The OMs (all except for our friend X) got together for our weekly luncheon and Mah Jongg Wednesday game. This was a day for me to remember because I declared Mah Jongg five times during the day – wow! 
But first I had to suffer a little heartbreak! This was our very first game and here is my hand after the Charleston. Our table rules allow us to play “Atomic Hands” and I couldn’t believe my good luck. All I needed was one tile to declare Mah Jongg. And then what do you think happened…I picked up a Joker and that was the end of thinking I could go Atomic!
But my luck quickly changed after that painful hand. 
There were still a fair number of tiles left unpicked when I got very lucky and picked up some Jokers allowing me to declare Mah Jongg.
For some crazy reason, most of my hands today were telling me to play 1 3 5 7 9 hands. Again, I was lucky on this hand as there were already two One Bams out on the table and I was only sitting with one in my hand – luckily, on my turn I then picked up the last One Bam.
I love the good old dependable consecutive numbers hand. And below those tiles on the striped napkin you can see the remains of a delicious chocolate espresso cookie that was soon to be finished off!!
Another Mah Jongg with another – but different – consecutive hand. And I really was lucky on this hand. I had only one Six Crak, two Nine Craks, and one Joker. But when my turn came around I picked up a 6 Crak and was able to exchange a tile for a Joker from K’s exposures and all of a sudden the hand that looked like a loser turned into Mah Jongg!
Now here is an interesting example of what can happen when you are playing with the new card and not used to all the hands. S2 declared Mah Jongg with this hand but S1 noticed that the exposure with the three Jokers needed to have a One Bam, not a One Dot. For those of you following on the new card, this is the fourth hand on the 2014 hands. It calls for any three suits and so using the One Dot in two different exposures is an incorrect play. S2 was then declared dead and play went on.
S1 then followed up with a beautiful Mah Jongg.
I had just about nothing after the Charleston but somehow this hand miraculously came together to allow me to declare Mah Jongg for the fifth time today.
And lastly, S2 had Mah Jongg with this really interesting – and difficult – hand. What a great day!
But let’s not forget the best part when we play at K’s apartment:
ROXIE!!!
Mah Jongg and Me 
Thanks for sharing. Looks like we all make the same mistakes. Reassuring to know. Most in our group have dogs. When we only have 3 available to play, the game goes on. We deal a hand to the 4th chair and call that player by the name of the resident dog. We do a blind charleston (not in the official rules, we know) then return that player’s (Shasha, Chili, Rosie, Pepper, or whoever) tiles to the wall and finish playing the game of “threesies”. All for fun and laughs. This way the game goes on and we still get practice in playing the card.
LikeLike
Hi Diane – it sounds as if our group, the OMs, play the same way as your group. We have definitely done the same type of Charleston that you do when we only have 3 players but we haven’t named that empty chair as the resident dog. I love this idea and will pass it on to the others since 3 of us have dogs (Lizzie, Roxie, and Chili) and two from the group have cats (Sebastian and Coco). If you are ever in NYC you will fit right into our game play!
LikeLike
Hi Diane, this K of the OMs and mother of Roxie. I also love your idea of naming the empty chair in honor of the host’s 4-legged companion. We used to call this player Mia (missing in action) but I like using a pet’s name instead. i think we’ll be stealing your idea!
LikeLike