Product Description

A Mah Jong Handbook gives beginners and enthusiasts a first-hand look into the exciting game of mah jong. Offering a clear and concise introduction to the classic Chinese, Western, and Japanese rules of the game and outlining its many variants, this comprehensive guidebook will help you to improve your skills and add strategy to your game.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91994 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780804838740
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review

From the Inside Flap

Customer Reviews

Satisfaction Guaranteed!!!!!!!!!
Eleanor Noss Whitney has not only succeeded in writing a concise, understandable, and comprehensive Mah Jong handbook, she has elegantly and expertly distilled into a mere 176 pages the essential tools and strategies to achieve true mastery of this ancient and wonderful game.

Whitney's handbook is the only book that most players will ever need to become a knowledgeable, confident and winning Mah Jong player. The basics of play, including seating, dealer selection, wall-building, tile-dealing and play are laid out clearly with helpful examples and good illustrations. The scoring of Mah Jong is explained with numerous carefully-constructed examples, with helpful diagrams of each tile scenario for good visual reference.

The strategy of the game is brilliantly explained in Part III, again with numerous examples that gradually train beginning players how to quickly make strategic decisions to enhance their play. As Whitney explains, Mah Jong is a game governed by sheer luck of the draw, yet the "skillful player is actually one who knows how to adapt to his luck." Her extensive explanations and examples of both "offensive" and "defensive" strategies are the soul of the book, and I, for one, was amazed how quickly my comphrehension of the game improved after having read the entire chapter.

It is true that the focus of the book is primarily on the Japanese and American rules and variations, but Chinese equivalent terms are included in an extensive Glossary-Index. For the vast majority of players, this will not be a serious problem.

If you buy one book on Mah Jong, it should be this one.

Outstanding system of play.
This book outlines what is probably the best and most playable set of rules for Mah Jong. While the game is centuries old and there exist many ways of play, the Japanese system relies less on chance and gives the players the most opportunity to use strategy. This makes the game more involving, and your partners are more likely to stay for the entire game -- many of the "chancier" versions of this game become dull after a while because no understanding or skill is required. This book is thorough and it's section on strategy is excellent. It also has score cards which can be copied from the book. I believe this to be the definitive book on the subject.

A must for anyone wanting to learn to play Mah Jong Quickly
How many times have you wanted to play a game of Mah Jong but you you are bombarded with different rule books on the subject - each one giving a more confusing set of scoring instructions There are many times when I have encountered this problem especially when teaching newcomers the game We play using Eleanor Noss Whitney's "A Mah Jong Handbook" as our rules which we find of all the other books on Mah Jong the easiest and most understandable set of rules compared to all teh others which clutter the field with a multitude of sets and scoring tables that make the game a nightmare to play Her rules are Clear, Concise, Unambiguous and simple to use I use her book to teach all newcomers the game and everyone agrees that her rules are the best I show them the scoring from the other books and their examples and explain to them that there are many other variations regarding the scoring and everyone opts for the simple version without any complications

I would heartly recomend this book to everyone if they want to get into playing the game within inside a hour of opening the book There is plain simple concise instuctions that dont confuse you with umpteen different names for the same Mah Jong scoreing hand

If there is one book you should get to learn and play Mah Jong - It should be this one - You wont regret it