Taking a moment

Greetings and salutations from your contemplative Bubbe on this Easter Sunday.

I have been writing these card reviews at a breathless pace, and I think I will take a moment today to go on a different tangent. I am dedicating this column to two women who embody something very important about mah jongg.

The first is well-known in the mahj world. Her name is Fern Bernstein and she has written "Mah Jongg Mondays," a book about how mah jongg provides an opportunity to make friends and support one another through good times and bad. In the book, Fern talks about how her network of mahj friends helped her, and others, through family illness and bereavement. 

Fern has taken her love of people, and natural curiosity, to the next level. For the past several years, she has run a podcast, also called Mah Jongg Mondays, where she interviews  players and other people tangentially related to mah jongg. The topics vary widely, but her grace and enthusiasm runs through every episode. Especially during COVID, her podcast was a lifeline. She's helped people develop a connection.

The other is a woman who perhaps only a few of you know: Terry Hofflich. Terry took one of my beginner mah jongg classes, way before COVID began. She had been recently widowed and was trying to get back out in the world.

Terry was a memorable student. She was not someone who mastered the game quickly, but she was outgoing and upbeat. She relished being out and about and making new friends; she was strictly there for the social aspect of the game.

I have often invoked Terry's playing style in my lectures and writing. She was the one who preferred playing dots, only, because they were easier to keep straight. 

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that playing style. Terry's objective was to spend time with friends. Just by being at the table, she'd already won.

I found out that Terry passed away this week. I'll never forget her joie de vivre. Our perspectives on mah jongg were different, but I completely respect hers. I will never forget her.

There is an epidemic of loneliness in this country. A strong mah jongg community can be part of the cure.

We can go back to strategy again tomorrow.

Bubbe

RIGHT panel 2024

 

Greetings and salutations from your Bubbe, who knows good things come in threes. That means it's time for our third panel, the right side of the card.

 

Let's get to it.

 

Abbreviation standards:

WD is the Winds and dragons section, 369 is 369 and Singles and Pairs is SP.

 

Winds and dragons section:

 

WD1a and WD1b: same as last year. It's a pung and kong hand, no pairs. Every meld can utilize Jokers, any discard can be called for an exposure. Wests equal Easts, Norths equal Souths. You decide which are the pungs and which are the kongs, but once you expose a meld, you have to commit to that choice (unless..... we'll talk about backups and WD4 in a few days).

 

WD2: It's the year of the dragon, so let’s use all of them! This is a pung kong hand, and just as with LN1, we know that there are no pungs of Flowers this year. Therefore, there are four Flowers, leaving us with 10 tiles. That means that of the three melds of dragons, two are pungs and one is a kong. You get to decide which suit is the other kong.

 

WD3a and WD3b: another pung and kong hand. Jokers for any meld, any discarded tile can be called for exposure. This time, we have kongs of two consecutive numbers in different suits, with pungs of either the East-West or North-South combination. I have a feeling this will also be a popular hand.

 

WD4: A little different than last year's hand, although like last year’s, it defies the E=W, N=S pattern. We also need to remember 1) we only need a pair of Flowers, and 2) this is a step formation. Therefore, it's pairs of the Flowers and Norths, pungs of East and West, and a kong of South. This hand will come up again when we're talking about backup hands, especially with WD1a.

 

WD5a and WD5b: This is a two kong, three pair hand. It’s a similar sandwich hand to 369 5, kongs surrounding three pairs. I’m going to call this one the “simple sub”. The roll is the kongs of matching Winds, either North/South or East/West, and the filling is three pairs of consecutive numbers in one suit. Simple, ideal for the picky eater. Again, a good hand to keep in mind when discussing backup hands 

 

WD6: a true Wind and dragon hand. Kongs of two different dragons, a pair of Flowers, and the four singles that make NEWS. 

 

WD7: a concealed like numbers hand, similar to the one on last year's card. This time it's four pungs and two singles, with 3 Norths and Souths around a single East and West, and then like-numbered pungs in two different suits. It's something to consider as backup if you are building LN3. 

