PONG!
(Our first Mahjong session: Suzhou, China)
Officially, Ying and I are addicts. Thankfully we’re not addicted to the drink or glue sniffing or snorting noxious substances, no no, it is so much worse. We are addicted to ma jiang or the more recognised western term for it, Mahjong. I never thought it would happen, not to us, but we have been led astray by one of Ying’s workmates. She convinced us (with much guile) to join her for an evening of gaming after taking us for a meal, sweetening us with a range of sumptuous dishes. Being an almost fanatical regular player, she was evidently priming us for an evening of losing to her ferociously well-honed skills. We had the last laugh in the end.
She and her husband had organised for Ying and I to play as one and to rope his sister into the fourth player’s chair. We five arrived at a first floor complex of tiny rooms, each one just large enough for a green felt Mahjong table, four chairs and a tiny corner table to hold cups of tea. I imagine this is to prevent distractions, but also because the focus on the Mahjong table is complete and absolute. This is in part due to the fact that it shuffles the tiles underneath the tabletop and prepares them for each player; you might be able to see the breaks in the table felt where the tiles appear magically in lines with military precision. The four plus hours whisked by without us even realising until I began to yawn profusely in the early hours. They decided that since we had never played before, that they would drastically reduce the betting amount to one yuan per two points. We were worried even then that we would be losing several dinners-worth in a few short games. As it was, we played ‘Suzhou rules’ which are apparently the most fun, each region favouring a certain playing style.
Mahjong seems intricately and infuriatingly complex at the beginning, but after a couple of hours we had settled into a fair rhythm of gaming, slowing up the action only to ask about particular rules and techniques as they cropped up. The tiles are all themed, like suits of cards, each tile having four identical pieces (like four Jacks or aces). The vague goal is to match up the sets either as a set of identical pairs, identical or ascending three or fours… Gosh, well, how about I teach you if you want to know. It’s far too complicated because the whole explanation trouble is compounded by the appearance of Chinese characters. This is no game of dominoes. Ying’s workmate asked us not to say that she lost most of the games we played (she remains unnamed) – she put it all down to beginners luck – it would leave her reputation in tatters. Anyway, we were pleased to come away at 1.30am with an extra 35 yuan (just over £3) of winnings from our first attempts at this game, more addictive than tetris. I’d better go – Ying and I have practicing to do.
I’m shocked. I thought Ying said he would never play Mahjong! Next thing you know, he’ll be back on the ‘Dai Dee’… Well, anyways- I’ll give you a game next time I see you
(if we can get a fourth ‘leg’ of course…)