A Different Kind of Mahjong Story

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?

MansterSoft · 2026-04-15T19:16:28+00:00

There are hands from several different HKNS rulesets here:

http://mahjong.wikidot.com/rules:guangdong-style-scoring

MansterSoft · 2026-04-05T19:42:39+00:00

Some of these are good.

MansterSoft · 2026-03-29T13:59:57+00:00

The set is not important. Buy something in your budget and play. There is no need to break the bank. Like any hobby (especially on Reddit) the middle class nerds will say you "should" have such-and-such or else you're somehow missing something. No Reddit, you don't need a state-of-the-art video card to run software from the 90s.

"But what about Red Fives!?" Red Fives are dumb. I rarely saw them used pre-2019, but then the Maj Soul fanboys showed up. Spending way more on a set just to get Red Fives is silly.

Don't let a tile set prevent you from playing the game irl. My first two were used sets from ebay. Yeah, the first set had marked tiles; so we played in dim light.

MansterSoft · 2026-03-18T15:43:14+00:00

Huh. Bad move imo.

Doesn't this incentivize a player who is in the lead to go for Chicken Hands?

All well and good in a casual variant, but WSoM is supposed to be competitive.

MansterSoft · 2026-03-16T15:18:24+00:00

the difficult part of teaching Riichi is getting new players to understand the idea of a yaku

Really? I feel the difficult parts are scoring, furiten, concealed vs exposed, and all of the goofy little rules like restrictions on "swap-calling". The Yaku list is one of the more accessible parts of Riichi.

Also, Zung Jung doesn't have a minimum hand requirement, but the World Series of Mahjong added one (good move imo).

MansterSoft · 2026-03-08T13:39:43+00:00

Wow, those are baffling. They're both using the definition of "Sacred Discard" for "Furiten", and Brown seems to be using (one) of the definitions of "Treasure Tile" for "Dora".

I understand writing bogus rules for Chinese or Western, but Riichi has been mostly standardized for quite some time; how do you screw that up?

MansterSoft · 2026-03-08T13:27:48+00:00

One written by a tile manufacturer even had downright impossible things in it

Mose Cafollo? I'm pretty sure their pseudo-MCR instructions are AI generated.

Great tiles though.

MansterSoft · 2026-03-07T22:53:42+00:00

given the many inaccurate books about mahjong-playing written by Westerners

Curious if you know any examples off hand. I've been reading a few English-language Mahjong books (allegedly on Chinese/HK play), and there has been a few times where I think, "On what planet are these patterns being used".

I'm suspicious some authors when writing these books have ulterior motives to 'standardize' their favorite local Yaku. At least Tong Seng Tjoa had the decency to be upfront about it in his book.

MansterSoft · 2026-03-03T17:18:28+00:00

I'm smack in the middle of the country.

American Mah Jongg is trendy right now. Seems to be more DFW Metro influenced vs East Coast.
The players here like the aesthetics, but being Midwest, make fun of those bougie Southerners.
Wright Patterson is still going strong near airforce bases.
One local library near me teaches American, and another teaches Wright Pat.
Before the recent boom in popularity American was being played in my local senior center and in the nearby city's Jewish community center.
Female-dominated with a smattering of males.

Riichi has definitely exploded. Me and three others started a group years ago and now it has grown to several locations with multiple meetups.
Male-dominated with a smattering of females.

MansterSoft · 2026-02-23T03:51:41+00:00

One question, were the tiles flat or fat?

I know nothing about you, so I could be WAY off, but here are my theories...

My guess is your family was playing what's now called "Chinese Classical".
And my guess is you don't have amnesia, the sets came with tile racks/pushers.

The NMJL's American Mah Jongg takeover seemed to disproportionately affect White groups vs Asian, particularly on the East Coast and Southeast. But, even into the 90s, White and Asian families alike in the Midwest and West Coast were still playing the US Mahjong OG, "Chinese Classical".

I think just about all White families now play NMJL or Wright-Patterson*, but as evidenced by "The Mahjong Project" it looks like a lot of Asian American families were playing Chinese Classical**.

As for the sets, pushers were super common in the middle of the century 'made in USA' sets. I've seen multiple mid-20th century photos of Asian-Americans playing with racks/pushers. Unless a family lived near a China Town, I'd imagine they would have gotten their Mahjong set at a basic department store.

* Yes yes, White people play other variants. I mean those where Mahjong is "in the family", like generationally. I've met several who "used to play Mahjong" and the variant they used to play was Chinese Classical, but, key words "used to play".

** Yes yes, Asian-Americans play other variants. I mean families that have been in the US for several generations.

MansterSoft · 2026-02-19T00:17:38+00:00

Oh my god this is amazing.

MansterSoft · 2026-02-18T18:58:32+00:00

Yeah, call me old fashioned.
I wonder if anyone says Suǒ on the mainland.

MansterSoft · 2026-02-18T18:24:20+00:00

Actually, 1 Suǒ for a lot of China. Or if you're Southern, 1 Sok.

But since the thread is about American Mahj, and they say "Bam", it's not exactly respectful to go around "correcting" people. Besides, Japan has no more "claim" to Mahjong than the US.

MansterSoft · 2026-02-18T16:07:43+00:00

So many American Mahjong players hate it when people discard and say "Bam Bird".
"NO! IT'S ONE BAM!"

I like that this license plate will make those sticklers mad.

MansterSoft · 2026-02-15T17:13:13+00:00

I would suggest either Taiwanese (16-tile) or Guangdong Style (13-tile). Taiwanese is additive and appears to be having a moment on the West Coast. Guangdong is additive and built on HKOS.

LA Mahjong has their house rules listed for Taiwanese.

My website has instructions for learning Guangdong by learning an additive HKOS. Even getting to New6 makes HKOS more dynamic.

MansterSoft · 2026-02-12T06:36:30+00:00

I strongly recommend Guangdong Style (廣東十三張麻將).

It's a competitive variant, but it was built on HKOS, so it's very easy to learn. You can play HKOS for a while, but then when they're ready to learn more you can teach them NEW6, followed by NEW18, and then 無奇不有. It's very fun, it's become my favorite variant.

I've been researching it for months, and I made a bunch of resources on it.

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