 

369 Section:

 

369 1.2 and 369 1.3: pung/kong hand. Say it with me: “Jokers can be used in any meld, and any discard can be called for an exposure.” Most important thing to remember is that the pungs are on the three and six, both in the same suit. The options for the six and nine kongs are that they can either both be in suit B, or one each in suit B and suit C.

 

369 2: we've seen this one before, a pair of Flowers and then single, pair, pung of 369 in one suit, with additional pungs of matching number (either 3, 6, or 9) in the other two suits. We’ll talk about it again when we discuss backups, especially for LN1.

 

369 3.1 and 369 3.3: the equivalent of CR 3.1 and CR3.3, a pair of Flowers and three kongs. In this case, it's kongs of 3, 6 and 9, either all in the same suit or one in each suit.

 

369 4: another pung kong hand, pungs of the same number (either 3, 6, or 9) in two different suits, with the kongs of their matching dragons. Jokers can be used in any meld, and any discard can be called for an exposure. One easy mnemonic to keep this simple hand straight: "pung" and "number" both include the letter U; "kong" and "dragon" both include the letter O. Think of it as a special like numbers hand, exclusively for 369. I have a feeling it will be very popular this year as well.

 

369 5: A little bit of nostalgia for a hand we used to see in the CR section. A variation on the pattern comes up again in WD5. It’s the “Magic Meatball sub”: a long roll of kongs of 3s and 9s in the same suit, with a colorful meatball filling--pairs of 6s using each of the three suits.

 

369 6: you can visualize it as a stair pattern, if you put the kong of Flowers at the end. Pairs of the 3s and 6s along with one pung of 9s, all in the same suit. There's a final pung of dragons in your choice of second suit, plus the four Flowers. It's another one I recommend forming with your own tiles, to get used to seeing it.

 

369 7: a concealed hand, the 369 equivalent of CR8. Both suit A and B use pungs of 3s and 6s, and the hand is completed with a pair of 9s in suit C. It seems easy enough, but that's why it's concealed!

 

 

SINGLES AND PAIRS:

 

SP1: from the Even section, it’s Skinnylicious time! Pairs of 2s and 8s with skinny fillings of single 4 and 6, in two suits. Finished off with a pair of Flowers.

 

SP2: from the Odd section, and it's about as basic as they come. It's a pair of Flowers and pairs of 135 in suit A and 579 in suit B.

 

SP3a or SP3b: from the CR section. Those of you who've read my first book may remember Sylvie, who taught me so many things. "Number vomit" was her charming nickname for this kind of hand, where you have a pair with a single in suit A; two pairs with a single in suit B, and finally three full pairs, in suit C. For this particular collection, the options are ascending consecutive numbers from 1s or descending from 9s.

 

SP4: from the 369 section. I talked about this hand in the overview. I like it because it's true to the spirit of singles and pairs. You have a pair of Flowers, and then pairs of 3, 6 and 9 in suit A and "369" single combinations in each of the other two suits.

 

SP5: from the CR section, a new twist on an old friend. We've seen two Flowers and six consecutive pairs. We've seen two Flowers and five consecutive pairs with matching dragons. We've seen seven consecutive pairs. I think this is the first time we've seen five consecutive pairs with pairs of complementary dragons.

 

SP6: the Big Hand, from the Year section. Like SP5, this is a new twist on an old friend. Obviously in years like the 2000s, 2010, 2020 and, presumably, 2030, one can't put three "year" melds in the Big Hand because there just aren't enough soaps. In those cases, two Year melds were supplemented with dragons or Winds, as well as the usual pair of Flowers.

This year they're trying something new. Even though they didn't have to, they're only including two melds of the year in different suits, and then a six-tile NEWS combination with pairs of North and Souths and single East and West.

But wait, you say, that already gets us to 14 tiles! That's right, no Flowers. 

I kind of dig this Big Hand, it frees up some more soaps, it doesn’t require all three suits, and you won’t need to hunt down the pair of Flowers. Grab your change purse: I predict that the Big Hand will be a lot easier to make, this year.

