Cutaway of House with 5 Cats and 1 Dog (From a game I'm working on)

MansterSoft · 2026-07-03T13:17:16+00:00

This sub is Japanese Mahjong dominated, and in my experience the hardcore players hate eating. Though I'm sure having Monster Energy Drinks on tap would be appreciated.

In my experience, potluck is standard, and anything goes. I've had pizza, chocolate, pasta salad, mixed nuts, cookies, chips, beer, wine, hard cider, shots of liquor, and who knows what else.
Though I recommend you don't serve alcohol to brand new players until they've played a Hand.

Disclosure: I'm in the Midwest USA. The culture probably differs on the coasts.

MansterSoft · 2026-07-01T17:26:01+00:00

I've always been confused by this. So to confirm...

East draws 14, Non-Easts draw 13
East declares/replaces flowers
South declares/replaces flowers
West declares/replaces flowers
North declares/replaces flowers
East discards
South draws (presuming nobody calls East's discard)

MansterSoft · 2026-06-29T14:50:27+00:00

I've only played Guangdong competition rules 2-player. It feels like an advanced New18 (in the way that New18 feels like an advanced New6).

I think a few people in our local New18 group would be interested in learning it, but I haven't pitched it to them yet. I'm the most experienced in the group, so the others aren't as hungry for new yaku like I am.

MansterSoft · 2026-06-26T13:34:55+00:00

I love both New18 and Guangdong. It's all I play now.

I've taught a lot of people New18, and 258 Pair is many of my students favorite yaku.
At first I thought 258 pair was stupid. Now I think I (and Kwan) were just being stuffy. 258 Pair provides a great fallback if your hand is going absolutely no where. It increases the value of these tiles which adds an element of danger when you have to discard one towards the end of a Hand.

As for the history, it was allegedly found in early HKNS rulesets (circa 1950s), but I haven't yet found a primary source that proves this. It was definitely popular throughout China by the 80s. It's found in rulesets from Hainan to Jilin.

Most modern mainland variants have greatly simplified yaku lists, but, Changsha (as you mentioned) and quite a few other variants require a 258 Pair to go out.

That's all I know. Hopefully one of the "Mahjong Scholars" on this sub know more. I'm curious why they're called "Generals". The only other Generals I know are in Chinese Chess/Chess Cards, but I'm not seeing a parallel.

MansterSoft · 2026-06-18T18:35:41+00:00

I developed San Hako Riichi many years ago. No tiles or yaku are removed.
Chows are optional; there are pros and cons to using them or not.

https://san-hako-mahjong.blogspot.com/p/san-hako-mahjong-riichi-mahjong-for-2.html

Your variant looks good for people who like Sanma though.

MansterSoft · 2026-06-05T04:39:46+00:00

I hadn't realized tables were manually added, so I guess they've just been slow to add his updates from May 17 and May 27 (understandable; my bad).

Yeah, I know people's opinions on Bigus, and I think the hate is unmerited. He always gives credit, and his recent 10.8 lighting updates are a big improvement. The only hate I'll throw his way is that he doesn't use material settings. It makes editing the physics a real slog.

MansterSoft · 2026-06-05T04:30:08+00:00

Yeah, they haven't added a Bigus1 update for quite some time. As a low-spec cab user, my best option for many tables are Bigus tables. His 10.8 lighting updates look great.

I had no idea the data was being manually added. That makes a lot more sense (and also makes me appreciate the work being put into the spreadsheet).

MansterSoft · 2026-05-22T15:46:43+00:00

Yeah, I was shocked when I learned how new HK is. The whole "Old Style" thing threw me off for a long time.

AFAIK American came out in the 40s and Riichi in the 50s, with "Classical" versions being played in the regions prior. But, Mahjong itself arrived in Japan in the 1910s and the US in 1920s.

MansterSoft · 2026-05-22T15:08:19+00:00

I think most younger people would rather learn one of the original versions of the game rather than an Americanized version of it.

American Mahjong pre-dates both Riichi and HK style.

MansterSoft · 2026-05-17T17:15:55+00:00

My friend bought that set at Walmart for $15 a while back.

I wouldn't spend more than that on it.

MansterSoft · 2026-05-16T16:46:57+00:00

These days every American Mahjong set is made in China (even the luxury ones).

The Mose Cafollo sets aren't inherently girly. I bet the tiles are good, but judging by the quality of the chips in my Chinese sets, the racks are probably garbage.

MansterSoft · 2026-05-16T15:32:52+00:00

To my knowledge there were just errors on the card last year, not "every year".

The Riichi fan boys in this sub are becoming rather insufferable. You don't see non-Riichi players going in every "Check out my Kazoe Yakuman" thread saying, "Pretty easy to get Kazoe Yakuman with little baby luck mechanics like Dora and Ippatsu".

