Right Panel of the 2025 Card

 

Greetings and salutations from your wise Bubbe, who knows that good things come in threes. Today, the third (right) panel of the 2025 card!

WINDS & DRAGONS

W1a and W1b: We've seen these hands before. All four Winds are pungs or kongs, but you get to decide which are which. Just remember, for this hand, the number of Norths=Souths and Easts=Wests. Pay very close attention once you've made that first exposure, you don't want to mess this up! It's also pretty great that you don't need any pairs.

W2: New for 2025: Purina Dragon Chow! Remember the rule of 14: you have melds of all three dragons as a pair, pung, and kong so that's nine tiles. Add a chow anywhere on the number line, in whatever suit you want, so you're up to 12. Complete the hand with a pair of Flowers! Note: although this is the only hand on the card with a pung and kong of dragons, it would be virtually impossible for anybody to guess what your chow is.

W3: very sneaky. Based on your Wind exposures, people might think you're going for W1a, but if you have pairs of North and East as well as a Flower or two, why not switch?

W4: a true Wind and dragon hand. Three of the melds can be exposed, but NEWS is all singles and can only called for mah jongg. Remember that the dragons are pungs, and the last four tiles are Flowers.

W5 and W6: One of my very favorite mnemonics is back. North/South goes with Odd numbers, East/West goes with Even numbers. This is a hybrid Winds and Like Numbers hand. You will need a single, pair, and pung of some number X in all three suits (total of six tiles). The remaining eight tiles will be the proper combination of Wind kongs, based on what number X is. If X is even, you go with W6, kongs of East and Wests. If X is odd, you use W5, kongs of North and South. If you have a lot of Winds during the Charleston, this is a great hand to try!

W7a and W7b: we've seen both of these hands as the concealed hand in the Year section. What was once considered a classy, challenging concealed hand has been demoted to just a regular hand, hidden near the bottom of the Winds section. At least it's worth 30 cents instead of 25, but wow, that's a demotion! Note that there are two variations. If you put the NEWS meld in the middle, where it LOOKS LIKE a kong, you can either have the pairs of North and South at the ends, like the bell curve, or pungs of North and South, dipping down to the pairs of East and West before climbing back up to the middle-meld, as in last year's “sombrero.” The most important piece for you to remember is which Winds you have chosen to be the pairs and which are the pungs. As above, Easts=Wests, Norths=Souths. This hand is slightly easier than previous years’ since it's no longer concealed–you may call the two pungs for exposure.

W8: a very basic, old school Wind and Dragon hand, it's a stair step. The Winds are pair, pair, pung, pung, and the kong is of whatever suit of Dragon you want. Don’t forget that this hand is concealed!!

Overall, this section was fine, but not that many number-related hands. My favorite is the Purina Dragon Chow hand (W2), where you have all the dragons in different sizes and a chow of Singles anywhere on the number line, in any suit you want. Just remember to add a pair of Flowers to make it up to 14.

 

369 SECTION

369 #1.2 and 369 #1.3: this is a simple pung/kong hand, with the variation that you can add in a third suit for the final kong of 9s. No pairs required, easily switchable. An easy option if you've had a good Charleston and have some nice jokers.

369 #2.1 and 369 #2.3: In either one suit or three, you've got this basic addition hand involving kongs of 3, 6, and 9. To be honest, three kongs and a pair of flowers in the 369 section is really conventional, we’ve seen it many times. This year, they just put “plus” and “equal” signs in to match the addition hands in the other sections.

369 #3: as I've remarked earlier, this is a like numbers hand, with pungs and kongs, where the only number options are 3’s, 6’s or 9’s. This year, the numbers are the kongs and the matching dragons are the pungs. That's probably the hardest thing to remember about it: go AGAINST the matching “u” and “o” vowels (pungs are dragons, kongs are numbers). Also, if you are going for LN1 in 3, 6, or 9 and you've made two kong exposures, your hand will not go dead– you can always use this as your backup hand.

369 #4: interesting, another example of working backwards to figure out how many Flowers. We've got kongs of 3 and 9 in suit A, and then a trio of singles, 369, in suit B. It only gets us to 11 tiles, so we need three Flowers.

369 #5: three-suited hand. Suit A is the pairs of 3s, 6s, and 9s, complemented by kongs of one of those numbers in suits B and C. Because the only things that are called for exposures are the kongs, you will appear to be going for a like numbers hand. If the pairs are unattainable, you can switch to 369 #3.

