Accessory Hands--2021 Edition

 

Greetings and salutations from your stylish Bubbe, always looking for the proper accessories, even when it comes to the card.

 

Yesterday's article lit a fire under me. I had mentioned that I wish the NMJL would change things up when creating hands, and even presented a hand that would fit pretty well with this current card.

 

I thought 22 4444 666 666 88, or, as Caryn Montague called it, the "Double-Devil," would be a fun way to literally represent the numbers 2, 4, and 6 in a hand. I also pointed out that it fits perfectly with this year's card because it has ambiguous exposures. You can expose 4444 666 and still have people think you're playing the second 2468 hand, or 666 666 and they will think that you're playing the third Like Numbers hand or the sixth Consecutive Runs hand. Until you make that third exposure, no one's going to know that you're playing this made-up hand.

 

I decided to put together a bunch of "accessory hands" for the 2021 card, for those of you who are looking for a little more challenge. Some hands may be familiar to you from previous cards; some are brand-new, straight out of my imagination. Obviously, inclusion is strictly for home games, as a table rule that you and your entire group have to agree upon before playing. The accessories would never work in a tournament, there are just too many people involved. You won't be able to practice them on online apps...but if you and your friends want to add a few hands to make the 2021 card a little more interesting, I hereby offer the following hands as options. All are valued at 25 cents unless indicated. Enjoy!

 

[Note: I will go into further description of them in later blogs, but I wanted to get the hands out to you so that if you want to start playing, you can! Also, feel free to identify the ambiguous exposures on your own!]

 

 

2021:

FF DDDD 2021 DDDD (any two or three suits; 2021 can be same suit as one of the dragon kongs)

 

2468:

 

22 4444 666 666 88 (three suits)

 

2222 4444 6666 88 (any two suits)

 

Like Numbers:

FF 1111 DD 1111 DD (any two suits) *30 cents*

 

Quints:

11111 11111 1123 (pair must match quints; singles may be on either side, or both sides, of pair) *45 cents*

 

Consecutive Runs:

11 222 3333 444 55 or 55 666 7777 888 99 (any two suits) 

 

13579:

FFFFF 11 333 5555 or FFFFF 11 333 5555 (one or three suits)

FFFFF 55 777 9999 or FFFFF 55 777 9999 (one or three suits)

 

Winds and Dragons:

NNNN 11 11 11 SSSS or EEEE 22 22 22 WWWW (three suits; odds with North/South, evens with East/West) *30 cents*

 

369:

333 666 666 99 DDD (three suits)

 

Singles and Pairs:

FF 11 44 77 11 44 77  or FF 22 55 88 22 55 88 (any two suits) *50 cents*

 

I’ll try to make this all fit on one page for anyone who wants a “handout” for their group. If you're interested, or have questions or comments about these new hands, you can always email me at bubbefischer@gmail.com 

 

Talk to you soon!

 

Bubbe Fischer

Unconventional Thinking

Greetings and salutations from your impatient Bubbe—three months into the new card, and already itching for something new!

 

Nobody loves figuring out the new NMJL card more than I do. You've seen the many articles that I rush out as soon as the new card comes, trying to make sense of each section, the patterns and how they interact, trying to find the "keys.”

 

And if you've ever seen my lecture on the psychological benefits of mah jongg, you know that one of the things I love the most about this game is that it changes every year. Our brains are stimulated and we're challenged to learn new patterns, forget old ones, and reorient ourselves on defense.

 

I just feel like maybe—after all these years—the traditional National Mah Jongg League patterns have gotten a little bit stale and predictable, often alternating between the same two, three, or maybe four types of patterns. With all due respect to the various independent cards that have been created: the NMJL card has a built-in audience of hundreds of thousands of players. 

 

Maybe, some day, the League will be looking for new ideas, and perhaps they would hear me out. If you've got connections with the League, feel free to forward this article to them!

 

 

There are certain conventions that NMJL has followed for at least the 19 cards I have known. MOST fundamentally, Green dragons go with bams, Red dragons go with craks, and White dragons go with dots. This is canon.

 

In addition, in the Winds and Dragons section, East is paired with West, Even numbers and Green dragons, and North and South go with Odd numbers and Red dragons.

 

 

Bubbe would never presume to change these conventions with her new ideas. However...

 

1) ORDER

 

We have seen that as the numbers increase, the melds (sets of numbers) go from "smaller" to "bigger," as well--or perhaps they make a bell-shaped curve, small on either end with a large middle.

 

Let me present this a different way for those of you who are more visual learners. Here is a hand where the melds increase in size:

 

11 22 333 444 5555

 

Here is a bell-shaped curve, where the melds are the smallest on both ends and largest in the middle:

 

11 222 3333 444 55

 

 

Likewise, we often see one of two "34" combinations, 3434 or 3344:

 

111 2222 333 4444

or

111 222 3333 4444

 

where the lowest number is always among the smallest melds, and the highest number is represented as the largest meld.

 

This year's card has some of the most egregious examples of "lowest to highest":

 

1 22 333 4444 DDDD

 

11 222 3333 FFFFF

 

In both cases, as the numbers increase, the size of the melds increases.

 

 

If Bubbe got a chance to break tradition, she might propose hands like these:

 

Consecutive Runs of four pungs, with a dip via a pair in the middle:

 

111 222 33 444 555

 

with companion hands

555 666 77 888 999

111 333 55 777 999

 

 

How about hands that START with large melds and decrease in size?

 

1111 222 333 44 55

5555 666 777 88 99

 

 

1111 2222 333 444

or

1111 222 3333 444

 

(Note: We DO sometimes do see this in 2222 4444 6666 88)

 

 

 

2) NUMBERS THEMSELVES

 

Taking the face value of the numbers literally, Bubbe recalls a quint hand that appeared like this:

 

22 333 4444 55555

 

and would like to suggest a 2468 hand as follows:

 

22 4444 666 666 88

 

 

3) MIX UP THE COLORS!!

 

Per the above example, there are many ways that two- and three-suited hands could be incorporated more creatively. The "knitted" or weaved suits, where melds alternate between two different suits, don't appear enough.

 

Addition/multiplication hands could also be used more frequently as well, in their one- and three-suited combinations.

 

 

What do you think? Is it time for the League to mix it up a little more, start thinking outside the box? Let me know at Bubbefischer@gmail.com

 

Talk to you soon!

 

Bubbe Fischer