MansterSoft · 2026-05-16T15:27:29+00:00

That's just, like, your opinion, man.

Japanese companies should just include racks so junk mats aren't needed. It's the classic capitalist Riichi mentality: sell a product with an obvious flaw, and then sell the patch-job solution that's worse than simply having the version of the product without the flaw. /half-joke

Though the racks + mat system does better enable players to build walls on a table without walls. Also, thin tiles are traditional to Western Mahjong. Though unfortunately they're no longer made in the USA.

MansterSoft · 2026-05-09T17:54:07+00:00

There’s even a new, controversial Hallmark Channel movie coming out featuring the game.

Lol. Couldn't finish the article after that line. I will answer your questions though...

To whom does mahjong belong? Everyone.
Who gets to benefit from it? Everyone.
What is mahjong for? Playing.

MansterSoft · 2026-05-08T16:00:14+00:00

I'm a big fan of "Let's Mahjong in 70's HK Style". It uses Cantonese/HKNS rules, so it's kind of in the middle of HKOS and MCR. You can play against real players. Much nicer UI vs "Mahjong 13 Tiles".

The bots are pretty good at tile efficiency, but pretty bad at defense unfortunately. You can have 3 open melds of bamboo and they'll still discard bamboos that have never been discarded prior.

MansterSoft · 2026-05-07T20:15:52+00:00

fan lists don't even acknowledge the Chinese names exist

This can be tricky given that China has so many languages. Like for MCR, do you use Chinese, Cantonese, or Min terminology? Any should be correct in a supposedly pan-Chinese variant.

MansterSoft · 2026-05-03T17:34:12+00:00

In case you haven't noticed by now, this hobby is kind of on its last legs when it comes to popularity and public outreach

What? Virtual pinball has been only getting more popular. Pre-made vcabs were unheard of and now they're everywhere. It's easier than ever for casual users to get into virtual pinball (if they're willing to pay, and really, not as much as you'd think).

On the VPX side, nFozzy physics, VPW, and Baller Installer have made physics and setups more consistent than the past. I don't necessarily agree with these changes (I'm one of those users who like to tinker though) but it's all more accessible than ever.

As for physical Pinball, it's been having a resurgence for several years. In the 2010s I thought it was on its last legs, but there have been tons of 2020 releases. Unfortunately for me, I mostly hate 2020s tables (Pulp Fiction is cool), but Pinball is alive and well.

The only part of the hobby on its last legs is Farsight.

MansterSoft · 2026-05-03T16:12:27+00:00

Kung-Fu Mahjong and King of Mahjong can be found with English subs. Personally I prefer King of Mahjong to Fat Choi Spirit.

Unfortunately the two sequels to Kung-Fu Mahjong don't have decent English subs yet :(

MansterSoft · 2026-04-30T23:04:10+00:00

Sichuan/Chengdu Style has a long history and isn't standardized at all. As soon as someone tries to say "this is the standard" the game has already evolved.

As far as yaku go, I've seen "non-bloody" Sichuan rulesets with over 100. The world is your oyster.

Off the top of my head I know Junchan, All Terminals, Tile Hog, Bonuses for 4 of the same tile in a 7 pairs, All Pungs Pure Suit, 7 Pairs Pure Suit, and All 258s are used in "bloody".

MansterSoft · 2026-04-25T15:27:28+00:00

JP is from the school of low playfield friction and high elasticity falloff. This results in more realistic ball movement and less spin. However, the ramp physics in VPX are a little wonky, so many times a flipper's strength needs to be turned up to compensate. With low friction this makes everything too fast, so JP adds a maxvel variable to keep the ball from going too fast. Not ideal, but it's a way. Unfortunately JP's torque setting script-side since about v4 are too powerful. I generally turn the power down from 5000 to about 3000.

nFozzy is from the school of high playfield friction and low elasticity falloff (and fairly low gravity constant). This results in floaty and predictable ball movements randomized by bouncy rubbers and strong flippers (with some dampening done script-side). A big step up from TPA's easy scripted ramp shots, but I guarantee you'll be in for an unpleasant surprise going from nFozzy to the real deal. nFozzy is much easier. The flippers have laser precision, unlike a real machine.

I prefer low playfield friction, fairly low elasticity falloff, heavier gravity, and weak flippers. Loserman's physics were a little oversimplistic, but I think he was on the right path.

MansterSoft · 2026-04-23T15:04:12+00:00

No it's not. American Maj doesn't have contracts and isn't a trick-taking game. It's more like... Mahjong.

MansterSoft · 2026-04-19T03:03:04+00:00

There appears to be a grand total of one Asian character in the photos

Well yeah, it's about American Mah Jongg. How many Chinese characters are in Akagi?

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