369 #6: this is a concealed hand, since it would be relatively easy to accumulate the pungs by calling for them. It includes a pair of Flowers with pungs of 3, 6 and 9, each in its own suit, as well as one matching dragon each. I'm calling it “Penny Candy” because you're getting a little bit of everything in all the different colors.  If you're lucky in the Charleston you could be set up very nicely. This is not a hand that you would stumble on by accident, you have to pay attention to the tiles you've gathered.

 

SINGLES AND PAIRS

As we know, each hand in this section is sort of stripped-down version of other hands in specific neighborhoods. I like to call people's attention to that so they understand that, even as they're going for the Singles and Pairs one, if they start picking up Jokers they may end up going to the bigger neighborhood with more options. All hands are concealed, no tiles can be called for exposure except your final tile for mahjong.

SP1: this is a combined consecutive run and Winds hand. It strikes me as yet another hand where the Charleston can set you up for this very well If you focus on it, e.g., if you find yourself with three or four of the Winds, as well as some consecutive numbers in a specific suit, you might try building on it. If you start drawing more Winds, numbers, or jokers, just switch to one of the other sections.

SP2: this is an Evens hand, truly stripped down to its essence: two suits of the singles 2468, with pairs of matching dragons and Flowers. It's not an obvious switch to any particular backup, but if you got enough jokers and accumulated more of a certain number, you could switch to E4.

SP3: seven different pairs, 3,6&9 in suit A, 3,6&9 in suit B, and 3,6, OR 9 in suit C. If you accumulate an abundance of these kind of tiles in all suits but no jokers, during the Charleston, it's a good hand to try.

SP4: this is a hybrid of Like Numbers and Consecutive Runs: Like Consecutive Runs. It is a very easy hand to remember. If you collect several of the same two numbers during the Charleston and have no jokers, it’s a good hand to try.

SP5: this one is clearly an Odds hand. All of the odd pairs in one suit, with matching pairs of any odd number in the two complementary suits. If you are not able to get all of the natural pairs, especially of the like numbers or in the middle section, consider switching over to O1.1, especially if you pick up some jokers.

SP6: The traditional big hand, making the Year meld in all three suits, plus a pair of Flowers. You hope to get as many soaps as possible during the Charleston. If someone discards a second soap, or two or more soaps are exposed, it's time to look in the Years section for a backup hand.

All of these are perfectly serviceable Singles and Pairs hands, nothing that really caught my eye as special and new. I really feel like the Charleston makes such a difference. Pay attention to what comes in. At the end of the passing, make a reasonable assessment as to whether you want to begin with one of those hands as an option; since it’s concealed, no one else will know!

 

 

I've been hinting at backup hands throughout the discussion of each of the sections of the card. I'll be talking more about them in the next day or two, because they are the essence of being a skilled player. You can't control much in this game. You only get full option on a quarter of the tiles, and you can't even control what order you pick them in.

A skilled player understands how the hands on the card relate, and considers in advance what they would do in various scenarios so that they're ready when one of those situations arises. “Luck favors the prepared mind” and Bubbe is here to help you with that preparation.

Please tell your friends about the blog (or maybe master these ideas first before sharing? That’s up to you!). I'm going to be talking about the card on Fern Bernstein's podcast soon, and doing a few live Zoom lectures. I'm always available at bubbefischer@gmail.com if you want to invite me to a Zoom chat with your community. By the way, I’m really enjoying getting the positive feedback, thank you for indulging me!!

Talk to you soon.

Bubbe

Center Panel of the 2025 card

 

Greetings and salutations from your ever-faithful Bubbe! It's time to look at the middle panel of the 2025 card!

 

QUINTS:

I found these to be a little skimpy this year. There are only three hands on the card, and if you read my previous article about illegal exposures, you would already know that the ONLY tiles that appear as Quints are numbers! (Remember, last year there was a CR hand that included a Quint of Flowers, since you don't necessarily need jokers to make it. No such hidden Quints in 2025.)

My overall feeling is there's not a lot of ambiguity or mystery with these hands. I appreciate that one of them is not pair-dependent, but in general, I feel like this is the second year in a row where the League treats the Quint section as an afterthought.

Q1: a variation on previous cards’ three-suited CR “junk” hand. Instead of a pair of Flowers with three kongs, they’ve switched it up to be pung, kong, and Quint in ascending order. I will discuss again in a few days why I am not completely in love with this hand; sure, it's a good solution when you've got jokers and a little bit of everything in your hand, but once you make a second exposure, it is completely obvious what you are playing. That air of mystery, of ambiguity, used to be one of the fun parts about Quint hands.

