Over the last week or so, I have been playing Mahjong a bit more than usual. This was after some realization that Mahjong is rather fun and enjoyable for me, and playing a game of online Mahjong is as simple as a few clicks.

Recently I began reading a strategy book on Mahjong, Riichi Book I by Daina Chiba, and putting what I learn into practice.

This has lead me to becoming a bit better as a Mahjong player, which is great. But, it doesn't help with the streak of bad luck I recently got.

This is why Mahjong is Fun! But… also annoying…

Losing Streak

Over the last few days, I have been on a major losing streak. In fact, before my last game I played, I ended up in last place 3 times. Now, if you look at my last 10 games, it doesn't look that bad, especially with my last game that broke my streak of not getting 1st in awhile…

The 9 games prior to my recent game, 3 of them where second place, 4 where last place, and 2 where third place. In the grand scheme of things, percentage-wise, that isn't bad. But, when you think about the fact that most online mahjong games have rankings, those 4 last place games heavily impacted my ranking. In fact, before this losing streak, I was 1 first place game, or 2 2nd place games away from reaching the 2nd Dan ranking. But, unfortunately, I am now far from that rank promotion…

The worst part about these games is that even though I made a few mistakes here and there that caused me to deal directly into some hands. The vast majority of my point loss was due to the fact that someone else Tsumo'd while I was the dealer. For a quick explanation for those that do not know Mahjong that well. When someone Ron's (wins off a discarded tile), the person discarding the tile is required to pay all the points. But, if a person Tsumo's (they draw their winning tile), then all players pay. If the player that won is not the dealer, then the dealer pays double of what the other two players pay. If the player that won is the dealer, then all other players pay the same amount.

Unluckily, in most of my last place games, I ended up being the dealer when the player in question Tsumo'd a Haneman or Baiman hand.

That just killed me, and was extremely frustrating as I had little control over something like that.

That is where no matter how much you may know the game, luck may not be on your side, and you can still get obliterated.

Breaking My Losing Streak

If you looked at the image above. Under the "Legend" section, you may have noticed that my recent high score was 73900. That was probably the game where my luck decided to be a bit good, and let me actually win. To put that scoring into perspective. In a game of 4 player Mahjong, each player starts with 25,000 points. From my experience, a vast majority of games finish with 1st place being in the 30-40,000 point range.

I obliterated my oponents with nearly tripling my score.

In fact, here is a screenshot of the final scorings of that game.

Just downright nasty, if I'd say so myself.

Honestly, that is probably what I enjoy most about Mahjong though. The game may require some skill, but it still requires luck. But, when you get that luck, it feels good when you are able to pull ahead with this many points!

More Mahjong to Come

I'm going to continue to play Mahjong. I enjoy it more the more I play it. In fact, I'm working on plans to resurrect the Mahjong Club I used to run prior to COVID-19 lockdown. I honestly can't wait to start that back up, and find others who have interest in Riiche Mahjong as well!