topic and I am going to expand on my one sentence answer (Reach Mahjong is the best) and try to limit myself to a 3-4 paragraph answer to save your eyes from death by computer screen rays. Also, I have to finish adding pictures to the second set of the rule explanation and I don’t have time for more than that this week (Garthe is also STILL being unhelpful in the link section. Send him e-mails and tell him to hurry up).

The basic concepts of Mahjong are the same. If you learn to play one type of Mahjong, you can basically pick up any form of Mahjong very quickly. All Mahjongs require creating sets of 3 and 2 in your hand (certain rules also have sets of 4 and 5). Most rules use 13 hands in an active hand and 14 in a finished hand. In Taiwan the active hand has 16 tiles and 17 to complete. Virtually all types of Mahjong allow chows and bumps and play in the same order. The biggest difference is the hand
points, scoring and strategy.

Let’s start with numbers. The most commonly played form of Reach Mahjong uses just under 40 types of hands. Sounds like a lot to remember, right? Well, not when you think of the current Chinese Official Mahjong (commonly mislabeled as the Official International Rules), which contains 81 different hands. Also, the Reach Mahjong hands include 9 Super Hands that don't require point calculation. In general there are less than 30 regularly used hands. Since Taiwan is considered virtually illegal in Taiwan it is hard to find a correct and current list of hands and since there is no authority on the subject in the country there are many house rules depending on family. The official American Mahjong hands change every year which obviously creates a dilemma every January, but also keeps the game interesting for long-time players.

The first obvious thing that sets Reach Mahjong apart from the rest is the lack of flowers (Chinese rules) and jokers (American rules). Instead, one of the normal playing tiles is designated as a Lucky Dragon. The Lucky Dragon is changed each deal. The next obvious difference is the use of only 2 dice instead of 3. The third completely obvious visual difference is the placement of discarded tiles. Reach Mahjong requires that a player’s discard is placed from right to left, lined up in the order of discarding. Other forms of Mahjong allow the player to discard wherever he/she wishes. This makes reading hands a bit more of a reality in Reach Mahjong but doesn't require the player to memorize opponents' discards. This also creates the extra rule unique to Reach Mahjong, the Lost Hand (meaning that if your winning tile is in your discard pile you may not Mahjong off of another player).

These are the basic differences and while there are many more, hopefully you are now at least curious as to what makes Reach Mahjong so great. When played against veterans, the game gets quite advanced. Like Texas Hold’em in Poker, Reach Mahjong creates a game with more information on the table, more competitiveness and more skill. Still completely lost? Check out Gemma’s Journal coming Friday for a beginner's look at the game!!

In Garthe's Hands #1

December 17, 2006

Garthe's first Column

Mahjong Mahjong Mahjong. So you think you want to dive into the exciting, seedy, seething, frothing at the mouth world of Mahjong. Well I'll tell you: watch out. Few escape unscathed. My ex-girlfriend regrets ever explaining the rules to me as the game achieved near girlfriend status for me after about 10 minutes. There is no known cure, besides a new girlfriend, but as afflictions go it's a pretty good one.

How do you play, you may ask. The game is basically Rummy, but with Chinese tiles. In Mahjong, you'll have 13 tiles in your hand, and your completed hand will usually have 14: 4 3-tile combinations 3-tile runs or groups (3 or 4-of-a-kinds) and one pair. However, you need to make certain combinations of runs and sets in your hands to be able to win. We call those hands "Yaku" in Japanese, or "hand-points" in English. As soon as your hand qualifies for at least one "hand-point" you can Mahjong (go out)(the Japanese is あがる).

So that's the game in a nutshell, and Jenn and I have put this site together to help you wade through the rest of the quagmire. You'll need to remember a few odd rules here and there but the starting point is going to be remembering the hand points. This week, we'll start with two of the simplest, Value Tiles and Simples (inside hand), to make it easy for you to put some winning hands together. A word of warning however: you'll have a hard time quitting, once you start. So I recommend finishing your work now. There's a lot of fun ahead of us.

Value Tiles: 1 Hand Point

Value Tile is probably the simplest and easiest to create of all the hands. It is simply a hand including one set of 3 of the same value tiles in your hand. It is also immune, meaning that you may steal (chow, bump, kong) any of your hand’s tiles from other players’ discards including the value tiles themselves. Value tiles consist of the 3 Dragon tiles: Red, White and Blue; the current wind for the round: east or south; and your seat wind for the current hand. A set of 3 of any of those tiles would constitute a value hand.
Remember, all Value Tiles are Honors but not all Honors are Value Tiles!