Q2: plain vanilla. Quint of two consecutive numbers in the same suit, with a kong of the Wind of your choice. My favorite thing about it is that no pairs are required. This hand may also have ambiguity after the second exposure, unless the first two exposures are the Wind and 1’s or 9’s. It's a very good choice when you've got jokers, a pair or better of a Wind, and two or three same-suit consecutive numbers that you can choose among.

Q3: a pair of Flowers with number X in three suits, as two Quints and a pair. It's a super-size variation of LN1, and frankly easier, since you just need Jokers rather than single dragons. As I implied above, having the two pairs (Flowers and one suit of X) is the hardest part.

 

 

CONSECUTIVE RUNS:

I feel like this section–the physical center of the card– is also the heart and soul of the game. Hands are not perfectly spelled out and you have to make interpretations on your own. But enough poetry, let's dive in!

CR1a and CR1b:  a return to the traditional “bell curve” hand. Start with a pair, gently curve up with a pung to a kong in the middle, pung again on the way back to the other pair. Your choice of the lower or upper end of the number line, all in the same suit.

CR2.1 and CR2.2: the conventional CR pung/kong hands, in one or two suits. No pairs are required, and there can be a little ambiguity. Highly recommend as backup hands; easy to remember, easy to make. 

CR3.1 and 3.3: **on the large card, there is a significant typo. They meant to make it a Consecutive Run in three suits, with the middle number being a pair. The League will be sending out corrected cards soon**

These two hands, like Q1 above, are based on the traditional hand of three consecutive kongs with a pair of Flowers. By making it a kong of Flowers, the pair has now switched to the middle of the three consecutive numbers. The variations are, despite the typo, one or three suits. Remember, the middle of the three numbers must be a pair.

CR4: we're using chows again, I'm so happy! Remember from last year’s card, a chow is a meld of three consecutive singles in the same suit, like a run in gin rummy. For this hand, don't forget the rule about 14. You will have five consecutive numbers. The first three numbers are a chow in suit A, and the fourth and fifth numbers are consecutive kongs in suits B and C. This only gets you to 11 tiles, so you need a pung of Flowers to complete the hand. Toughest thing to remember is that the components of the chow are all singles, you can't call for those except as final mah jongg tile. I'm picturing this hand as a Peacock in a garden (Flowers), with the chow as the head and the wide kong tail fanned out in additional colors.

CR5: *sigh* Bubbe longs for the old, familiar CR monochrome hand with two consecutive numbers, Flowers, and matching dragon. Every year the question was, which is the pair: the Flowers or the dragons? And then one year they surprised us and made it so simple, with all pungs and kongs. Ah, memories….

This is a harder version that we've seen before on recent cards. The five components, just like CR1, include two pairs, two pungs, and a kong; the trick is to remember which go where. Bubbe’s recommendation is to imagine that the Flowers are at the far end, in a bell curve just like CR1. The first of the three consecutive numbers is a pair, next a pung, and the midpoint kong is the third number. Then you descend with the pung of dragons and the pair of Flowers.

I have to wonder. Are we ever going back to two consecutive numbers, Flowers, and matching dragon?

CR6:  a clever variation on a consecutive run with complementary dragons. The sequence of the same-suited consecutive numbers is unique. We're used to seeing a pung and a kong, but this order is pung, pung, kong. (In fact, it's the only hand on this year's card with two consecutive pungs.) This only gets us to 10 tiles; the final four are pairs of dragons in the other two suits. There's an analog to this hand in the Odds section, O6a and O6b.

CR7: Ah. The Floating Pair. I wrote about this yesterday, I really love it. It's a very funky variation on a Like Numbers hand.  You need two kongs of number X in suits A and B. In suit C, you will need a pair of X but you will also need four single tiles, also in suit C, consecutively surrounding that X pair. If X is 1, the singles are 2345. If X is 6, you could have 2345, 3457, 4578, or 5789. This makes it tricky to defend. All your opponents will see are the two kongs, and they won't know what discards in suit C are safe! I'll remind you in a future post that if X is 3, 6, or 9, this hand is safe from being called dead.

CR8: a concealed hand. It's very manicured, like landscaping in a Park: a pair of Flowers, with consecutive numbers in single, pair and pung, in two different suits. There are only two melds where jokers can be used, and you can only call for the final tile. Frankly, I feel like 30 cents isn't fair for this one, but I don't write the cards!

