95 replies to this topic

[Genghis_Khan]

I guess no one know about mahjong here ??

[The Strategist]

Mahjong, also spelled mah-jong or mah-jongg is a game of Chinese origin. Dating to over two thousand years ago, Mahjong is said to have originated in the court of the King of Wu. This was roughly the time that Confucius existed, which was some five hundred years before the Christian era.5 Within this court, there lived a beauty in seclusion. To keep herself from utter boredom, she invented a game of her own. She began to carve domino-shaped pieces of ivory and bamboo. When she was finished, she invited three of her maids to play her newly invented game. Each person was to receive 34 tiles in which they would each create a wall with. The exact rules that were applied are unknown but the lowest score is said to have been 22 points and the highest 389,928 points.

[Genghis_Khan]

The exact rules that were applied are unknown but the lowest score is said to have been 22 points and the highest 389,928 points.

wow.. soo many points?
play until when ??

[jwrevak]

Hi, guys..
Wonder when was mahjong first invented and popularise ??
Was it invented by Chinese ? When and which dynasty was it ??
Any info ??

There are many myths but according to what I've read mahjong is documented no earlier than about the mid-19th century when it first appeared in China. It was apparently invented there, possibly in the Southeast. It was imported to England in the 1920s when it became popular in the West. However, the rules for mahjong (including winning hands, number of tiles, scoring, etc.) are by no means standardized across cultures. Mahjong, as played by most Americans (unless they are of Asian decent), has very different rules from Asian kinds of mahjong. Even in Asia the rules vary significantly.

[snowybeagle]

Just to show how addictive the game can be ...

Source : http://newpaper.asia...,104280,00.html?

Forget the gunman, let's play mahjong instead
HK woman keeps gambling after robber shoots her, but bullet gets stopped by bag and wad of cash
March 31, 2006

THEIR game of mahjong was interrupted by a break-in, a hold-up and even a gunshot.

Yet, after all the drama, six Hong Kong players returned to their mahjong game without so much as a call to the police.

It was only the next morning when one of the women found a hole in her pouch that she realised she had narrowly cheated death.


A Hong Kong court heard yesterday that two robbers had broken in to the apartment in Fanling on 9 Jun last year while six friends played mahjong.

One of the men was armed with a gun and, pointing it at one of the women, he demanded she hand over her waist pouch.

The gutsy woman refused. That was when she heard a loud bang, said prosecuter Harish Melwaney.

However, the woman found she was not injured.

One of her friends then shouted that the gun was a fake, while another dashed into the kitchen to get a cleaver.

The man and his accomplice fled.

The woman found a hole in her shirt and a red welt on her stomach.

But instead of reporting the incident to the police, the group continued with their game.

It was only the next morning when she noticed that her waist bag, along with the wad of HK$12,500 ($2,600) in cash inside, had a hole blasted through it.

When the police searched the apartment, they found a 7.62mm bullet casing and a projectile.

A doctor who later examined her wound said that 'it would be possible, by chance and by luck', for the bullet's force to be absorbed by her bag and the banknotes to leave only a superficial wound.

One of the robbers, Shing Man-ping, a 35-year-old illegal immigrant from Hunan province, was arrested the next day after another robbery in Tai Po.

Yesterday, he pleaded guilty to charges of attempted robbery, robbery, possessing a weapon in the course of a robbery and possessing firearms and ammunition without a licence.

[dtNet]

Hello. I rerad soemwhere that majiang was born in China to promote to remember famous ancient chinese figures. The names are reminded by playing the game. But the use of it to gamble.. the inventor did not intend.

[Genghis_Khan]

There are many myths but according to what I've read mahjong is documented no earlier than about the mid-19th century when it first appeared in China. It was apparently invented there, possibly in the Southeast. It was imported to England in the 1920s when it became popular in the West. However, the rules for mahjong (including winning hands, number of tiles, scoring, etc.) are by no means standardized across cultures. Mahjong, as played by most Americans (unless they are of Asian decent), has very different rules from Asian kinds of mahjong. Even in Asia the rules vary significantly.

I didn't know Mahjong was popular to the west and USA...
Issit played by asian in the west or play by european ?
Do they called it Mahjong too ?

Just to show how addictive the game can be ...

Source : http://newpaper.asia...,104280,00.html?

That's what we call TOU KUAI !!

[jwrevak]

I didn't know Mahjong was popular to the west and USA...

It isn't wildly popular in America but it is known and avidly played by some Americans--and I'm not talking about Americans of Asian descent in this instance. For reasons that I don't understand it has traditionally been popular with Jewish women in the U.S.

Issit played by asian in the west or play by european ?
Do they called it Mahjong too ?

Yes, they do.

