The important bit!
The Mah Jong Group normally meets twice monthly at Townsend House on the second and fourth Fridays of each month at 2 30 pm. Please remember to check the Calendar in case of any late changes to schedule or venue.
Restart!! Mah Jong group is re-starting on Friday 25th March, then 2nd and 4th Fridays as before
Our group is led by Pam Pettit, and she may be contacted at 01643 818956, or by email at .
News January 2022
The Group enjoyed a very successful Autumn, pleased to be socialising again, welcoming several new members, and refamiliarising ourself with the game. Members were soon able to progress to tackling some of the Special Hands.
Reluctantly, after Christmas, the resurgence of Covid, and the more transmissible Omicron variant, has forced us to take another break. We will reconsider at the end of February, the aim being to resume meetings at Townsend House once the worst of the winter weather is past, and we can play reasonably comfortably with the doors open! Fingers crossed.
Mah Jong at the U3A Open day. Photo by Cherrie Temple |
Mah jong tiles. Photo by Cherrie Temple |
About the Group
We welcome players of all abilities, from complete beginners to experienced players. There is a small charge at each session, normally between £2 and £3, purely to cover the cost of room hire. The Group has 3 Mah Jong sets, but some members also own their own sets, and may bring them along if the size of the group increases. Anyone interested in joining us should contact Pam, the Convenor, and arrange to come along to a trial session.
About the game
A Mah Jong set comprises 144 tiles, decorated with Chinese symbols: Bamboo, Characters, Circles, Dragons, Winds, Flowers and Seasons. These symbols first appeared in ancient China on discs or counters some 2000 years ago, and the game evolved over the centuries to become the game of Mah Jong as we know it. The basic game bears similarities with the card game Rummy, in that players must try to complete a winning ‘hand’ of sets of 3 or 4 tiles that are identical, or form a numbered sequence, and thus declare ‘Mah Jong’. Once the basic game has been mastered, players may advance to a wide variety of ‘Special Hands’, with exotic names such as Wriggling Snake, Triple Knitting and Greta’s Garden. Skill is then introduced into the game as players decide which Hand to tackle according to the tiles they pick up.
Learning tools
We teach new players the game following the rules laid out in Max Robertson’s book ‘The Game of Mah Jong‘, supplemented by Susan Fifer’s book ‘Mah Jong: Game of the Four Winds: materials for U3A Groups‘. A PDF file of the latter is available to download. Because we play for fun however, we follow the practice of many Mah Jong Groups in tinkering with the rules a little, in order to make more of the Special Hands achievable, thus adding to our enjoyment.
Beginners
Please note that there is also a Mah Jong group meeting in Watchet, mainly oriented at beginners.
Links:
Examples of online versions/ apps are:
www.4windsmj.com
www.mahjongtime.com
www.myjongg.net
These are chargeable after a short free trial period.