Newbie introduction
Moderator: Shirluban
Newbie introduction
This thread is intended as an area for new members to introduce themselves.
Click "Post Reply" and say hi!
Consider telling us about you, where you're from, what your interests are... And of course, feel free to nose around the rest of the forums
It can be as precise or as vague as you want. And it's not compulsory to introduce yourself here to enjoy this forum!
You may also consider filling your profile info in the control panel, if you like to.
If you're not sure what info might be interesting to share, here are some examples (the BB code is ready for copy-pasting directly into your post):
[b]Location:[/b]
[b]Occupation:[/b]
[b]Interests:[/b]
[b]Affiliations (club, mahjong-related online forum, league, ...):[/b]
[b]Username on popular online MJ games:[/b]
[b]Play MJ since (year):[/b]
[b]Rules used:[/b]
[b]Championships:[/b]
[b]Languages (spoken / written):[/b]
[b]Real name:[/b]
[b]Quest:[/b]
[b]Favorite colour:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Alignment:[/b]
[b]Cup size:[/b]
...
NB: Even if you see an introduction thread in every sub-forum, it's actually all the same thread. So don't puzzle yourself to find which one is the good, they all link to here.
Click "Post Reply" and say hi!
Consider telling us about you, where you're from, what your interests are... And of course, feel free to nose around the rest of the forums
It can be as precise or as vague as you want. And it's not compulsory to introduce yourself here to enjoy this forum!
You may also consider filling your profile info in the control panel, if you like to.
If you're not sure what info might be interesting to share, here are some examples (the BB code is ready for copy-pasting directly into your post):
[b]Location:[/b]
[b]Occupation:[/b]
[b]Interests:[/b]
[b]Affiliations (club, mahjong-related online forum, league, ...):[/b]
[b]Username on popular online MJ games:[/b]
[b]Play MJ since (year):[/b]
[b]Rules used:[/b]
[b]Championships:[/b]
[b]Languages (spoken / written):[/b]
[b]Real name:[/b]
[b]Quest:[/b]
[b]Favorite colour:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Alignment:[/b]
[b]Cup size:[/b]
...
NB: Even if you see an introduction thread in every sub-forum, it's actually all the same thread. So don't puzzle yourself to find which one is the good, they all link to here.
Last edited by Shirluban on Sat Sep 29, 2012 10:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Looks like "affiliations" is confusing.
Reason: Looks like "affiliations" is confusing.
Cats don't do タンヤオ (tan-yao) but タニャーオ (ta-nya-o).
World Riichi Championship Rules 2022
Comparison of riichi rules around the world
World Riichi Championship Rules 2022
Comparison of riichi rules around the world
Re: Newbie introduction
So, I think I'll start.
Location: France
Occupation: Computer programming
Interests: Mahjong, programming, pen&papen RPG, video games, billiard, chainmaille, furry, anime, ...
Affiliations: WRC (rules director), EMA, FFMJ
Rules used: Mostly RCR (EMA Riichi)
Championships:
Chinese Official:
2006-06-11 - Auxerre (non-EMA)
2006-12-16 - Paris (non-EMA)
2008-04-25 - Paris - French championship
EMA Riichi:
2008-06-21 - Hanover - European championship
2009-10-03 - Copenhague - Danish Championship
2010-07-10 - Hanover - European championship
2011-10-01 - Copenhague
2013-09-18 - Bad Vöslau - European championship
EMA Riichi - referee:
2011-03-19 - Paris - French championship (MERS 2)
2011-12-17 - Paris (MERS 1)
2012-03-10 - Puteaux (MERS 1)
2012-03-16 - Baden - Austrian championship (MERS 2)
2016-10-07 - Farnham - European championship (MERS 5, head referee)
WRC - referee:
2013/2014 - Author of the World Riichi Championship Rules
2014-07-16 - Puteaux - World Riichi Championship (head referee)
2017-10-04 - Las Vegas - World Riichi Championship (head referee)
Languages (spoken / written): French, English, very very few Japanese, C/C++, C#, COBOL
Real name: MALBEC Sylvain
Favorite colour: red
Gender: Male
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Location: France
Occupation: Computer programming
Interests: Mahjong, programming, pen&papen RPG, video games, billiard, chainmaille, furry, anime, ...
