2021 Hands Part 1 (left panel)

Greetings and salutations from your "sinister" Bubbe. That's correct, I'm left-handed, and today we're going to talk about the left side of the 2021 card!

A reminder before I start: Bubbe's most essential message to you is "luck favors the prepared mind." The whole point of all of these articles is to help prepare you to do as well as you can with the 2021 card. That means knowing the whole card. I don't want anyone being intimidated by Singles and Pairs hands (or ANY concealed hands), Quint hands, three-suited hands…whatever worries you, we're going to get through all of this together. I promise.

 

So. On the left panel, there are three sections: 2021, 2468, and Like Numbers.

 

The 2021 section, as I said in my first of this year's articles, is lovely. The hands require either a single Soap or a kong of them-- and the kong actually means that any or all of them can be Jokers! There is no "pair" requirement. That's already a big improvement over last year! 

1) Three Suits. A pair of Flowers, the year in suit A, and then a kong of 1s in suit B and a kong of 2s in suit C. You may use Jokers and/or call for exposures for the two kongs along the way to making this hand!

2) Two suits. 3434 hand. It only involves pungs and kongs so you can use Jokers for anything, including the Soaps. You will need a pung of 2s in each of two suits. One of these pungs needs a matching kong of 1s. You will also need a kong of Soaps. 

The part that gets tricky for many new players is whether the first set of 2s has to be DOTS (to match the Soaps). The answer is, "No!" The only thing that matters is that one pung of 2s is in suit A and a second pung of 2s matches a kong of 1s in suit B. The first pung could be dots, cracks, OR bams. Basically, you can't go wrong with this combination as long as you don't try to make the numbers a three-suited hand! Make the kong of 1's match either of the pungs of 2's, and you're good!

3) One suit. Easy, once you recognize it's a "secret" Quint. You will need kongs of Flowers, 2's and Soaps, and "21" in the same suit as the kong of 2s. Again, the numbers can be any suit, it does not have to be dots.  

"But Bubbe, how are you supposed to have four 2s and then still have a 2 left over for the 21??" That's where the "secret Quint" comes in. You are going to need at least one joker to make this hand. You MUST reserve one of the natural 2s to be part of the “21”; If you expose all four, you can't make the hand. If you expose three with a joker, but haven't got the last 2 in reserve, someone else might have the 2 and exchange it for that joker, because why wouldn't they? *The key to this hand is to hold on to a natural 2. You can't make the hand without it.* Also note: this is a little trickier, and is worth 30 cents instead of 25.

4) CONCEALED, one suit. If you erroneously expose either three Norths, three Souths, or both, you can switch to one of the hands in the Winds and Dragons section, but really, try not to make that mistake. It's a concealed hand; use a highlighter, if you must, to remind yourself not to call for any tile until you are ready for mah jongg.

The main trick to winning this particular hand: pay attention during the Charleston. If Winds are going around and you've already got a Soap (or vice versa), collect all the key pieces. That's the best way to launch this hand: get a lot of the essentials out of the way through the Charleston. This is not the kind of hand to suddenly consider after the third wall, it's not likely to fall into your lap.

 

The 2468 hands:

1) One suit. On the card, it's laid out like a bell curve. Just remember that the pairs are the 2s and the 8s and the kong is the Flowers. 

2) Two suits. Simple 3434 hand, in numeric order, 2468.

3) One suit. This is the "other" pattern (from the 2020 card): steps, with the first two being pairs, then pungs, then a kong. In this case, like #1, the kong is the matching Dragons; the pairs are the two lowest numbers.

4) Two suits. This "sandwich" hand appears in many years' cards. Kongs of 2's and 8's are the bread, in suit A. The "filling" is a pair of 4's and a pair of 6's, both in suit B. A pair of Flowers is the garnish.

5) Three suits. Pay attention that this one is 3344; there are no pairs so any and all melds can use jokers or be exposed. The trick is to remember that the pungs are both in the same suit, on the low end (2 and 4), and that the 6 and 8 kongs are each in their own suits.

6) ANOTHER one-suit hand! Super easy to remember, it's kongs of the three lowest numbers (246), and the pair is in the 8s. 

7) Three suits. This is the razzle-dazzle exposed hand for this section. One tile each of 2468, in suit A, plus you'll need Dragon kongs in the other two suits, and a pair of Flowers. Hope for some Jokers and keep your eyes open, to call Dragon discards for exposures. Again, as the hardest of the “open” hands, it is worth 30 cents.