 

 

 

So that's it, those are all of the hands on the card. I think we're going to get a handle on this pretty soon.

 

As many of you already know, Bubbe’s most important lesson is that “luck favors the prepared mind.” I'm here to help you prepare. Aren't you lucky?!

 

In the next days, we're going to do more preparation, first talking about illegal exposures and then moving on to ambiguous exposures amd backup hands. Talk to you tomorrow.

 

Bubbe 

2024 Middle Panel

Greetings and salutations from your Bubbe, who knows exactly why you're here. You want to me to talk about the middle panel of the card.

Who am I to say no?

 **Warning: Bubbe may or may not have been consuming hallucinogenics while coming up with some of these ideas!**

 

As with yesterday, I'm explaining my methods. Q means quints, CR means consecutive runs, O means the 13579 section. If a hand has a second variation I will either call it, for example, CR7.1 or CR7.2 referring to the number of suits, or if it's on a different end of the number line I will call it, for example, O2a or O2b.

 

 

Quint section: first of all, thank you, NMJL people, for adding in another quint this year. Last year was so boring.

 

Q1: A pair of Flowers and three consecutive numbers, all in the same suit. This is for when you've been building CR3.1 but you happen to have two or more Jokers... it pays more. Don't forget you'll need a natural pair between the two quints.

 

Q2: This is a two quint/kong hand. No pairs, Jokers can be used anywhere, and any discard can be called for exposure. The kong is a Wind, a "solo" exposure that would not give away that you're playing quints. The numerical design is also brilliant. You put out a quint of any number in any suit, and then the second quint must be in one of the other two suits, in any other number than what you put out. That leaves you literally 16 other options: how is a person supposed to defend that? Of course, that's only if they've already put out the Wind kong... A quint by itself, with no other exposure, makes things very, very ambiguous. Bravo, card designers!

 

Q3: consecutive pair and quint of same two numbers, in two different suits. This bears a close resemblance to CR4. The difference is having the single tiles vs. at least two Jokers; either way, you will need the natural pairs.

 

Q4: Bubbe could not be happier that her junk quint hand is back, two quints and a kong, but this time there is a little twist. This is one of the two times that a Flower quint appears on the 2024 card. The kong is dragons, an exposure which would not, by itself, signal that you were playing quints. The tricky thing this year is that your number quint MUST be of a different suit than your dragon (it says "any two suits").

 

Consecutive Runs:

 

CR1a and b: If you didn't see my first 2024 blog, go back and read it. I am over the moon that somebody is changing things up over at NMJL. We now have a new pattern, the sombrero. Pung, pair, kong, pair, pung (or 3-2-4-2-3, if you're thinking of size). You can choose either end of the number line, 1-5 or 5-9, all in the same suit.

Kudos to my friend Tracy Callard who pointed out that CR1a, with its pairs of 2's and 4's, is going to make the 2024 hands that much harder to make--and vice versa.

Don't worry, our bell curve and step patterns will still show up all over the card.

 

CR2: a two-suited bell curve. It's four consecutive numbers, anywhere on the number line, in suit A: pair and pung ascending to the middle and descending back to final pair. The middle kong is of dragons in one of the other two suits. I guess my visual mnemonic for this one would be dragon bridge: you're climbing up to view this unique dragon kong, then going back down again..

 

CR3.1 or CR3.3: one of the most reliable CR hands. A pair of Flowers and three Kongs, consecutive numbers in either all one suit or one of each of the three suits. Very straightforward, makes an excellent backup hand as I will discuss in a future post.

 

CR4: a variation on the "flag" hands we had a few cards ago. Remember, the components always have to add up to 14: in this case, it's 2 x (1+2+4). A single, pair, and kong of the same 3 consecutive numbers, in two different suits. I mentioned that it resembles Q3, above. It is a good hand to keep in mind when discussing backups.

 

CR5: single-suited, consecutive run step hand. Pairs of the first two numbers, pungs of the next two numbers, and the top step is actually a kong of the matching dragon. The trick to distinguishing this from CR2 is that in CR5, the stairs go in only one direction, UP, to matching dragons, while in the dragon bridge you are climbing up to the "view" of contrasting dragon kong, before descending again. 