(click on the images to view clearly)

Value Tiles ex.1

Round: East
Seat: South

Since the Round-Wind is East, East counts as a Value Tile in this Hand.

Value Tiles ex.2

Round: South
Seat: North

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Since the Red Dragon is a Value Tile and this hand has 3, it is a Value Hand. However, since it is the Round-Wind is South and the Seat-Wind is North, West is NOT a Value Tile and having three would not give you a hand point. Therefore, to go out on someone else's discard, the discard must be the Red Dragon.

All Simples: 1 Hand Point

Also known as an Inside Hand or Two thru Eight (タンヤオ in Japanese) is also quite simple. It is just a hand consisting entirely of tiles between 2 and 8. In other words, it contains no 1, 9 or Honors. In most games it will also be immune, meaning again you can steal from other players as they discard.

All Simples Hand ex.1

Round: East
Seat: East

All Simples Hand ex.2

Round: South
Seat: West

Jenn's Corner #1

Hey!

Welcome my very first Corner! This Corner is all my own and I'm excited because until now all I had was a wall. Well, now I have a corner, and you know what that means. TWO WALLS!! That's right. I intend to use the meeting point of these two walls to create a corner that informs you about Reach Mahjong. Garthe and I will be updating (at least) weekly to bring you the best and most interesting things in the Reach Mahjong world.
So for my first Corner, I would like to introduce ourselves to you and explain what we are up to. You can bet it is NO GOOD. That's how we plan to keep you coming back!

My name is Jenn.

His name is Garthe.

We became members of the Japan Professional Mahjong League (JPML) in April of this year. As Pros, We tend to play a lot of Mahjong.
We are both currently appearing in a networked real-time Mahjong video game created by Konami and featuring over 40 professional mahjong players from our league called Mahjong Fight Club. You can find it all over Japan and Hong Kong.
We also participate in many of JPML's tournaments throughout the year including the Professional League (just starting out, we are both currently in the D2 League), which has 2 seasons each year. There are many other big tournaments that we will keep you updated on as well. Just wait!!

Now for the indies:




I am Jenn. I am originally from Seattle, Washington USA and moved to Japan when I was 18 for school. Since then I have spent 5 months each studying in Hawaii and Taipei. I can speak Japanese (for the most part) and am working on Chinese.
My mahjong history is probably the shortest in our league with only about 2 years of playing experience. I make up for it in perseverance though! Go ahead and try to catch me skip a day of studying tile patterns or actually playing!
I became a professional mahjong player so that I could have something to work for and achieve some kind of goal while continuing my love for the game. These past 6 months have been a blast and I can't wait for what lies ahead!

He is Garthe. He came from Sacremento, California and came to Japan to... Yep, you guessed it, teach English. It was exactly that which got him started in this wonderful game. A student of his recommended it and he started by playing video games. One day he met me (Jenn) and we started playing mahjong together.
One day Jenn said she was going to become a professional mahjong player and Garthe got jealous, so he followed her (but very carefully so as to not be mistaken as a stalker) and the rest is history (well, not yet, but maybe someday it will be).

So what are we doing in this place?
Ummm...

Oh yeah!!

So our lives as professional mahjong players takes us around Japan and keeps us busy, but sometimes it's hard to be the ugly ducklings... So, let's get more non-Japanese-speaking players involved and make THEM the ugly ducklings!
Actually, we welcome Japanese speakers as well.

But, we would like to get more people around the world playing Reach Mahjong and hopefully get some worldwide leagues and tournaments going someday, so here we are, ready to converse with other mahjong lovers and future lovers on the World Wide Web.

We are planning to do a lot of traveling in the next couple of years and get more people washing the tiles and interested in the best game in the world!

You can catch Garthe every week with his "In Garthe's Hands" section where he will introduce you to a new hand every week. Well, that won｡ｦt even last a year, so should we can him after that?
However nice that would be, I can｡ｦt do this all alone, so after we get through all of the hands, we will rotate through them again and we will of course keep a database online as well so you can check out any hands that you missed anytime.

I will be in charge of looking cute and keeping you updated on Our activities and those new friends that we meet along the way. Please feel free to leave messages on our BBs and talk to other mahjong fans, also make good use of the e-mail link. After all, Mahjong is all about making friends.