I'm new to Mah-Jong and recently got a second-hand set at a local auction. The set appears complete regarding tiles, dice etc. but I'm not sure about the tally sticks. There are no instructions and I'm not sure how many sticks there should be or what values they represent. The sticks I have are as follows;
36 'one spot' sticks (spots are red)
8 'five spot' sticks (the spots are arranged like the 5 spots on a dice and are coloured red)
40 'eight spot' sticks (the spots are arranged in two columns of four and are black in colour)
4 'nine spot' sticks (the five middle spots are arranged like those of a 'five spot' stick - see above - these spots are red. Additional single red spots are at either end of the 'five spot' pattern - making a total of 7 red spots. A single large black spot is found at either end of the red-spot pattern making nine spots in total).
Have you seen this system before? I have a Mah-jong reference book but the tally system it mentions is completely different (2x500 point, 9x100, 8x10 and 10x2).
Hope you can help.
Thanks for your time.
Steve
From: stephen@stearn.demon.co.uk (stephen)
>I'm new to Mah-Jong and recently got a second-hand set at a local auction.Don't worry about how many there should be. If you have too many, you're fine. If you have a few too few, then I wouldn't worry about that either. Make them evenly divisible by four and put the extras aside.
>or what values they represent. The sticks I have areThe number of spots doesn't matter as much as the number of sticks. That's why I snipped above.
40 sticks (10 per player) -- the least valuable sticks. Either 2 points or 100 points, depending on which game you play.
36 sticks (9 per player) -- the 2nd least valuable sticks. Either 10 points or 500 points, depending on which game you play.
8 sticks (2 per player) -- the 2nd most valuable sticks. Either 100 points or 1,000 points, depending on which game you play.
4 sticks (1 per player) -- the most valuable sticks. Either 500 points or 10,000 points, depending on which game you play.
>Have you seen this system before?Yes. There are lots of systems, just adapt to what you have.
>I have a Mah-jong reference book but theDon't worry about being "correct" so much, and just enjoy what you have. If you are worried that your reference book is inconsistent with your rules and want to get a book that is consistent with the rules you use, check the FAQs. First read FAQ 1, then FAQ 3. You might need FAQ 9 as well. The FAQs are at http://www.activision.com/games/dynasty/faq/FAQmain.html
Stephen, everybody's mah-jongg set is slightly different from everybody else's. When others come and play with your set, just show them what the flowers and dragons and the One Bam look like (so they won't have to ask during play), and show them the scoring system represented by your sticks. Don't get frustrated if somebody else says, "That's not like my set, your set is wrong," that person would just be showing his ignorance.
Cheers! -- Tom
--
Tom Sloper, Activision
Executive Producer, Shanghai
tsloper@activision.com
http://www.activision.com/games/dynasty
(Opinions expressed are mine, not those of my employer)