As I know mahjong, I worked in the jungle of MAME mahjong games : all these games have sometimes different rules and almost always different presentation, aims to reach or scoring system.

That's why , so that players' task become a little easier, I classified these games and tried to determinate a logical scoring system which can also be homogen for all of them . And I think I find it ...

THE RULES : I won't talk about them : there are so complicated that even in my native french language it's a pain to explain them ; so I let you search in some books or sites talking about this game.

A GAME : 3 results are possible *you make a mahjong and it gives you points *your opponent make a mahjong and it substracts you points *nobody make mahjong (a sort of tie) and most of the time there is a kind of random "stone/cissors/paper" which gives you +1500 , -1500 or 0

A WIN (when you defeat your opponent) : I classified games in 3 distinct categories 1°) TYPE A : you can read 2 scores : yours (usually you start with 1500) and your opponent's score (various : 10000 , 20000 ... it depends on the game). As when you earn points they are substracted to your opponent, the aim is to bring your opponent under 0 (you can do that with 1 brilliant mahjong which gives lot of points or with several games). EXAMPLES : galkoku, mjcamera, mjlstory, mjnanpas, msjiken, ntopstar, otonano, peepshow ...

2°) TYPE A' : You can read only 1 score : yours The aim is to keep your score positive and to make 3 mahjongs (sometimes 2) to defeat your opponent

3°) TYPE B : Bet games ... only 1 mahjong to win , it gives you credits , you can bet with them like casino games or goldstar (for those who hasn't play this game, it's asterisqued on marp because he disappeared since several versions) SCORING SYSTEM : * GAMES OF TYPES A & A' (A like "additive system") : 1 win = 100000 + final pts when you win ; score = total wins + highest pts reached when you lost

* GAMES OF TYPE B (B like "bet system") : I'm still studying it, and will post that soon

It was really headache to make simple with such complicated games , and I hope this contribution will help (thanks to Lagavulin for his help)

PHIL

ps : of course I'm volunteer to confirm scores on mahjong games ; but it will be kind from all players to notice their additional scores like I do ; and beware : a lot of mahjong games need to be recorded with SOUND OFF

-- phil (plamat@club-internet.fr), December 29, 2000

Answers

It was my understanding that if nobody had a mahjong at the end of a round, it wasn't random chance that decided if anybody had to pay. If you're one tile away from finishing, that's called a different kind of hand (tenpai comes to mind for some reason) than if you're not about to make a mahjong. If both are one away or if neither is one away, then nobody pays. If one is and one isn't, the person that's farther away either puts more money in the pot or pays the closer person directly (I believe I've seen both in different mahjong games).

Just so you know. :)

Cheers, Brian

-- Brian McLean (bmclean84@hotmail.com), December 30, 2000.

Mahjong game is not scoring one but simply beat girls and to see visual.
scoreing is completely nonsence. -----from original majong country. How many people know the rule of those game who live foreign country? ?

-- Rank-52(Japanese) (weavuspert@yahoo.co.jp), December 30, 2000.

No, Rank52, Mahjong games scoring is NOT nonsense. In original Mahjong, as you should know, there IS a scoring system, and the aim of this game is certainly not nudity of girl ...

-- Lagavulin (darre@noos.fr), January 01, 2001.

These Mahjong games ( and there are bloody loads of them ), are they in the same league as 'Poker Ladies 'and the like ? i.e a bit of sense/understanding to play the games , but basically down to pure luck in the end ,depending on what the CPU / Computer gives you ? And a glimpse of some female flesh as your incentive? ( nothing wrong with that of course , I`ll be the first to admit that )

Of course I could be wrong here. Probably am , I`m on my 21st ( yes 21st) can of Fosters. My point is ( well sort of ), is there a serious element of skill involved ? If so , cool. I`m just too lazy or drunk to try to find out myself. My Japanese isn`t up to scratch anyhow. If it`s a luck- factor ,well then no LB points should be awarded , as per other games with suffered the same fate. Still play + upload , but no LB points.