Affiliations: WRC (rules director), EMA, FFMJ
Rules used: Mostly RCR (EMA Riichi)
Championships:
Chinese Official:
2006-06-11 - Auxerre (non-EMA)
2006-12-16 - Paris (non-EMA)
2008-04-25 - Paris - French championship
EMA Riichi:
2008-06-21 - Hanover - European championship
2009-10-03 - Copenhague - Danish Championship
2010-07-10 - Hanover - European championship
2011-10-01 - Copenhague
2013-09-18 - Bad Vöslau - European championship
EMA Riichi - referee:
2011-03-19 - Paris - French championship (MERS 2)
2011-12-17 - Paris (MERS 1)
2012-03-10 - Puteaux (MERS 1)
2012-03-16 - Baden - Austrian championship (MERS 2)
2016-10-07 - Farnham - European championship (MERS 5, head referee)
WRC - referee:
2013/2014 - Author of the World Riichi Championship Rules
2014-07-16 - Puteaux - World Riichi Championship (head referee)
2017-10-04 - Las Vegas - World Riichi Championship (head referee)
Languages (spoken / written): French, English, very very few Japanese, C/C++, C#, COBOL
Real name: MALBEC Sylvain
Favorite colour: red
Gender: Male
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Cats don't do タンヤオ (tan-yao) but タニャーオ (ta-nya-o).
World Riichi Championship Rules 2022
Comparison of riichi rules around the world
World Riichi Championship Rules 2022
Comparison of riichi rules around the world
- wavemotion
- Expert Reacher
- Posts: 217
- Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:57 am
- Location: Plainville, MA
Re: Newbie introduction
I'm still the newbie around here so I'll give it a go!
I'm currently 43 - living between Boston and Providence, MA here in the northeast USA. I love all things Japanese - I study the use and practice of the Soroban in my spare time and enjoy a large number of Japanese imported video games. I first discovered Mahjong in 2005 or 2006 when I imported a video game for my Sega Saturn called Idol Janshi Suchie-Pai Special II. I'm into imported Japanese video games and decided to take a chance on this - the box art looked cool and it was super cheap at the time. When I got it, I played it once and put it away - I assumed it was going to be one of those tile-matching games. It wasn't until I came back to it later using a translation guide I found on the net and started to get a feel for the game.
Fast forward to this year - I'm now playing quite a bit more video Mahjong games and decided to build my own Mahjong Controller for the games contained in MAME.
I've also begun to play quite a bit more face-to-face with friends. I still make lots of little mistakes in my play but I'm having fun so that's really all that counts. I'm not into the gambling aspect of the game - for me it's the competition and the social interaction of being at the table with friends. In late January 2013 I'll be going to our big local Unity Games convention where I'll be teaching Riichi Mahjong.
My wife only recently discovered the game and is playing daily on the iPad (Janryumon SINGLE offline mode). She has hinted that she wants to get an online account to play - her username name would be JennB which should at least make others think she's good
Here I am in my natural habitat:
And I'm Lawful Good:
I hope lurkers will find this thread and it might serve as inspiration to get an account and start posting!
PS: You can often find me on Tenhou with my username DaveB. I'm currently 3級 (3 Kyu).
I'm currently 43 - living between Boston and Providence, MA here in the northeast USA. I love all things Japanese - I study the use and practice of the Soroban in my spare time and enjoy a large number of Japanese imported video games. I first discovered Mahjong in 2005 or 2006 when I imported a video game for my Sega Saturn called Idol Janshi Suchie-Pai Special II. I'm into imported Japanese video games and decided to take a chance on this - the box art looked cool and it was super cheap at the time. When I got it, I played it once and put it away - I assumed it was going to be one of those tile-matching games. It wasn't until I came back to it later using a translation guide I found on the net and started to get a feel for the game.
Fast forward to this year - I'm now playing quite a bit more video Mahjong games and decided to build my own Mahjong Controller for the games contained in MAME.
I've also begun to play quite a bit more face-to-face with friends. I still make lots of little mistakes in my play but I'm having fun so that's really all that counts. I'm not into the gambling aspect of the game - for me it's the competition and the social interaction of being at the table with friends. In late January 2013 I'll be going to our big local Unity Games convention where I'll be teaching Riichi Mahjong.
