In honor of VALENTINE'S DAY, I'm running an old column about a funny dream I had. Remember, it refers to the 2014 card, but there's still a lesson here for everyone:
Greetings and salutations from still-frozen New Jersey!
If you haven’t read my book, you might think I’m strict
about rules. As you get to know me, you’ll realize that I can make broad,
sweeping pronouncements—like when to call for an exposure, or what you should
never pass in a Charleston—and then turn around and recommend that you do the
opposite, depending on the situation. I’m in good company:
“Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
Walt Whitman, "Song
of Myself"
There’s nothing wrong with a little inconsistency, now and
then. You need to know when and how to be flexible.
So I’m flexibly writing
an extra article this week because I have a vision to share with you. It came
to me as I woke up this morning. It might have been inspired by all those cupid
and lace decorations at the Hallmark store, or that radio ad for discount roses,
but I suddenly pictured three flowers.
Very pretty, but as far as mah jongg goes, they can be a blessing or a curse.
Let me illustrate my point.
Think about the moment, full of chaos and potential, when
you turn over your tiles. You get to see what you’ve been given to work with, and
to determine which pattern, if any, leaps out at you.
What if you begin with three
Flowers? They can be useful in lots of ways. Almost every section of the
2014 National Mah Jongg League card includes an open hand with FFFF, a kong
(foursome) of Flowers, and it’s great to be able to call for that exposure
without having to use a joker. Those three Flowers can certainly be a blessing.
Then again, they can throw you off-kilter. It’s possible
that your other tiles won’t fit any of those specific Flower-kong hands. The
current card has no 2468 or 369 combinations using four Flowers. Obviously, the
Singles and Pairs options never include more than two. What if all those
Flowers just don’t jibe with your game plan?
That tempting little trio of tiles, winking up at you, can
make you feel guilty. It’s a shame to waste them; surely there must be some way
they can be used? Perhaps you could break up your other groupings in order to
take advantage of the Flowers. Maybe you ought to switch to a different hand,
so that you can call for that easy kong. It’s hard to pass up such a golden
opportunity. You might give in and keep those Flowers, rebuilding your hand
around them, even though your tiles aren’t well-matched.
It may be that you choose a hand that only requires two of
the three, so you’ve got a superfluous Flower tile. It happens to be near the
top of my list of “things you should never pass”—unless you’re stuck. If you
find yourself with no other option for passing, and you can’t steal, then you’ll
just have to give someone a Flower. It’s Valentine’s Day. They’ll
appreciate the gesture.
What if you select a hand that doesn’t need any Flowers at
all? Should you hold onto all three during the Charleston? Never (and I mean it
this time) never pass two Flowers at
once. There’s got to be a way around it. Spill your coffee all over the table. Break
your glasses. Fake an emergency phone call. Okay, it’s not worth lying, but
really: if you can at all avoid it, do not pass a pair of Flowers.
The one thing you might do, if you’re absolutely sure you won’t
need them and you’re otherwise stuck for ideas, is give away the full pung
(threesome), all at once. The recipient will never forget the time someone
passed her three Flowers…and now it’s her blessing or curse.
What’s the strangest pass you ever gave or received? Contact
me at bubbefischer@gmail.com;
I’d love to hear your mah jongg stories.
See you next week, for sure!
Bubbe Fischer
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