Mah Jong

Mah Jong Tile Game

The mah jong tile game is a popular game that was likely invented in the mid-1800s in China. It is a game that is very similar to rummy and is a lot of fun to play!

I love Mah Jong and that is why I am reviewing it here It is my most played game and it is the “first” game that I was taught in my young adulthood. I love the game because it is a very social, very engaging game of luck, skill and strategy. So now you know how I feel about the game you can take this review as you will.

When I first teach Mah Jong, I will go on a spiel like the following:

“Mah Jong is a metaphor for life. Just as life has a bit of luck, a bit of management, a bit of sadness and a general flowing through of money, so too does Mah Jong. It is a game of luck in that you draw ‘random’ tiles but beyond this simplistic description, it is more of a game of strategy, a game of knowing your opponents and working with what you have been dealt. The more you play, the greater your skill becomes. The more skillful you become, the more fluid the game play works and before you know it, you will be dancing!”

It is hard to do a proper review for Mah Jong because there are many different ways to do the scoring and each table has their own quirks, penalties, bonuses. The review here will be for the style of scoring known as Hong Kong Old Style (HKOS) and I will assume that the reader is familiar with general Mah Jong play and terminology.

Overview

The mah jong tile game appears to have a mystical air about it and many say it is hard and difficult.

Nonsense!

It is a very simple game of sets. The only thing that about it that needs agreement is the scoring. Please click here for some examples of mah jong rules.

Mah Jong is a simple game where you are (typically) dealt a hand of 13 cards. The object of the game is to draw a tile and discard a tile. If on the draw you are able to make a complete hand of four sets of three plus a pair, you declare “Mah Jong” and win.

That’s all the mah jong tile game is about: 4 sets of 3 and a pair.

So, in a hand of 13 tiles, you will need the 14th tile to win.

Game Play

As I mentioned in the overview, the mah jong tile game is about drawing a tile and discarding a tile, all the while collecting sets. Four sets of three and a pair (called eyes) to be exact.

A player can only claim the last discard. Any discard left on the table becomes dead and unable to be used when building sets.

Using the HKOS rules players can claim a just discarded tile for a “chow” (aka a sequence, a straight), only from the player to their left.

Players can claim a just discarded tile for a “pong” (three of a kind) from any player.

As with a pong, players can claim a just discarded tile needed for a win can be claimed from anyone regardless of whether it is for a chow, for the eyes, or for a pong.

Just remember that Mah Jong is a simple game of sets. You will always be dealt a hand of 13 cards/tiles and you go out on the 14th tile.

A couple of things to note is that game play goes ANTI-clockwise and you draw from the wall clockwise.

Summary

HKOS was the original scoring system of the mah jong tile game that was taught to me. As it was the first, I thought it was the only one.

I happily played this style for a number of years until I came across Tom Sloper’s Mah Jong Zone. Now I knew what exactly I was playing!

According to Mr. Alan Kwan, HKOS is a good scoring system for the mah jong tile game if you like gambling.

With HKOS there are greater gains and losses to be made. When played with stringent minimums, penalties and maximums, it makes it a tense game for a few wrong reasons.

HKOS players make these minimums and penalties because the game becomes unsatisfactory when you work on building a strong hand only to have a player go out on a “chicken-hand”, one that fulfills the requirements of Mah Jong but not much else.

On the yahoo groups, you will find many play HKOS style with a 3 point minimum or a 3+2 point minimum. This makes the game more of a chore than something to be enjoyed. Added to this mix the lure of money and it makes it that much more unpleasant–at least for those looking for a casual time.

One co-worker who I had taught the game to said that it is a “simple game made complex with convoluted scoring mechanisms and in-game rituals.”

I have to agree with this and say that some of these rituals may be off-putting for potential new players. However, it is these very same rituals that make this a game worth playing.

Mah Jong is not a game but an experience and if players can be found that enjoy the more esoteric experience of gaming, then this would be a very ideal game and scoring system to introduce them to.

Bohnanza

Bohnanza – Review

Bohnanza is a card game designed by Uwe Rosenberg. Mr. Rosenberg’s other popular game about farming is called Agricola and is several notches in complexity above this game.

This game uses an odd card order mechanism where players are not allowed to change the order of cards in their hand. This leads to some very interesting situations when playing the game!

Bohnanza is:

• Designed by: Uwe Rosenberg
• Published by: Rio Grande Games
• Number of players: 2-7
• Playing time: 30 minutes
• Player ages: 8+

There are several versions of this game published by a number of different companies. The version that I own is the Amigo Spiele version which comes in a nifty tin container. The Amigo Spiele version only supports 3-5 players while the North American, Rio Grande Games, version supports 2-7 players.