My wife only recently discovered the game and is playing daily on the iPad (Janryumon SINGLE offline mode). She has hinted that she wants to get an online account to play - her username name would be JennB which should at least make others think she's good
Here I am in my natural habitat:
And I'm Lawful Good:
I hope lurkers will find this thread and it might serve as inspiration to get an account and start posting!
PS: You can often find me on Tenhou with my username DaveB. I'm currently 3級 (3 Kyu).
Last edited by wavemotion on Mon Oct 29, 2012 12:18 pm, edited 3 times in total.
-
- Fresh Reacher
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2012 5:56 pm
Re: Newbie introduction
Since I plan to ask questions, I figure I should introduce myself first.
Location: Atlanta, GA
Occupation: Software trainer, database builder
Interests: Mahjong, video games (PC, PS3, PSP, iOS), sci-fi, Star Trek, Dragon*Con, books, watching TV, anime, photography, cooking, soon to add "manga"
Affiliations: Not sure, so "none".
Username on popular online MJ games: None yet.
Play MJ since (year): 2008
Rules used: Hong Kong Old Style, European Mahjong Association for Riichi, National Mah Jongg League (American), Marvelous Mah Jongg (American)
Championships: None.
Languages (spoken / written): English, Spanish, want to learn Chinese and Japanese
Real name: Ray
Favorite color: Blue
Gender: Male
Alignment: Neutral Good
Location: Atlanta, GA
Occupation: Software trainer, database builder
Interests: Mahjong, video games (PC, PS3, PSP, iOS), sci-fi, Star Trek, Dragon*Con, books, watching TV, anime, photography, cooking, soon to add "manga"
Affiliations: Not sure, so "none".
Username on popular online MJ games: None yet.
Play MJ since (year): 2008
Rules used: Hong Kong Old Style, European Mahjong Association for Riichi, National Mah Jongg League (American), Marvelous Mah Jongg (American)
Championships: None.
Languages (spoken / written): English, Spanish, want to learn Chinese and Japanese
Real name: Ray
Favorite color: Blue
Gender: Male
Alignment: Neutral Good
Last edited by hwmikemiranda on Fri Sep 14, 2012 8:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I'm a Mahjong enthusiast. Can I be called a Mahjong otaku?
- Ignatius
- Silver Boarder
- Posts: 649
- Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 7:54 pm
- Location: (From Spain) In Ireland (EU) since 2016, so lazy I didn´t update this until 2019... (私は初心者だし、よろしく)
Re: Newbie introduction
Hello I posted here a few times and I like this place. Looks like this is a good moment to introduce myself, so I decided to do it out of boredom. I can describe myself as a relaxed person, and easy to read.
Location: Spain
Occupation: University student, will end this year.
Interests: Anime, manga, videogames, asian history specifically Warring States in Japan and Three Kingdoms period in China. And world history. I like to read too.
Username on popular online MJ games: Ignatius on Tenhou.
Play MJ since (year): 2010 I think.
Rules used: Riichi mahjong mainly.
Championships: No interest in them.
Languages (spoken / written): Spanish being my mother tongue, a little of english and a little of japanese too.
Real name: Ignacio Roussel, and I´m 27 years old.
Gender: Male
As I´m not specially smart, so I´m not a good player with board games and its tactics. But I can´t help it, I love the japanese mahjong. It´s hard to improve, but I like to play it.
Location: Spain
Occupation: University student, will end this year.
Interests: Anime, manga, videogames, asian history specifically Warring States in Japan and Three Kingdoms period in China. And world history. I like to read too.
Username on popular online MJ games: Ignatius on Tenhou.
Play MJ since (year): 2010 I think.
Rules used: Riichi mahjong mainly.
Championships: No interest in them.
Languages (spoken / written): Spanish being my mother tongue, a little of english and a little of japanese too.
Real name: Ignacio Roussel, and I´m 27 years old.
Gender: Male
As I´m not specially smart, so I´m not a good player with board games and its tactics. But I can´t help it, I love the japanese mahjong. It´s hard to improve, but I like to play it.
Last edited by Ignatius on Sun Oct 14, 2012 2:51 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Life is as beautiful as you want it to be, but it´s only one. That´s why you must not get tired of it. Don´t care if you don´t say something that seems "important" because your mere existence is important for someone.
