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