Seismic Changes: Switching Singles and Pairs Hands

 Greetings and salutations from Bubbe, talking about unexpected, seismic changes.

Those of you on the East Coast may have heard about the 4.8-level earthquake in New Jersey on April 5th. The epicenter was 12 miles away from my house, and some of the aftershocks were even closer!

Obviously, I wasn’t expecting it. It felt like my house was being hit by a truck; I couldn’t figure out why it was happening. Then I thought maybe an appliance had exploded—I just couldn’t understand what was going on!

Fortunately, I have a veteran tremor expert in my house. In October, 1989, I was on the phone with my husband (then fiancé), a Stanford student, when the big San Francisco/World Series earthquake hit.

“I gotta go, there’s an earthquake,” he had said, but I didn’t really believe him until I heard Al Michaels on TV, reporting.  

Friday’s event was much less severe, he told me, but he identified it right away. It was the largest that New Jersey had experienced in over a century, and we only later found out just how close by it was.

What does this have to do with mah jongg? In mahj, like life, things occur that we can’t anticipate: we think we’re going for a hand, but often circumstances arise that throw off our plans. That’s why I talk so much about changing hands.

 

I recently wrote about changing hands when negative events, like other players’ exposures and discards, make tiles unavailable to us. This can mean that your original plan is no longer viable. These kinds of situations may force us to change, but sometimes POSITIVE things happen that make us recognize other options.

The better you know the card, the more prepared you are when good things happen, too. I think we all know the feeling of picking up a joker—our hearts race a little quicker, we realize that we’re that much closer to completing our hand!

Of course, sometimes you don’t plan on using jokers—you’re going for a Singles and Pairs hand—but these are concealed hands, definitely more challenging to make. If you aren’t fully set, it may be worth reconsidering how you could switch a Singles and Pairs plan now that you have a joker (or more!).

First of all, unless you are absolutely sure that you are playing Singles and Pairs, you should not discard any jokers that you get in the deal. Jokers are worth keeping as one of your last discards, as they are “safe”—no one can else can call them. And, as we’ll see, they just might come in handy!

Let’s look at each of the Singles and Pairs hands, and how (and to what) your plan might change if you have a joker or two handy.

 

SP1 is essentially an “Evens” hand. Probably the best fit for switching would be E5. It still uses the two Flowers. Your jokers will be useful in making a kong of the 2’s and 8’s in one suit. Keep all of your 4’s and 6’s--you need to complete a pair of 4 and 6 for the middle—but you won’t know whether you are playing in one suit (E5.1) or two (E5.2), until you start collecting.

In some ways, switching to E1 variations could be simpler—they do require more jokers, or at least better luck with tiles, but they don’t depend on any pairs. You can call the third 2, and use a joker to call for the third 4. It’s more when you are trying to expand the 6’s and 8’s that you’ll need the extra jokers and/or luck.

 

SP2 is obviously an “Odd” hand. Two of the best switching options are O1.3 and O4, especially if you have jokers but don’t have any Flowers.

O1.3 (the three-suited, odd sombrero) will require assembling a kong of 5’s in a third suit, but that’s what your jokers are for! You can use the pairs of 1’s and 3’s in suit A, and the pairs of 7’s and 9’s in suit B, expanding the 1’s and 9’s to pungs by calling for discards.

O4 will use the lower, intact pairs from the SP2 hand, and either the 7’s or 9’s will be expanded into a kong. Generally making that decision will be based on which is discarded first, for you to call for exposure; another deciding factor would be which third-suit 7 or 9 you pick up.

 

SP3, the infamous “number vomit” hand, could be switched to many different hands, depending on what else you are picking up. It’s essential a “like, consecutive numbers” hybrid, and you can find many options that begin with these as a foundation.

For example, if you pick up ENOUGH jokers, you could turn it into Q3, two consecutive like numbers as a pair and then a quint, in two suits. Depending on which end of the number line you’re playing with, picking up enough 2’s or 9’s could help this work.

If you picked up two Flowers, and were only picking up more similar tiles in one suit, you could switch to CR3.1 or Q1 (that would take A LOT of jokers).

Of course, if you were willing to be patient and had enough jokers, you might be able to work out CR8!

 

SP4 is a 369 hand. There are many ways you could go with this one, with enough jokers and possibly dragons or more Flowers.

369 6 is relatively easy with the right timing and a joker or two. You would need (by jokers or Flowers) to turn your pair of Flowers into a kong; call the third 9 in suit A for a pung; and hope for a complementary suited dragon: with just one dragon and a joker, you could call a discard to complete the pung.

369 3 is also attainable if you have jokers and/or the right same-suit tiles. You already have your pairs, and just need either a third of each of the 3, 6, and 9 tiles in the suit, or a joker, to be ready to call for exposures and make those pairs into kongs!

 

SP5 is, of course, switchable to either CR1 or CR2.

For CR1, depending on your range, it will be easy to add on one or two tiles to each pair of numbers to complete your “sombrero” of pairs, pungs, and a kong. It’s easiest to begin with 1-5 (for CR1a) or 5-9 (for CR1b), but if you have been collecting consecutive numbers somewhere in the middle, e.g. 2-6 or 4-8, you simply add on the pung of 1’s or 9’s. The trickiest scenario is if you start with 3-7; you will need the end pung as well a natural pair of 2’s or 8’s, which is not a simple proposition.

CR2 is a much more flexible, and therefore easier, switch. You can be anywhere on the number line for your four straight pairs, and you’ve already been working on two different pairs of opposite dragons. You will need to call for exposures, turning the two “middle” pairs into pungs. Then, with a joker and one of the pairs of dragons, you can call for an exposure to turn the dragon pair into a kong.

 

SP6 is, of course, a Year hand, using two sets of the year. It’s also a Wind hand.

The least complicated switch—especially if you have jokers and not enough of your Winds—is Y1. You can use the 2’s in the first suit and call for a discard to make it a pung. Same with those two soaps becoming a pung. The third meld, of a kong of 2’s in suit B, will require use of one of the jokers. The trickiest part is getting the kong of 4’s in suit B, as well.

The more inclusive SP6 switches, involving the Winds as well, are unfortunately also concealed hands: Y4 or W7. For Y4, you already have collected one “year” meld and the pairs of Norths and Souths; if you amass jokers and/or an additional East or West, you can call for the final Wind to make this hand!

You might also consider using jokers to switch to W7, especially in 2’s, and/or if you’re having trouble with the soaps or the 4’s. With jokers or the right useful tiles, you can turn the pairs of 2’s into pungs, and the North/South pairs into pungs, as well. It’s all about timing; if you find yourself with the jokers early enough, it’s possible to make the new hand.

 

I’m not sure I’ve figured out anything positive from this earthquake business, but certainly I was happy to show you the positive possibilities of unexpected jokers. I hope you have a chance to use these examples!

You can always write to me at bubbefischer@gmail.com; I love hearing from you.

Talk to you soon!

 

Bubbe