- wavemotion
- Expert Reacher
- Posts: 217
- Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:57 am
- Location: Plainville, MA
Re: Newbie introduction
Big welcome to the new folks! Despite it's name, this thread is more than just for Newbies. This is our awesome community (and I'd rather it have been titled 'Community Introduction' thread) so even if you're a veteran of the forums, you're welcome to put up an introduction.
Re: Newbie introduction
Meh. Might as well fill this out for profile purposes here.
Location: 42° 10' N (Latitude) 87° 33' W (Longitude)
Occupation: Medical office
Interests: Anime, Mahjong, Running/Fitness, Ultimate Frisbee, Starcraft, Civilization series, Pro sports (NFL, World Cup, Olympics)
Mahjong Affiliations: Chicago Anime Mahjong Players
https://www.facebook.com/groups/chimahjong/
Username on popular online MJ games: KyuuAA (tenhou.net)
http://tenhou.net/0/?L7447
Play MJ since (year): Nov 2009
Rules used: Riichi standard
Championships: None
Languages (spoken / written): Studied German (4 years, high school)
Quest: Spread Japanese Mahjong across America
Favorite color: This one
Gender: Hidden
Alignment: Random
Cup size: Venti
Mental state: Random between Neutral and Crazy
Location: 42° 10' N (Latitude) 87° 33' W (Longitude)
Occupation: Medical office
Interests: Anime, Mahjong, Running/Fitness, Ultimate Frisbee, Starcraft, Civilization series, Pro sports (NFL, World Cup, Olympics)
Mahjong Affiliations: Chicago Anime Mahjong Players
https://www.facebook.com/groups/chimahjong/
Username on popular online MJ games: KyuuAA (tenhou.net)
http://tenhou.net/0/?L7447
Play MJ since (year): Nov 2009
Rules used: Riichi standard
Championships: None
Languages (spoken / written): Studied German (4 years, high school)
Quest: Spread Japanese Mahjong across America
Favorite color: This one
Gender: Hidden
Alignment: Random
Cup size: Venti
Mental state: Random between Neutral and Crazy
Re: Newbie introduction
Hey guys, the name's Sonny and I'm a 16 year old student in California, US. I've been interested in Mahjong, since 2010 when I found the animes: Akagi, Saki, and Shoubushi Densetsu Tetsuya. Some of my other hobbies include: browsing the internet, working out, playing sports(basketball, tennis,etc.) and learning. Yeah, as of now, I'm not really an interesting person. It's hard for me to multitask interests, when I'm interested in something, I like to focus purely on that and then move onto the next when I'm done.
Username on popular online MJ games: I go by Sonetta on Jan Ryu Mon
Play MJ since (year): 2010
Rules used:Japanese rules
Languages (spoken / written):English and Vietnamese
Real name: Son
Gender: Male
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Username on popular online MJ games: I go by Sonetta on Jan Ryu Mon
Play MJ since (year): 2010
Rules used:Japanese rules
Languages (spoken / written):English and Vietnamese
Real name: Son
Gender: Male
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
- alien_mame
- Fresh Reacher
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:28 am
- Location: West Yorks, UK
- Contact:
Re: Newbie introduction
Hi y'all,
My name is Ralph and I was taught HK Mahjong by my Cantonese friends at boarding school in Northern Ireland in the 80's. Many years passed and one day in 1997 I discovered a PC game "Nine Dragons Mahjong" which I played for years, ad nauseum. In 2000 I discovered MAME and tried to play some of the arcade games using my knowledge of HK Mahjong. This was a resounding failure and it was to be a few years before Kiyo21 set up the mahjonginmame website. With this, the scales fell from my eyes and I enjoyed playing Mahjong once more. I have since tutored quite a few people in Video Mahjong but I still can't explain Furiten for the life of me. I know what it is, just can't explain it very well!
Fast forward to today and I now own quite a bit of original Japanese Arcade Mahjong hardware and I'm particularly proud of my full collection of the Psikyo/X-Nauts "Hot Gimmick" series of arcade games. I also have a soft spot for the Jaleco "Suchie Pai" series and here I am"enjoying" Suchie Pai III on one of my arcade cabinets a few years ago.
Aren't I just awesome?
