New from Bubbe!

Greetings and salutations and new ideas from Bubbe!

Don't get excited, this isn't about the new card. I don't have it yet, either.

I did get a fascinating email from Vickie Reynolds, who shared with me a variation that she and her friends play. I warn you that it is absolutely a table rule game. The League doesn't know about this, the League doesn't approve of this, there are no hard-and-fast rules to it other than the ones that Vickie taught me, and if you call the League about it, they'll think you're crazy.

Mah jongg maven extraordinaire Tom Sloper says, and I agree, that table rules are just that, not conventional NMJL rules; once you start using them, you've gone to uncharted territory and therefore can't ask the League for any help to settle your disputes. Understand it's a certain kind of lawlessness that you and your friends must all agree to uphold, and to settle amongst yourselves.

I’m not completely against table rules to change things up. A while ago, I posited a table rule that we could have a special sticker to designate one of the eight jokers as “magic.” If one wins a hand using that particular joker, there could be a certain bonus involved, like maybe another quarter from each player. If you had the opportunity to exchange for one of two jokers, you might choose the “magic” one; otherwise, it was purely the luck of what you picked or exchanged, yourself. It's like paying the winner double when East rolls doubles to break the first wall: a very simple, basic table rule.

Vickie's group has an idea that blew my mind. Maybe Bubbe just doesn't get around that much, I don't know. Vickie's group uses four additional tiles--all blanks--for a total of 156 tiles. Now, if your set doesn't have extra blanks but does have additional Flowers, you could put stickers on them, or designate the four Season tiles as your “blanks”. The main point is that these tiles need to look exactly like all of your other tiles from the back, but on the face are clearly distinct from any of your usual 152 tiles. For brevity's sake, I will hereafter refer to this version as “Tuile Blanc” (“blank tile”), or TB for short.

In TB, whenever someone picks one of the four special tiles, it is as if they had picked a super-joker with a unique function. A TB may be exchanged for any discarded tile--including a Joker! The TB does not have to be used immediately, but the exchange can only take place during your turn.

For example, you may pick up a TB, see nothing on the table that you want or need, and hold on to it for the future, discarding something else. A few turns later, you may see that someone has discarded a tile that you need for a single or pair, or a Joker, or one of the other components of your hand. Just like in regular League rules, your turn begins when you either call for the current discard (which you must use in an exposure) or pick from the wall. While it is still your turn, you may redeem any of your tiles for exposed Jokers; you may exchange your TB for any discard on the table, including discarded Jokers; or you could even exchange your TB for a discarded tile that was previously not redeemed for a Joker, and take THAT Joker. You can redeem as many Jokers on any turn as you like, but you may only exchange one TB during a turn. Your turn ends with a discard or by declaring mah jongg.

Two interesting related rules to remember if you're going to play TB. The first is that you do not need to show/expose how you are using your newly-revived tile. You simply make your TB exchange, and the new tile stays in your rack, not exposed. Secondly, you may find that you don't need the TB, after all, and may discard it like any other tile. Obviously, it would be better to take advantage of this bounty, but there may be a certain hand where you just can't use it. You MAY NOT declare mah jongg with a blank tile among your 14--it must be exchanged for a “real” tile.

I think it’s fairly obvious that the main advantage of this version is that it’s more likely that someone will win. I can’t imagine there are as many Wall Games when anyone can resuscitate tiles that have already been discarded. On the other hand, it doesn't guarantee a winner: if someone drew all the TB’s she still might not win, e.g. all the tiles she needed for pairs were exposed or kept by other players. Hopefully she would know the card well enough to figure out a way to change up her hand.

I'm not married to the name “Tuile Blanc.” I picked it because it was similar to “Carte Blanche,” but that's just me. You might prefer “Zombie Mahj” (because discards can come back from the dead) or “Super Joker,” I don't know. Anybody have any fun ideas for a title?

Let me know if any of you try this. I don't recommend playing it every week, but it might be fun to change things up once in a while... especially while we're waiting for the new card.

Feel free to contact me at bubbefischer@gmail.com with similar ideas and comments. I love hearing from you!

Talk to you VERY soon.

Bubbe