Mahjong Mindset Mastery for Beginners

American version versus QOT version

I have been asked multiple times about the difference between American Mahjong and our version. Hands allowed in American Mahjong are listed on a card, the hands change annually and the scores change. Our mahjong book is a collection of different American and Chinese mahjong hands through the years, we are not limited to playing just the annual set hands and our scoring doesn’t change.

Flowers and Seasons are luck tiles and not used in the hand (as is done in the American game).

To Dance or Not To Dance

The Charleston is used in both versions. It isn't just a fancy way of shuffling pieces but the very core of strategy in mahjong. As you get familiar with the game, you will have a eureka moment when you realise that it is during the Charleston that you really get close to understanding the pattern of the hand you should play. The drawing and discarding and even calling tiles is secondary to the Charleston. If you don't get that right then the hand itself will be so much more difficult to make.

In general, when you first get your tiles, look for patterns - a lot of evens? odds? winds? dragons? consecutive numbers? and try to select a section tabulated at the back of the book - runs? chows? pairs? winds or dragons or both? suits? two suits? three suits? Bamboo suit? Circle suit? Character suit? pungs/kongs? Now you can narrow it down to a specific hand in the book.

Make notes of patterns. For example:

• Hands with pungs

• Hands with chows

• Hands with dragons

• Hands with winds

• Hands with pairs

• Hands with mixed suits

• Hands with a single suit

Very soon, you will have the skills to turn your ’nothing’ hand into a winning hand.