Mahjong, mahjong, mahjong!

The Weekend Plan - I had a game of Mahjong on Jan 1st, 3 rounds to be exact. And what a way it was to start 2011!

We started the game at around 3am after we finished watching the New Year countdown (live from Taiwan) which was fantastic by the way. The Taiwanese entertainment scene has truly overtaken HK...And so, we started with $120 worth of chips and by afternoon close to 12 noon and with one round to go, I was handed a quite brilliant hand.

 "Wah sey, swee..." I thought when I saw my tiles above.

I was further encouraged when I was managed to "Pong" the 中 and then the 白板. Woohoo! Could this be my first ever 大三园? My tiles had looked really threatening especially after I had "Pong" the Eight Bamboos and gotten a Cat as well.

It's already Three Doubles on the outside and a "Pong Pong" or "Half Color" would easily fill me to the limit, not to say getting three "青发"s. That would have given me a maximum win even if my other tiles are a mess.

At this point you would imagine that the other players would go on the defense and so they were, right till the last stretch with about 9 decks of tiles left before it becomes a stalemate, there was still no movement in my tiles. However, it was satisfying to see Edward and and Kaizhen breaking their tiles to defend against my card except for Wanyi who appears nonchalant to my threat.

"Maybe she is going for broke too," I thought, since she was losing a fair bit.

I was eventually waiting for a "青发" to win the game and as the tiles dwindled down, my hopes faded as well. There was no chance that anyone in the right state of mind who would throw a "青发" nor am I able change my "青发" to wait for another card at this late stage. And so, I drew my tiles, I threw my tiles up till the final tile, damn...Stalemate.

We excitedly revealed our tiles after an exhilarating battle and KNN! Wanyi didn't seemed to care cos she already had two "青发"! No wonder! I was of no threat from her point of view and she was right...and in case you are wondering how much I won that night (judging from my tiles)..

I was left with $40 on a lovely Saturday afternoon. A thrashing of $80 worth of chips with Edward being the big winner! The good thing about playing with friends is that we are "friendly enemies". The actual value of the chips are halved and so I lost a meagre $40 after almost nine hours of battle and great fun.

Really, mahjong is a fascinating game and superb for gatheirngs and idle chat on weekends and holidays. Keep the bets low and I think everyone will enjoy the game. One thing though, it's a game for four. If you want a similar sort of enjoyment for more players, Poker is the next thing in line. Another fun game really.

You can learn how to play mahjong here.