Now the thing is, I could be completely wrong here.Probably am , and will accept all flames. Maybe they are games of pure skill and ability, but if they are ' Casino -type games '.......well " nil points " ( no offence to any Norwegian 'Eurovision Song Contest' entries....WHAT ??? don`t worry , it`s a European thing....the joke that is )

But hey , I`ve never seen any of these games in an arcade , or a pub/bar/saloon..whatever. Just as well really , cos they look a bit complicated , judging by Phils post above about the scoring mechanisms. I can`t believe I`ve answered a post about a game(s) which I haven`t played for more than 5 seconds. But when your as drunk as I am now , at 1200 GMT , with feck-all to do , sure why not ?

So, are these games skillfull and worthy of LB points , or am I talking thru my a**e ( thats "arse" , for non-english speakers )

I`m off to check one of them now. Chances are I`ll be asleep after 5 seconds....or quite possibly playing for a few hours ! Yes , still got a few beers left.

Apologies for waffling , and getting eventually (?) to my point, but hey it`s Christmas..,nope it`s the New Year , actually the start of the 3rd Millenium. "Alex, Alex.....please stop now."

Definitely a rather 'David Oliver / JD Lowe -type post this. Mostly meaningless ( LOL ! ), but....what was it again??? oh yeah , my query about those Mahjong games.

If any of you have had the patience to read this , i commend you.It`s taken me about an hour to type this. Typing when very,very drunk ,is not easy ( ask Zwaxy ), but I`m a grammer-freak and hate mis-spelling words. "It`s a Guiness thing..." as Mr.Lowe would say , and keep at it,and at it..( mis-spelling 'Guinness '..that is )

Hope I haven`t offended anyone with my drunken waffle , or belittled the original post set by Phil. But just asking a question about the Mahjong games , thats all.

Oh...btw...Zwaxy isn`t a wino. I never said that. But he comes across as a cool geezer ( ye can gimme that tenner later Chris ).Like me ,he likes...ahem...err a 'few pints ' . Think I better go now before I go into 'Ben-Jos-post-mode ' which I`m nearly at now , word-wise. I`ll regret this in the morning , I know,.....Actually tits , it is morning. But hey , Pubs are open so it`s off for a 'curer'...not that I need one ,it`ll give me something to do and put an end to this post.

Cheers everyone !

AL ( waiting for flames for a) time/msg board wasting, b) err..babbling on about whatever it was I was talking about , and more importantly c) mega-flames from the Mahjong players. Why the f*** did I even bother with this post ? it`s taken me an hour so far.

p.s Phil , didn`t mean to distract from your post , honestly. But your French , so you might understand :)( my drunken state ) No offence , but I hear you French are fond of a bottle or four :)

p.p.s hope to God , one of those Mahjong games isn`t the next KOA game. Now that would be strange.....Chris Parsley , you wouldn`t , would you ?

p.p.p.s QRS ( or anyone ), if you decide to visit here....you know what to expect :)

outta here......." thank God " ,I hear you say...

-- AL (alexweir@indigo.ie), January 02, 2001.

Pure class, AL. Excellent meandering post. I congratulate you on the quantity of your drinking, if not the quality. Wasn't it you who told me that Holsten Export was 'muck', and now you admit to drinking Fosters? Tut tut!

I know nothing about Mahjong - I tried reading a book on it once, but didn't get past the 'deciding who sits where and building the wall' stage. The game itself is a game of skill, I believe, but I don't know how much it loses in the translation to the arcade. Imagine adcade chess - it wouldn't be quite so strategic as the 'real thing', and the queens would probably have laser guns or something.

Your post made me laugh out loud. I envy you (if not your hangover) - I'm back in work after a long break and would much rather be in the pub or in bed asleep. Yawn. Was up all night playing flying shark and drinking Guinnnesss. The one affects the quality of the other, unfortunately.

I'll stop wasting everyone's time now. Enjoy the rest of the sesh! :o)

Chris.

-- Chris Moore (chris.moore@mail.com), January 02, 2001.

Alex,

For Mahjong video games, you don't really need "skills" like speed or precision, but you need strategy and you need to think to what you play. Of course, you have to be lucky too. But not in a way that would lead us to throw out these games from the leaderboard. Nothing to see with games such as goldstar or sucasino, or what else ...

-- Lagavulin (darre@noos.fr), January 02, 2001.