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Last night’s rather peculiar dream about competing for dogs by playing Mahjong was no doubt a result of watching a program which featured a Chess tournament.
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No-one ever tried to teach me Chess, but I did play Mahjong a very long time ago, and quite enjoyed it apart from the fact that my father got very bad-tempered when things didn’t go his way, which rather put a damper on anyone else winning.
He was possibly even more ill-tempered when we played cards, a game he called Slippery Anne. She was the Queen of spades.
The low score won and she represented 30 points.
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Remembering this sent me looking for the Mahjong set that was among my father’s possessions which I inherited.
Apart from packing for the purpose of moving countless times, I had not examined it for some forty years.
The bottom of the box almost fell apart, although the top is still intact.
My parents bought the set somewhere in Asia in the early ’60’s, probably in Thailand.
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Playing with tiles was more fun than playing with cards.
Regrettably, These are probably ivory which was readily found in Asia in those days.
As I recall, the game we played did not include the seasons, at the top.
The winds, at centre and the dragons, below, were the tiles that carried the most value.
The high score won in Mahjong.
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The ordinary tiles were in sets of wheels or circles, bamboo and characters, which you can no doubt figure out.
The jokers did not feature in our game.
The tiles were laid out in stacks of two in four walls which had to be rebuilt between rounds.
Somehow that chore always seemed to fall on the womenfolk.
Mahjong is intended to be played by four people but as my brother was usually back in England, my parents and I played as a threesome which worked well enough.
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The rules had to be modified…
The booklet was slightly difficult to follow and quite a lot more complicated than we felt was strictly necessary for humble Westerners of our ilk.
So my dad extricated the basics and compiled a much simpler version of the directions. His type-written rules were still in the box.
Reflecting, I tried to picture the last time we played this game and I’ve come to the conclusion that it must have been in England, in 1964, so much longer ago than I originally thought.
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As I looked for the Mahjong set, I found the solitaire board my parents brought back from Madagascar in 1971.
The marbles are all semi-precious stones which abound on the island.
This I do remember playing with, perhaps as recently as thirty years ago. The version I knew how to solve had four less marbles which was easy, though I’m not sure I can do it now.
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Those four extra marbles presented a challenge I was never able to conquer.
Now I must remove them and test my memory.
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What with backwards and forwards to the vet to drop off and collect Lily, with the dentist in between, it has been a disjointed day.
But the sun is out and the temperature of 52F/11C is perfect as far as I am concerned!
Now…to solitaire…
I have never played Mah Jong, but I have seen Chinese men playing it in Soho, and gambling money on the game. I had a similar Solitaire board, probably last played with around the same time as you.(1964) I am not one for games, especially cards as they make people angry, but I was once very good (tactically) at Monopoly.
Best wishes, Pete.
Scrabble. I have only won twice in 46 years of marriage. It isn’t worth it🤣. I played solitary Mah Jong on the computer which is more like Memory with luck. I won 200 times in a row, took a screen shot and haven’t been back. That’s a beautiful tile set. Don’t sweat the ivory. In most parts of the world any old dense bone would do.
Thank you, Carolyn, for the interesting post! I remember Mah Jong from Colombo. My interest was in Monopoly, long time ago…
Joanna