What's The Mah-Jongg
Mah-Jongg (Traditional Chinese: 麻將; Simplified Chinese: 麻将; pinyin: Májiàng; Cantonese: Màhjeung; or Chinese: 麻雀; pinyin: Máquè; Cantonese: Màhjeuk; other common English spellings include Mahjong, majiang, and hyphenated forms such as Mah-jong or Mah-jongg) is a game for four players that originated in China. It is a game of skill, strategy, intelligence, calculation and luck. Depending on the variation which is played, luck can be anything from a minor to a dominant factor in success. In Asia, Mah-Jongg is popular as a gambling or computer game.
The object of the game is to build complete suits (usually of threes) from either 13 or 16 tiles. The first person to achieve this goal is said to have won the game. The winning tile completes the set of either 14 or 17 tiles.
| Mah-Jongg | |
|---|---|
| Players | 4 |
| Age range | > Any |
| Setup time | 2-5 minutes |
| Playing time | 0-3 hours |
| Rules complexity | High |
| Strategy depth | Medium |
| Random chance | Yes |
| Skills required | Tactics, observation, memory |
- Trivia
The suits of the tiles are money-based. In ancient China, the copper coins had a square hole in the center. People passed a rope through the holes to tie coins into strings. These strings are usually in groups of 100 coins called diao (弔 or variant 吊) or 1000 coins called guan (貫). Mah-Jongg's connection to the ancient Chinese currency system is consistent with its alleged derivation from the game named ma diao (馬吊).
In the Mah-Jongg suits, the coppers represent the coins; the ropes are actually strings of 100 coins; and the character myriad represents 10,000 coins or 100 strings. When a hand received the maximium allowed winning of a round, it is called man guan (滿貫, lit. full string of coin.)
Mah-Jongg appears frequently in Hong Kong's movies and TV drama, since it is considered part of Chinese daily life. For example, two Cantonese comedies, Fat Choi Spirit and Kung Fu Mah-Jongg, parody the game's popularity.
Nintendo made Mah-Jongg sets before it made video games. They are still sold today in Japan.
The artists of the Constructivism (art) movement in the Soviet Union in the 1920's were fascinated by the game of Mah-Jongg.
Two Japanese anime series, Akagi and Legendary Gambler Tetsuya, are stories about great Mah-Jongg players. The former was released on DVD with English subtitles.
- Mah-Jongg in Western Popular
Culture
A Mah-Jongg game is described in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie, ending with the very unusual event of a player getting a complete winning hand on the initial draw. This success makes the character unduly talkative, which leads to significant plot developments.
British superspy James Bond plays a dangerous game of Mah-Jongg in Zero Minus Ten, a suspense novel by Raymond Benson.
In the 1940 film Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise, the title character remarks, "In China, Mah-Jongg very simple; in America very complex - like modern life."
The "Red Dragon" character that translates to "center" appears on the super-hero suit worn by The Greatest American Hero. The HongKong TV station TVB renamed the show "The Flying Red Centre Hero" [飛天紅中俠]. (ABC, 1981-83).
The "center" or "Red Dragon" tile is a major plot point in the same titled Thomas Harris novel and its two film adaptations, Manhunter and Red Dragon.
A Mah-Jongg game is prominent in Amy Tan's novel The Joy Luck Club and its 1993 film adaptation.
Graham Edwards' Stone trilogy features Mah-Jongg prominently. Much of the books' imagery focuses around the Mah-Jongg symbols, and one character owns a set of Mah-Jongg tiles, on which she paints throughout the trilogy.
Prominent American composer and modern Jazz Saxophonist Wayne Shorter was inspired by the game in creating a unique song structure for his tune aptly titled "Mah-Jongg", from his album 'JuJu', released in 1964 on Blue Note records.
In the first game of the Simon the Sorcerer series four wizards play a game of Mah-Jongg at the village tavern.
