‘Hip’ in NY, far from ‘cool’ in HK
- Details
- Created on Saturday, 30 October 2010 08:07
- Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 November 2012 18:00
- Written by Staff
HONG KONG - The other day, the Wall Street Journal reported about the comeback of ‘mah-jongg’ in New York. But the same journal also concludes that in Hong Kong, in the home country of the game, mahjong is anything but cool.
In an article about mahjong parlors in Hong Kong, a club manager is quoted who claims that “most of the time, we get office ladies or tai tais (married women) who come and play at the end of the day from 6 p.m. until 2 in the morning.”
“There are some younger kids who play mahjong, but it’s not seen as something posh more so than seedy. It is gambling, after all.”
Another manager claims that the problem with mahjong is the huge investment of time it requires. “A proper mah-jongg game can last eight hours or a whole day. It works on a point system, and you can’t just pull out after one round of games.”
Read the full article in WSJ Online
IMO, kuitan nashi will be the most problematic point for a world championship.
To shorten my point, kuitan-nashi Mahjong is like Formula 1 racing with 3 tires. It's probably a great learning exercise (good) that they turned into the only form of testing (bad). If that was the only problem, most people could live with that. The bigger problem for EMA Mahjong is their tolerance for a type of call that would be considered cheating anywhere else: tolerating the pick-and-switch for the same tile. (chi 78+9, throw nine; pon 11+1, throw one)
For a WC-Riichi event to succeed, that last point needs to be addressed once and for all. As for the rest of the rules, it will most likely be a take it or leave it scenario. There's nothing we can do about it.
But i appreciate the current changes cuz they minimize the luck factor a bit.