Tag Archives: singles and pairs

OH, NO…DID I REALLY DO THAT?

Oh, the pain when we discard a tile that results in another player calling out Mah Jongg! Meredith has been one of my top Mah Jongg students and now is away for the summer – we miss her! She sent me the following email:

“My MJ group on the island. Dana’s closed hand and I gave it to her!  I knew in that game yesterday that the winds had not been thrown and I knew Dana loves the winds.  I had 3 winds and had to throw one and chose the wrong one.  It is true if I give the person MJ I have to pay double, right?  That cost me a whole dollar!”

IMG_0227I think Dana looks as surprised as Meredith! Congratulations to Dana on winning with a great closed SINGLES AND PAIRS hand NN EE WW SS 11 11 11!

IMG_0226With a closed hand it is difficult to figure out what hand is being played and what tiles are safe to discard. But there are clues – here’s another quiz for you newbies (and experienced players can chime in, too!):

What clues as to what not to discard – or what tiles might be safe – exist in a game when a player has no exposures? Can’t wait to hear what you have to say!

TRAGIC!

I am trying and trying to play the SINGLES AND PAIRS hands on this year’s card but all I ever get is close and, as we all know, there is no second place in Mah Jongg. When I think of all the times that I pray for a Joker…but, wouldn’t you know it, I get one just when I don’t need it! This isn’t the first time that I have tried to win with this hand of FF 11 33 55 77 99 DD – but those Soaps just kept getting discarded and I didn’t have that second 9 Dot yet and so couldn’t pick up any of them. You can see them on the table – so frustrating and, as Johni Levene (Los Angeles’ Mah Jongg teacher extraordinaire!) would say, TRAGIC!

Tragic hand on rack