[urofpersia]

There are many myths but according to what I've read mahjong is documented no earlier than about the mid-19th century when it first appeared in China. It was apparently invented there, possibly in the Southeast. It was imported to England in the 1920s when it became popular in the West. However, the rules for mahjong (including winning hands, number of tiles, scoring, etc.) are by no means standardized across cultures. Mahjong, as played by most Americans (unless they are of Asian decent), has very different rules from Asian kinds of mahjong. Even in Asia the rules vary significantly.

One of the stories is that Mahjong was originally in card form and was invented by Chinese sailors. The version I read says that Mahjong originally referred to 麻雀 and was later renamed 麻将.

[General_Zhaoyun]

One of the stories is that Mahjong was originally in card form and was invented by Chinese sailors. The version I read says that Mahjong originally referred to 麻雀 and was later renamed 麻将.

In Japan, mahjong is called 麻雀 instead of "Mah Jiang 麻将". Mahjong is also pretty popular in Japan. I don't know what the japanese pronunciation for 麻雀.

[Genghis_Khan]

Gosh!! So many version...
Some said it was invented 500 years b4 Christ or during Confucius time
Some said it was invented during the Ching dynasty
Some said it was invented in the Southeast or in the 18th Century

Just which one is the correct one ??
How can the invention be from 500BC to 18th Century ??

[Genghis_Khan]

Gosh!! So many version...
Some said it was invented 500 years b4 Christ or during Confucius time
Some said it was invented during the Ching dynasty
Some said it was invented in the Southeast or in the 18th Century

Just which one is the correct one ??
How can the invention be from 500BC to 18th Century ??
It sound like Mahjong was a Myth!!

[karewa]

South East Asia or south east China ??

eunuchs or some empress/concubine....

aint no MAN`s game apparently...

i really wanna know who invented mahjong... come on guys...
you can do it !

[Genghis_Khan]

Guys, I found this..


source from wikipedia

One of the myths (probably originates from the West) regarding the origin of Mahjong suggests that Confucius[1]the great Chinese philosopher had developed the game about 500 BC.

Another possible theory implies that the game had been developed from existing Chinese card and domino games sometime around 1850. Some historians believe it was based on a card game called Mádìao (馬吊) (also known as Ma Tiae, lit. Hanging Horse; or Yèzí (葉子), lit. Leaf) in the early Ming dynasty.[2] This game was played with 40 paper cards similar in appearance to the cards used in the game Ya Pei. These forty cards, numbered 1 to 9 in four different suits along with four extra flower cards, are quite alike to the numbering of Mahjong tiles today. There is still a healthy debate about to whom the creation of the game should be attributed. One theory is that Chinese army officers serving during the Tai Ping Rebellion created the game to pass the time. Another theory is that a noble living in the Shanghai area created the game between 1870 and 1875. It is thought that around 1850 in the city of Ningpo two brothers had created mah jong from the earlier game of Mádìao.

And some believed Mahjong was invented by 韓信(pinyin: Hán Xìn) during the war between 'Chu' and 'Han'.

There are many variations of mahjong. Although many variations today differ only by scoring, there are several main variations of Mahjong.

* Chinese Classical Mahjong is the oldest variety of Mahjong, and was the version introduced to America in the 1920s under various names.
* Hong Kong Mahjong or Cantonese Mahjong is the most common form of Mahjong, differing in minor scoring details with the Chinese Classical variety.
* Japanese Mahjong is a standardized form of Mahjong in Japan, found prevalently in video games. In addition to scoring changes, the rules of riichi and dora are unique highlights of Japanese Mahjong.
* Western Classical Mahjong is a descendant of the version of Mahjong introduced by Babcock to America in the 1920s. The evolution of Mahjong in America led to American Mahjong. Today, this term largely refers to the Wright-Patterson rules, used in the U.S. military, and other similar American-made variants that are closer to the Babcock rules.
* American Mahjong is a form of Mahjong standardized by the National Mah Jongg League and the American Mah-Jongg Association that has the greatest divergence from traditional Mahjong, with the introduction of Joker tiles, the Charleston, as well as melds of five or more tiles, and eschewing the Chow and the notion of a standard hand. Because of this divergence, the NMJL and AMJA variations (which differ from each other by minor scoring differences) is commonly referred to as Mahjongg (with two Gs, possibly hyphenated). Purists of Mahjong claim that the divergence from standard Mahjong makes American Mahjong not a "true Mahjong", and thus should be considered a separate game in and of itself.

Other variants include Fujian Mahjong (with Dadi Joker 帶弟百搭), Taiwanese Mahjong (each player would have 16 tiles), Vietnamese Mahjong (with 16 different kinds of joker), and Filipino Mahjong (with Window Joker).