Word to the Wise

 Greetings and salutations from your ever-pensive Bubbe, with a very timely word to share:

DEDUCTION

Obviously at this time of year, we think of tax preparation and the deductions that a person can take from their tax debt through charitable donations, medical expenses, mortgage interest, etc., etc. It’s obviously on everybody's mind.

However, “deduction” has multiple meanings for me at this time of year. There’s the (non-tax-related) mathematical term for removing, a synonym for subtraction.

There’s also the logic-related term, meaning “the inference of particular instances by reference to a general law or principle”. In other words, the solving of a puzzle based on other established facts.

We can talk about mahj and charity another time. The second and third definitions are most relevant to this article, in the context of figuring out patterns and learning the new card. Bubbe never advocates memorizing the card, per se—it’s always good to have it as a reference, especially for switching hands—but in general, I recommend being fluent enough in the card that you can remember what you’re playing without constantly looking back at your card as a reminder. You can focus, instead, on other players’ discards and what has been exposed; ideally, you can also keep your eye out for available jokers!

 

The basic rule about any specific hand’s components, the absolute fundamental of our version of mah jongg, is that every hand consists of 14 tiles. 

Therefore, every hand includes combinations that total 14. 

4+4+4+2=14

3+4+3+4=14

5+4+5=14

2+2+2+2+2+2+2=14

There are all kinds of ways to get to 14, and it’s a really valuable thing to recall when you’re trying to remember whether you have the right combination.

For instance, in that first equation, substitute “three kongs and a pair” and you're describing many hands all over the card. Often that additional pair is Flowers, which essentially serve as placeholders; they aren’t numbers, they aren’t suited. They must be natural (no jokers!), so thank goodness there are eight of them! Another thing to remember, for shorthand purposes, is that the “4” can refer to a kong of four of the same specific tile, or a special meld of four singles like NEWS or 2023. You can’t use jokers in those special melds, but for mathematical purposes, you can think of each as a block of four tiles.

Therefore---when you’re trying to remember what a hand consists of, you can work backwards (subtract AND infer) from what you already know about the hand.  If it’s a hand that includes NEWS, you have to somehow come up with 10 other tiles. If it’s a hand with a quint, there will be nine remaining tiles.

In my next two articles, I’m going to talk about a very specific kong that will unlock a lot of ways to remember hands, through both mathematical and logical deduction. I hope you’ll follow along. If you’re as smart as I think you are, you’re going to learn a lot of hands very easily this way.

This is as good a time as any to point out (speaking of deductions) that I DO sell books (a memoir/manual called Searching for Bubbe Fischer, as well as two mah jongg novels), and if you’re interested in any of them, you can contact me at bubbefischer@gmail.com for a special Bubbe fan rate. You can also email me with questions or comments any time.

Get ready for some serious card geekery!

Bubbe