I also host http://mahjonginmame.com but I can't take any of the credit for the content.
Anyway, nice forums you have here and you can blame wavemotion for my joining up!
Cheers,
Ralph.
Location: West Yorks, UK
Occupation: Warehouse FLM
Interests: Video Mahjong, Japanese Arcade,TV & Film (Sci-Fi)
Affiliations: er?
Username on popular online MJ games: em?
Play MJ since (year): 1982
Rules used: HK, Reach
Championships: No
Real name: Ralph
Quest: One more game of Mahjong in the company of real people before I die!!!
Favorite colour: Blue
Gender: Male
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Cup size:AA (sad, but true )
My name is Ralph and I was taught HK Mahjong by my Cantonese friends at boarding school in Northern Ireland in the 80's. Many years passed and one day in 1997 I discovered a PC game "Nine Dragons Mahjong" which I played for years, ad nauseum. In 2000 I discovered MAME and tried to play some of the arcade games using my knowledge of HK Mahjong. This was a resounding failure and it was to be a few years before Kiyo21 set up the mahjonginmame website. With this, the scales fell from my eyes and I enjoyed playing Mahjong once more. I have since tutored quite a few people in Video Mahjong but I still can't explain Furiten for the life of me. I know what it is, just can't explain it very well!
Fast forward to today and I now own quite a bit of original Japanese Arcade Mahjong hardware and I'm particularly proud of my full collection of the Psikyo/X-Nauts "Hot Gimmick" series of arcade games. I also have a soft spot for the Jaleco "Suchie Pai" series and here I am"enjoying" Suchie Pai III on one of my arcade cabinets a few years ago.
Aren't I just awesome?
I also host http://mahjonginmame.com but I can't take any of the credit for the content.
Anyway, nice forums you have here and you can blame wavemotion for my joining up!
Cheers,
Ralph.
Location: West Yorks, UK
Occupation: Warehouse FLM
Interests: Video Mahjong, Japanese Arcade,TV & Film (Sci-Fi)
Affiliations: er?
Username on popular online MJ games: em?
Play MJ since (year): 1982
Rules used: HK, Reach
Championships: No
Real name: Ralph
Quest: One more game of Mahjong in the company of real people before I die!!!
Favorite colour: Blue
Gender: Male
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Cup size:AA (sad, but true )
Last edited by alien_mame on Thu Sep 20, 2012 10:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.
- wavemotion
- Expert Reacher
- Posts: 217
- Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:57 am
- Location: Plainville, MA
Re: Newbie introduction
Welcome aboard, Ralph! Great to see you here. Your actual Japanese Mahjong control panels were the inspiration for my home-built Mahjong controller.
And thanks for keeping a great resource such as MahjongInMame alive. It's a shame when good information goes unhosted!
And thanks for keeping a great resource such as MahjongInMame alive. It's a shame when good information goes unhosted!
From what little I know about you, I'd pencil you in as Chaotic Good.Alignment: Got me again!
-
- Fresh Reacher
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2012 7:09 pm
Re: Newbie introduction
There's a group in Leeds. You should ask them when they'll be playing next.alien_mame wrote:Location: West Yorks, UK
Quest: One more game of Mahjong in the company of real people before I die!!!
- alien_mame
- Fresh Reacher
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:28 am
- Location: West Yorks, UK
- Contact:
Re: Newbie introduction
Fantastic! Glad my modest collection was of some influence d00dwavemotion wrote:Welcome aboard, Ralph! Great to see you here. Your actual Japanese Mahjong control panels were the inspiration for my home-built Mahjong controller.
Thanks for the props. For years the site was plagued by pop-ups and porn links so when it dissappeared I put it back together from the waybackmachine then a few days later Kiyo21 uploaded the whole lot to the new host. I'm happy to pay for the domain and hosting so that it's ad free. I've added your new "cheat sheets", "score summaries" and [BET] infos to the site now too. Thanks for your input. Maybe this fine site can resolve the thorn in my side that has been the Japanese for "3 sam Chi" after all these years.wavemotion wrote: And thanks for keeping a great resource such as MahjongInMame alive. It's a shame when good information goes unhosted!
Sounds perfect for a Bohemian who is actually a "closet conformist" Updated!wavemotion wrote:From what little I know about you, I'd pencil you in as Chaotic Good.Alignment: Got me again!
