Thought Experiment

Greetings and salutations from your tile-loving Bubbe who has finally emerged from the kitchen after a week of Passover cooking, happily reporting that her loved ones survived a week without REAL bread.

I did get to play a lot of online games (my favorite version is Real Mah Jongg)--I am loving the new "scorecard" feature where statistics are available for review, showing my winning hands and wall games. I seem to get wall games about half as often as a victory--sometimes tying is a triumph, in itself, so I can't complain. Of course, I have no idea how many TOTAL games I've played.

I have gravitated to a few sections of the card. Of my 54 wins to date, I had 23 (43%) divided almost equally between Evens (7), Odds (7), and Winds (9), but a total of 22 (41%) just in the Consecutive Runs section!! On the other hand, I seem to be avoiding and/or not succeeding in some areas: one Quint and one 369 victory so far, and NO Singles and Pairs wins yet.

Usually I have a sense of where I am headed by the end of the Charleston, between two or three different hands, but I'm open to changing if my tiles show me something new. Of course, sometimes what I'm dealt, and what I have at the end of the Charleston, is total dreck (garbage). I haven't a clue what direction to take. For instance, what would you do with this beginning deal:

                       2357 3568 12368 W  

No strongest suit; almost the same number of evens as odds. No Flowers, no pairs, no dragons, no jokers. I showed it to my friend Bobbi, who said, "My friend would say you have a dog from every village."  

It reminded me of a contest I ran a few years ago, for "the worst hand you can think of". Most of them resembled the one I showed, above. 

It occurred to me that I should try a new thought experiment about those worst hands. After all, even if you're dealt absolute garbage, there are 152 tiles in a set. There are 99 tiles still in the walls, and I get to pick as many as 25 of them...right? Maybe I'll suddenly collect great tiles, maybe a bad hand can be salvaged.

Most of you have seen how I sometimes keep statistics at tournaments: how many Flowers and Jokers I was dealt, what I thought I was playing at the end of the Charleston, what I ended up playing, how many Flowers and Jokers I had, and whether it won.

This time, since I'm limited to online games, I'm going to take a time series of screen shots: what I was dealt, what it looked like at the end of the Charleston, what I ended up playing, whether it won or even "walled". I want to see examples of all kinds of things: village dogs and hands I figure "can't miss," and everything in between. I'll be writing about a few of them next week, wish me luck!

As usual, if you have questions or comments, feel free to reach out to me at bubbefischer@gmail.com

Enjoy the Spring weather!!

Bubbe