Legally Mahj

Greetings and salutations from Bubbe, whose little gerbil mind is running on the wheel again today!

One of the other columns I write for each new card, in an effort to be helpful, is identify illegal exposures for "exposed"/open hands. I recommend that you become familiar with them so that you won't make a mistake and have your hand called dead.

There's an ongoing controversy about this. Some mahj players feel that it's "rude" to call another player's hand dead. I don't think anybody needs to take it so personally. There's no way a person can win if their hand is dead, and the other players will now be able to see 33% more tiles. On the other hand, there are certain times when it might be to your advantage NOT to call another player's hand dead, because your hand is terrible and you want to restrict the number of picks that everyone else at the table gets. Long story. Back to the new card…

Single exposures in 2020, YAY or NAY?

●       PUNGS: an exposure of three Flowers, dragons, North, or South is illegal. A pung of East, West, or any number is legal.

●       KONGS: ANY exposure is legal.

●       QUINTS: an exposure of five Winds or dragons is illegal. A quint of any number or Flowers is legal.

Second exposures:

●       A quint of Flowers could be joined by a kong of dragons, or a pung, kong or quint of a number. No Winds.

●       A kong of Flowers could be joined by a kong of any number, or a pung of any number EXCEPT 9's. No dragons or Winds

●       A kong of dragons may be joined by a quint of Flowers or any number; a second kong of dragons or a kong of any number; or a pung of East, West, or any number.

And by the way....

●       A kong of North will have a matching kong of South (same with East and West).

●       A pung of East will have a matching pung of West.

Exposing numbers gets a little more complicated. Rather than explain each legal and illegal combination, I will just remind you to review the card closely. As a quick quiz, try and find these two exposures in at least one hand on the card:

7777 888

444 5555

222 3333

3333 3333

5555 7777

555 777

If you have any questions or comments, you can email me at bubbefischer@gmail.com . I am always happy to hear from you!

One such correspondent earned a special shout-out. Azimeh Roshan pointed out an error in the description of the third Singles and Pairs hand: it should say any TWO consecutive pairs. Great job!

I know I'll talk to you all VERY soon.

Bubbe Fischer