This game is affectionately known in several gamer circles as “The Bean Game”. The game is a card game where players collect sets of bean cards by drawing from the deck or trading with other players.

In order to prosper, players have to negotiate effectively with other players to get the proper bean cards in order to sell them at a healthy profit.

The winner of the game is the one who has made the most money planting and selling beans.

Before the game begins, the deck is shuffled thoroughly and each player is dealt a hand of 5 cards.

Game Play

Each player has two imaginary fields on the table. At the beginning of a player’s turn, that player must plant the first bean card in hand onto one of the two fields.

The oddest feature of this game is that players cannot change the order of the cards in hand.

The player may choose to plant the second bean card in hand onto a field.

Once a field is planted, for example with Wax Beans, no other bean types may be planted on that field unless all the Wax Beans are harvested and sold.

A player may purchase a third bean field at anytime by paying 3 coins.

After planting beans, the player then reveals two cards from the top of the deck. This then forms the heart of the game: the trading/negotiation phase.

The player may choose to take both revealed cards. If the player does not wish to do so, then she may make offers to other players to buy/sell/trade the revealed cards. She may also elect to trade any other cards she may have in her hand.

Any cards traded during this phase must be planted.

The trading phase is key to the game because it is only during this phase that cards can be moved out of normal hand order.

Once trading is finished, the active player then draws three more cards and adds it to the back of her hand. Then the next player begins their turn.

Each type of bean is worth a different amount of coins depending on how rare it is. For instance, there are 20 Blue Bean cards in the deck. That means, that a player requires at least 4 Blue Bean cards in play to sell for 1 coin.

The game is over when the deck has been exhausted for the third time. The player with the most coins is the winner.

Summary

Bohnanza is, at its heart, a negotiation game. The game is about skillfully making trades with other players in order to benefit from the trades.

I have played this game with younger gamers (7 years) to older gamers (50 years) and both groups absolutely love it.

Sometimes there is a “take that” attitude during the trading phase of the game but that is what gives this card game the spark!

If some players are uncomfortable with trading, or insist on long negotiations, then the game may slow down. In most cases, however, it plays very quickly and can easily finish well within an hour.

Happy gaming.

Coloretto

Coloretto – Review

Coloretto is designed by Michael Schacht and was published in 2003. Since then, several publishers, including Rio Grande Games, have published this game.

This card game is about collecting sets of colored chameleon cards but be careful not to collect too many colors!

Coloretto is:

• Designed by: Michael Schacht
• Published by: Rio Grande Games
• Number of players: 3-5
• Playing time: 30 minutes
• Player ages: 7+

The game comes in an easily transportable box about the same size as a small paperback book.

Michael Schacht also designed the China board game.

A Quick Overview

Each player in this card game attempts to collect chameleon cards. Collected cards are then grouped according to color.

The goal of the game is to collect as many cards of the same color as possible. The winner is the one that has the most number of points at the end of the game. Scoring is the tricky part of this game.

There is a triangular scoring pattern where 1 card of one color scores 1 point. 2 cards of the same color score 3 points (1+2). 3 cards of the same color score 6 points (1+2+3). The maximum is 21 points for 6 or more cards.

There are 7 different colors of chameleons. Before the game begins, the deck is shuffled. Next, the last turn card is placed 15 cards from the bottom of the deck.

Each player then is given a card to begin the game. No player may start with the same color.

Game Play

Game play for Coloretto is very simple. On their turn a player has one of two choices:

• Take a card from the draw deck and add it to a Row Card pile
• Or take the entire amount of cards on a Row Card

Simple.

Each Row Card can only have a maximum of three cards on it. There are as many Row Cards as there are players.

Once a player has taken cards from a Row Card, the player may no longer participate until all players have taken cards from a Row Card.

Then a new round begins.

As I mentioned earlier, scoring is the tricky part of the game.

Once the last round has been played, players add the values of the top three colors they have. Players then subtract the values of the other colors they collected.

For the three colors in which you have the most cards, you score 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, or 21 points for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 or more cards in that color. Then you subtract a similar amount for the other colors you collected!

Summary

I like this game because it is fun and it is fast. Even though the box says about 30 minutes, I’ve found that even 5 player games can be played in about 15 or so.

There isn’t much strategy here but you do have to respond to the card draws. There is a push-your-luck element that is very enjoyable and players love it.

Happy gaming.