8) CONCEALED/three suits. As above, there's a sandwich, but this one's all in the same suit, with "bread" pungs of 2 and 8, and a skinny "filling" of single 4 and 6. Then you need matching pungs of any of the even numbers, in the other two suits.

 

Like Numbers (Note there are no concealed Like Numbers hands this year):

1) Two suits. There's a pair of Flowers, kongs of the same number in two different suits, and--surprise!!--the combination of NEWS thrown in for fun. Don't forget that you can't call a single tile for exposure. If you need one of those Winds to complete the set, it can only be called as your final mah jongg tile.

2) Three suits. Basic three kongs and a pair hand. The tricky part is that the pair is of one suit of the Like Number, and one of the kongs is Flowers.

3) Two suits. Another 3434 hand, where the pungs are the Like Numbers and the kongs are their matching dragons. 

 

 

BUBBE COMMENTS:

I would remind everyone that those 3434 hands are the easiest to make. No pairs are required, you can call each meld for exposure, you can use Jokers in each meld. Getting pairs is never an easy proposition, but if you've got the pairs you need, do not hesitate to go with one of the slightly more challenging hands.

I'm also struck by the three different one-suited 2468 hands. It seems fairly simple, if you've got a preponderance of "even" tiles in one suit, to keep collecting them, and hold on to any Flowers and matching Dragons, as well. Based on the pairs that you get, specifically achieving the 2s and/or the 8s, you can determine which of these hands to pursue. I can easily imagine a scenario where players are passing around the odd tiles because three of them are simultaneously collecting even tiles, in each of the three different suits!

Tomorrow, look for the middle section discussion. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments at bubbefischer@gmail.com …I love hearing from you!

Talk to you soon.

Bubbe Fischer

 

BONUS post--Paean to the New Card

Greetings and salutations as your always-loquacious Bubbe interrupts her annual card review for a brief aside about the object itself. 

Someone in a Facebook group devoted to all different styles of play commented that he finds it amusing how excited we get when the new card arrives. He compared it to that hilarious scene in "The Jerk" when Steve Martin's character gets so excited about the new phone books.

"The new phone books are here, the new phone books are here," he shouts, proudly showing that he is listed in it, that he's "somebody."

Well, we may sound silly to people who play other, cardless versions of the game, but I'm here to salute the card and sing its praises.

I do a lot of public speaking about the National Mah Jongg League version of the game, and the most popular topic is its psychological benefits. The card is THE essential component of what we think of when we think of "our" version.

The first psychological benefit is the cognitive. The fact that we get a new card each year, and are required to learn new combinations and forget old ones, is tremendously challenging to our brains. Especially as we age, we might stop learning new things... unless we play mah jongg. It's very healthy to have to process new information and think analytically. Other versions of the game have tricky or valuable combinations, but they don't have the kind of specific, official changes, year after year, that keep our style fresh and challenging

I also talk about the social benefits of the game. By owning the NMJL card ( $10 or less, including shipping), you become part of a tribe. It's not officially an ID or club card, per se, but no matter where you go in the US, if you've got your card you can go find other players. It is a great icebreaker. Needless to say, during COVID, it's been a lifeline for people to continue to play online and make connections. This isolation was terrible for so many, but mah jongg helped keep them sane and less lonely.

The card is also a piece of memorabilia. You might come across an old one when you're cleaning out a junk drawer, and remember the day that you got the big hand back in 2013, or reminisce about a favorite combination. It's a piece of history.

Finally, its debut, its long-awaited presence, marks a new beginning. For me, the 2020 card will be forever cursed. 2021's card feels like an opportunity to move on, go forward, into a world where we're going to play again in person. It's a moment to pause, breathe, put away the old and look forward to the new.

 

Now, back to learning it!!

 

Bubbe Fischer

Nu, what's New/PATTERNS

 

Greetings and salutations from Bubbe, who's going to shower you with "new card" posts for at least another week!

My overall goal is to get you comfortable and fluent in this card as quickly as possible. I hope these essays will help you think creatively about the card. Read them right away, before the card comes; or wait, and read them with the card on your lap…or both! Who’s going to judge you?!

A brief schedule: Today I will write about specific PATTERNS of the new card, in the hope that you can master more hands more quickly. 

