That competitive streak!

I’m getting together with my writing chums this evening to play mahjong. This implies that I will be actively engaged in this game of strategy and wits, well, I will do my best but I think the word wit-less sums me up in many scenarios, definitely the one where I try to participate in Mahjong. I mentioned before that I first came across it (apart from reading about it in novels) when my family moved from Cambridge to Weston-super-Mare, and new friends in my new school were playing it at lunch time. I was fascinated then, without having the least clue what was going on, and nothing has changed in my new encounters with this mysterious but intriguing game.

Maybe I should have started revising the rules sooner – say the day after our last mahjong evening! However, I have just had a look on-line to try and remind myself of the basics, so at least I refer to the pieces by their correct names and don’t sound like a complete ninny. I have looked at various sites to try and remind myself of what my friends tried to teach me, and have found one which seems to be aimed at children or idiot adults. It’s a picture guide, so I’m going to have a look through it, and maybe jot some notes.

There are tiles with dots on, from one dot up to nine.

There are tiles with bamboo, again from one to nine and they are like little bamboo sticks – except for 1 which is a stylised picture of a bird. Now is that the same for all sets, or for just the set in this guide? Will the set we have at my friend’s house be like this illustration? I must look at some more sets.

Characters are easy, because they are Chinese characters, numbered 1-9.

Winds – easy to remember because the four characters are marked N,E,S,W and, north, east, south and west.

Flowers have little pictogram for 1.plum, 2.orchid, 3.chrysanthemum and 4.bamboo

Seasons – well, the four seasons, starting with spring, then summer, autumn and winter.

Now I think the idea is to make sets of tiles, and to build walls of tiles (not entirely clear why, but maybe I’ll remember when we’re playing!) I’m not very good at any strategy game to be honest, maybe it’s lack of concentration or maybe I haven’t got that competitive streak!! However, I know we will have a very pleasant and enjoyable evening, and we will be sitting outside in our hostess’s beautiful garden.