Overall, I like the variety of options offered in this year’s CR section. Some hands are very traditional hands, but others creatively incorporate complementary dragons and other non-traditional combinations. There's a little something for everyone.

 

ODDS:

Bubbe confesses that, like Evens, this section leaves me cold…But it is a part of the card that I will play if that's what the tiles tell me.

O1.1 and O1.3: just like CR1, we're back to the bell curve! The pairs are the 1 and 9, the midpoint of 5s is the kong, and the 3s and 7s are the pungs. In the three suited version, the 1s and 3s are in suit A, the kong of 5s are in suit B, and the 7s and 9s are in suit C.

O2a and O2b: super simple pung/kong hands. 1&3 in suit A, 3&5 in suit B OR 5&7 in suit A, 7&9 in suit B. Very simple, can call for any exposures, hand won't go dead. It's a very winnable hand, and an excellent backup.

O3a & O3b: again, A and B only differ by what part of the number line, 1-5 vs. 5-9. It's all in one suit. The trickiest thing to remember on this one is that it's kong/pung: you have kongs of the 1&5 (or 5&9), and then pungs of the middle number and the matching dragons. Another super simple kong-pung hand, with no pairs. Winnable, and generally a good backup option depending on the exposures you've already made.

O4: another “hidden” addition hand. I'm a fan! There's only one important thing to remember: the 1&9 kongs are in suit A, and that single “1” must be in suit B or C. It doesn't matter whether you use dots for the 1 and 9 kongs, dots for the single 1, or don't use dots at all. The “zero” is suitless. And how many Flowers do we need? Since we've got 1&9 kongs and a meld of two singles, we need four more tiles, or another kong, of Flowers.

O5.1 and O5.3: these are very much like CR4, a collection of three singles (135) followed by kongs of 7&9. The meld is not really a chow since the numbers aren't consecutive, but it's a similar concept. With two kongs and a (sort of) chow, you still need three more tiles to make 14, hence the pung of Flowers. You can either make the hand in one suit or three, where each meld is its own suit. Remember, 135 is really a meld of singles, so you cannot call for its completion unless it's your final mah jongg tile.

O6a and O6b: these are the hands like CR6, described above. Again, remember that the first two numbers are pungs and the third is a kong, all in suit A. To make it to 14 tiles you will need pairs of dragons in suits B&C. The difference between O6a and O6b is where they fall on the number line.

O7a and O7b: Well, looky here! That NEWS meld snuck all the way down into the “Odds” neighborhood!! Sticking with my “P” motif, I'm going to call this one the Paperboy. Think of it as a two-suited bell curve, on either the lower or upper end of the number line. The only components that can be called for exposure are the two pungs, either of 3s or 7s; you will need pairs of 1&5 or 5&9 to match the suits of the pungs. The peak in the middle is “NEWS,” but it's all singles so it can only be called for mah jongg! Kudos to the card designers for thinking outside the box again.

O8: back to a more conventional hand. This is a two-suited sandwich hand: kongs of 1s and 9s in suit A, filled by pairs of the 3, 5, and 7 in suit B. The most interesting thing to note about this hand is that, because it has kongs of 1 and 9 in the same suit, you might consider using O4 as a backup.

O9a and O9b: concealed hands, the only difference being which end of the number line. Again, with four pairs I wonder why they didn't value this at 35 cents instead of 30, but I don't write the card...Try to remember that there are four pairs and only two pungs in this hand. That makes it easier to remember that you're repeating the first two numbers as pairs in suit A and then pungs in suit B, and the remaining features, Flowers and the highest number in suit C, are also pairs. Fortunately it's a concealed hand, nobody's going to know if you get a little confused in your planning. Even if you did accidentally expose the pungs, you could switch to O6.

Overall, there's some creativity in this section. I've been lamenting the loss of the 1/9/dragon hand, and O4 comes close to that. I enjoy the use of a singles meld in O5 and the opposite dragons of O6, but those are basically the same design as the CR hands. For this section, Bubbe is most excited about the “Paperboy” hand, where NEWS suddenly appears in a totally different neighborhood!

 

 

Whew, those were a lot of hands. Feel free to contact me about anything mahj at bubbefischer@gmail.com and check back in tomorrow to learn about the right side of the card!

 

Talk to you soon

 

Bubbe