The Beginners’ Mahjong Group meets on the second Thursday afternoon of each month from 2.30 – 4.30pm at the coordinator’s house. Mahjong is a game of skill, strategy and calculation which is so very compelling that it gets you hooked. It is played with three or four people with tiles rather than playing cards.

Have you ever been intrigued by how Mahjong is played? Called the ‘Game of Four Winds’ – there are three sets each of suits, winds, dragons and flowers. The object of the game is to collect a winning hand of various combinations, drawing tiles from the ‘wall’ that the players build and discarding unwanted tiles. When a winning hand is collected, the player calls “Mah-Jong!” and points are scored. The other 3 players pay the person who had called Mahjong with ‘pretend’ money sticks and the difference in scores worked out and ‘paid’ even amongst the losing players themselves in each round. It is a fun game based mainly on luck of the draw but players can influence a positive outcome for themselves by utilising the starting tiles in their hands to their best advantage.

The difference between this and the Chinese Rules group is that they play a fairly low scoring game based mainly on chance. We, in the Beginners’ Club play the Universal British rules, which allow for a slower and less competitive game and focus more on the enjoyment of it, naming the tiles as they are ‘thrown’ into the discarded pile and taking time to build ‘special hands’.

Comprehensive information on the British rules can be found here —
https://mahjongbritishrules.wordpress.com/about-the-website/bmja/

So, if you have you ever considered learning to play or want a refresher course if you’ve played before, you are very welcome to join us.

Mahjong, it is believed, is a game which is beneficial to ward off dementia, cognitive and memory difficulties. Learning to play is easy, learning to win is the tougher part! So do come and see what we do!