Game Report: Mahjong, Developed By Ancient Chinese
Mahjong and table Mahjong is a representative Chinese game that has a fruitful history and cultural background. It consists of 144 tiles named by Chinese characters and symbols, separated by 3 groups called Simples, Honors and Bonus. It requires no less or more than 4 players who start the game by shuffling the tiles and each has to form 13 tiles at the beginning.
From my experience, playing Mahjong is an activity that bustling with loud and excitement. Each player will "shout" "Pong", "Kong" or "Chow" as quick as possible in order to form a meld (a specific group of tiles like three tiles of the same symbols). Therefore, Mahjong is a representative for Chinese who love festive air.
From my observation, Mahjong is definitely a game in free play. First of all, it is rule-based. For example, a winning hand must follow a specific pattern of tiles with 4 melds and 1 pair of "Eyes"(2 tiles of the same symbols). Clear rules are set to define a "meld". Each player has to follow an anti-clockwise sequence to draw and put a tile on the desk. It highly requires ingenuity from players to straightly uphold the rules and no cheat is allowed. Other than that, playing Mahjong has a variable and quantifiable outcome. Different patterns of winning hand give different values like forming a Thirteen Orphans will earn more "faan" value than simply forming a suit of "Simples". The more difficult the pattern, the higher points "faan" can get, and the higher value one can earn. For players' effort, the higher investment of energy for analyzing the situation ( like guessing which pattern of winning hand other players are trying to form), the more favorable the outcome will be (one will be able to get most of the tiles he wants for a unique pattern of winning hand).
The game of Mahjong causes huge psychological influence. In Hong Kong nowadays, Mahjong is popular for housewives to play among themselves. They will spend their spare time to play Mahjong and call other housewives who live nearby to join. This enhances the bonding between neighbor and facilitates the connections among the community.
In the old day of Hong Kong, Mahjong culture was even flourishing. A scene from a Hong Kong famous movie "It's a mad, mad, mad world" released in 1987 portrayed the ordinary life of Hongkongers who live in public housing of a small estate. The neighbor of the same floor gathered in the corridor and played Mahjong together. Gladness was flooded there and brought the unforgettable memory to many Hongkongers. Mahjong has strengthened the cohesion of the community and undoubtedly has become a vital medium for connecting people. Moreover, the medium of playing Mahjong as concrete object offers a better platform for human interactions when compare to Mahjong application since the face-to-face interactivity in real life transfers stronger feelings with one another in which will be more impressed. However, the system of Mahjong does not always follow a flow state. Mahjong itself does not set different levels of difficulty. It really depends on how skillful the opponents are. Also, the consequence of the outcome may be non-negotiable if Mahjong is played for gambling. Material interest may be considered and Mahjong is not a game in this circumstance.
At last, Mahjong is a strategy game that requires good analyzing skills. It trains our brain for memorizing the flow of tiles during the game so it is commonly used to prevent Alzheimer's disease from the elderly.
