Mahjonging For Fun and Fashion Awareness

There are actually two prevalent forms of Mahjong that people play, and I am focusing here about how some people in the United States enjoy Mahjong.

There are the many electronic Mahjong solitaire games where the tiles are stacked upon one another and the play challenge is to remove all pieces from the board.

There is also the traditional Mahjong usually on card tables with a group of three or four people.
When three people play, a "dummy" is the fourth player. The players begin by building a physical wall such as the one you see in the picture. (You never have a wall on the electronic matching game).

Traditional Mahjong gives you the feel of playing cards with dominoes. It is an individual competition (no partners as in Bridge). Players are penalized for not playing defensively.

There are several suits:

CRACKS which are Chinese characters
BAMS which are called Bamboos
DOTS
Each of these suits goes from 1 thru 9.
There are also WINDS called North,West,East,and South(no surprises here).
There are Flowers.
There are Jokers.
There are Dragons: One is Green, One is Red, One is White. The Green Dragon is associated with Bamboos. The Red Dragon is associated with Cracks. The White Dragon is associated with dots.

The objective is to collect 14 tiles in one of many prescribed combinations. These combinations are defined yearly by two Leagues. Because the combinations change every year, this levels some of the advantage that experienced players have over the newbie players. I won't go into all the rules and conventions here. (There is an interesting passing maneuver called 'The Charleston'.)

For those who wish to follow up on the precise definition of the game, you might consult the National Majong League.
Every year, they issue a new card which defines the combinations for that year and you can see that I have not explained all the rules here.
If you purchase a Mahjong set (I give advice below. Relatives often seem to purchase the unintended versions for gifts), you will also need to order card(s) for the current year.

The game has an extensive history in Asia where it originated. The purpose of this LENS is to encourage you to start playing, making sure you don't set yoursehttp://www.mahjongnews.com/en/index.php/nieuws/various-news/55-chengdumuseum.htmllf up with the wrong Mahjong set. For those people who have played a few games I recommend
a review of Mahjong by Sloperama. I found this useful when studying strategies for the Charleston.

Mahjong News is also fun with its international coverage.

I also include a proposal for the fashion business to exploit the game as a promotional device: Fusion of Fashion and Mahjong tiles. If you are logged into Squidoo, stop by and visit the comment section.