麻雀

Pictured above is the small Mah Jongg set that I picked up from a charity shop in Church Stretton yesterday for the princely sum of £7.50. Although a small-tiled set, it's pretty nicely made, with bamboo-backed resin tiles and has never been used, by the look and feel of it; and considering these Chinese-made sets are still made and go for around thirty quid more than I paid for this one, I consider it a bargain. The next thing is to learn how to play the game: it's always fascinated me, but reading the rule books and how-to guides I've always been put off by the apparent complexity of it. I realise now that I have mostly been reading about the American evolution of the game that was made popular last century.

The standard Hong Kong game that I've since looked at has at least fewer of the intricate rules of the US variant, and basic gameplay appears not dissimilar to Gin Rummy, a game I know of old. However, there is a caviat: the initial setup and mechanics of the HK standard game is highly ritualised and will require some learning. It also requires a party of four, and we are running out of potential punters in that department these days. However, a variant of it can be played by three, or even just two players, so it might be feasible to get to grips with it. We'll see, but whichever path we take with it, I still think it was a good buy, whatever...