For the next three days, I will have three articles going section by section, reviewing the left, middle, and right sides of the card. (***Going forward I will be referring to each section in an abbreviated way. Looking on the card, from left to right, I will be calling the sections 2021, Evens, LN, Q, CR, Odds, WD, 369, and SP.***)

Following the section reviews will be a post about illegal exposures. Don't make them, watch out if anyone else makes them--you might call that hand dead, or not, based on your situation, but at least you'll be clear that such a hand will not win.

After that, we'll get into two articles about more sophisticated stuff: 

A) ambiguous exposures, which are harder to defend against, but good for the player who might need to switch hands after already making exposures; and 

B) ideas about which particular hands, still unexposed, can be switched due to special circumstances, e.g. when your original hand goes dead or you suddenly pick up extra jokers.

Finally, I'll probably run a few quiz columns about how to tell one hand from another and help you figure out the best hands to try for, with a given group of tiles.

 

 

 

So what's new for 2021? As I mentioned in my first 2021 blogpost, the card is on the surface quite similar to last year's. Same nine sections, approximately the exact same number of hands…but of course there are important differences, and you need to recognize and understand them!! I highly recommend learning all of the key PATTERNS.

The first important pattern that I look for is always found in CR #1. 2021’s is different from 2020’s: it now resembles a bell curve, with pairs on either end of the number line and a kong in the middle. In other words:

 

        3

    2  3  4

1  2  3  4  5

1  2  3  4  5

 

This pattern shows up again in Evens #1 and Odds #1 and #4. Technically if you put the pair of Flowers at the end, it also appears in Odds #2. This is an important pattern to remember, knowing that the pairs, which are the hardest part to achieve, are on the ends. 

The next pattern that I always look for is the "pung/kong" hand, combining two sets of three of a kind and two sets of four of a kind. This year the pattern is 3434, in two suits. These hands are 2021 #2, Evens #2, LN #3, CR #2, Odds #3, and 369 #1. It's always good to keep this particular pattern in mind, it's an easy hand to make because there are no pairs! You can expose each meld and your hand can't go dead, you can use Jokers.... it's perennially popular as a fallback hand. The key is to remember 3-4 in suit A, and 3-4 in suit B. Easy-peasy.

**One thing to absolutely be careful about: 3434 does not apply to WD #1. Although it is all pungs and kongs, the order is 4334: kongs of North and South, pungs of East and West. Don't forget, or your hand could easily go dead. **

What other interesting patterns are on this card? Well, as I intimated in the first post, there are a few hands using five Flowers. The first, of course, is Q #1. However, putting out five Flowers does not necessarily mean you are playing that quint hand. It also is a necessary part of CR #4: five Flowers, followed by any three consecutive numbers as a pair, pung, and kong in one suit. That same five-Flower, pair, pung, and kong shows up again as 369 #4 where the 3s must be the pair, the 6s must be the pung and the 9s must be the kong, all in the same suit.

There are also several hands using a kong of Flowers. Those involve either two more kongs and a pair, as in 2021 #3, LN #2, and Odds #5; or two pairs and two pungs, as in Evens #1, Evens #3, and WD #3.

There are many hands with a pair of Flowers and three kongs, all over the card. So many, in fact, I'm not going to list them. This isn't a particularly unique hand.

On the other hand, there are a few pretty funky standout hands involving opposite Dragons, single tiles, or both. The two three-suited hands with opposite Dragons are CR #8 and Evens #7. CR #8 is a concealed hand with a pair of Flowers and four pungs: two consecutive numbers in suit A, and Dragon pungs in suits B and C. Evens #7 has a pair of Flowers and singles of 2, 4, 6, and 8 in suit A, with Dragon kongs in suits B and C.

The other singles I want to point out involve Winds. One such hand is SP #1, which includes six pairs: Flowers, North, South and any like number in all three suits, with a single East and a single West. The other is WD #7, a concealed hand with four pungs: North, South, and any two Dragons, plus (again) a single East and a single West. 

Speaking of the WD section, one final very important tip for those of you who are new to the blog, and a reminder to my veteran readers: the "long-E" rule.

It is an NMJL convention that East/West, Green, and Even numbers all go together. The non-"EEE" group of North/South, Red and Odd go together. This is borne out in WD #2, 4, and 5.

 

I think that's enough Bubbe Wisdom for one day. Tune in tomorrow, when I will start writing in detail about the whole left side of the new card! 

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at bubbefischer@gmail.com. I love to hear from you.

Bubbe Fischer