If you'll briefly indulge me: CR2 is "sightseeing": you go up the dragon bridge to see a kong of different dragons than usual, then go back down. CR5 is an everyday, one-suited hand: you climb the stairs up to your bedroom where your good old, regular family dragon kong is waiting for you. (Yes, I know I'm getting loopy again...)

 

CR6: stealth Quint!! Another hand I mentioned in my overview. This hand has a lot going on. I love that the run of three single tiles, known in Chinese mahjong as a chow, is featured, but remember, you cannot call for a discard to complete the chow unless it's your final tile. The two pungs are the next number in sequence, in the complementary suits. This hand pays 30 cents, a little bit more than most, because of the three singles and the fact that it's the only hand that involves a quint and two pungs.

 

CR7.1 or CR7.2: The super straightforward consecutive run hand, pung pung kong kong. It can either be in one suit or two, and the basic thing to remember is that the two pungs are the lower ones and the two kongs are the higher ones.

 

CR8: a concealed hand, four pungs and a pair. You have two sets of the same consecutive pungs, in suits A and B. The next number in the sequence is a pair, in suit C. Do not forget that this is a concealed hand. 

 

13579 Section:

 

O1.1 and O1.3: The other sombrero hands. The sequence is always 1 through 9, with the pungs being the 1 and 9, the pairs being the 3 and 7, and the kong in the middle as 5. In the three-suit variation, the 1 and 3 are suit A, the 5 is suit B, and 7 and 9 are suit C. It may be simplest for you to display O1.3 with your own tiles, just to get used to looking at it.

 

O2a and O2b: The hand we see every year, this year it's pung pung kong kong, with the two lower numbers, 1 and 3 or 5 and 7 in pungs of suit A, and the higher numbers, 3 and 5 or 7 and 9, both being kongs of suit B. No pairs required, you can use Jokers for any meld and or call a discard to make any exposure

 

O3a and O3b: Just like last year, think of this hand as a slightly shifted bell curve by moving the Flowers to the other side of the dragons. Your pairs are the low number and the Flowers. Your pungs are the middle number and the dragon. Your center/kong is the highest number. Another way to visualize: the three odd numbers ascend both numerically and in size (the highest is the kong); on the way back down, you have the pung of dragons and then a pair of Flowers (remember that there are NO Flower pungs this year).

 

O4:  three suited hand, three pairs and two kongs. The pairs are the first three numbers (135) in suit A. The kongs of 7s and 9s are the other two suits, in whichever order you prefer. I'm visualizing it as a striped shirt (three pairs in same color), then pants and shoes (kongs) in whichever color order you want.

 

O5: like E4a and E4b, this is a stealth multiplication hand. The hand includes three kongs and two singles, with the singles being the product of the two number kongs, 15 or 35. Each of the melds, the two kongs and the "product," is in its own suit, and the final kong is four Flowers.

 

O6a and O6b: A three-suited stair hand, on the lower or upper of the number line. The pairs are the lower numbers in suit A, the pungs are the upper numbers in suit B, and the kong dragons are in suit C. A trick to keep this hand distinct from CR2 and especially CR5, which also use dragon kongs: remember that the version that uses all three suits is ODD!

 

O7a or O7b:  Remember that this is a concealed hand. It resembles E6, another concealed hand, in that the first combination (pung-pair-pung) is all in one suit. The trickiest thing to remember for this hand is that the other two pungs are of the middle number, in the other two suits. This is another hand that I recommend that you set up with your own tiles so you're familiar with how it looks.

 

 

As I alluded to above, there are quite a few hands in the middle section that are excellent backup hands or can easily switch to something else. It's worth understanding the nuances of each hand: which ones have a pair of Flowers, which ones involve singles? What kind of a difference would having extra jokers make? And what's the story with the dragon kongs?!

 

I think most of you can figure out what tomorrow's article's going to be. See you then!

 

Bubbe