Thanks muchly for the heads up d00d - how do I contact them? Feel free to go to PM if you need toigirisujin wrote:
There's a group in Leeds. You should ask them when they'll be playing next.
Cheers,
Ralph.
- Barticle
- Platinum Boarder
- Posts: 1562
- Joined: Thu Apr 30, 2009 12:08 pm
- Location: Ipswich, UK (and usually 一向聴地獄)
- Contact:
Re: Newbie introduction
I'm Bart and I live in Ipswich which is roughly 80 miles north-east of London. I currently work for the police (in a support role) so I guess I'm Lawful Good! My Chinese birthsign is Wood Tiger (grrrr).
I've been playing video-games for most of my life and I first encountered mahjong in spring 2009 through the minigame in Sega's Yakuza 2 (PS2) which is a rare example of Japanese mahjong with an English interface. I was fascinated and frustrated in equal measure by this complex and intriguing game and by the incomplete instructions provided! I struggled to piece together the complete rules through an assortment of online English resources and then felt compelled to share. I'd been using the guides and forums of the GameFAQs community for many years and decided to give something back, writing a Yakuza 2 guide explaining the rules of Japanese mahjong. Soon after I imported Kenzan (PS3) - a fun spin-off from the Yakuza series set in samurai times which is available only in Japanese. Using a GameFAQs guide in conjunction with educated guesswork, I made it through the game and then reworked my first guide into a version for Kenzan and wrote a new one explaining the hanafuda (Japanese flower cards) minigame.
The next step was to import a "proper" mahjong game so I bought Mahjong Taikai IV (PS3) and started writing a guide for that too. I only knew a few basic greetings in Japanese (and when playing through Kenzan I couldn't even read "yes" and "no" in hiragana) so it was about this time that I started teaching myself, not so much to read written Japanese, but at least to be able to translate it quite slowly! (My high school French and German classes were a long time ago so I can't claim to have any other useful language skills.) With my combined interests in mahjong, guide-writing and Japanese, I went on to import a number of other games for the PS3 and later for the Nintendo DS and obviously I wrote guides for all them too - you can access all my mahjong game guides here (along with guides for a few other random games, most notably Battlefield 3 and Sleeping Dogs).
Having acquired a reasonable knowledge of the rules (and after struggling to find a definitive English resource previously) in the summer of 2010 I decided to make a complete general PDF guide to the equipment, rules and terminology of modern Japanese mahjong. Unrestrained by the standard plain-text format of GameFAQs, I was able to make this more user-friendly by adding hyperlinks and diagrams throughout - you can download the current version of my guide here.
I often joke that I enjoy reading and writing about mahjong more than I do playing it but to a greater extent that is true. I only played online for a few months (on Janline-R (PS3) where my ID is Barticle), I've never played in real life and show no real interest in developing advanced strategy. I tend to play now only when I'm in the process of translating a game and writing a guide for it. I don't think I've played any form of mahjong for about six months so I guess it would be fairer to categorize it as an "interest" rather than an "activity" now!
My favourite yaku is probably Honitsu (half flush) - I always go for that more often than I should - but arguably the most beautiful hand is Tsuuiisou (all honours), preferably stacked with Chii Toitsu (seven pairs). My favourite mahjong video-games are Mahjong Fight Club (PS3/DS), Akko de Pon (DS) and Mukoubuchi (DS) and I live in the eternal hope that one day Sega will bless us with a home version of MJ5 (or perhaps MJ6 by then) for the PS4.
I'm a passionate collector of most forms of electronic music and for many years I've contributed to a large online music database called Discogs (my profile is here). I also record occasional DJ mixes and you can listen to some online here (those are all reasonably accessible, the chilled Balearic ones especially so). I also enjoy cycling (unless it's hilly, windy or cold!) and reading (mainly science fiction). The best book I've read this year is Ready Player One by Ernie Cline (which just happens to include a small but perfectly formed joke about D&D alignment).
I've been playing video-games for most of my life and I first encountered mahjong in spring 2009 through the minigame in Sega's Yakuza 2 (PS2) which is a rare example of Japanese mahjong with an English interface. I was fascinated and frustrated in equal measure by this complex and intriguing game and by the incomplete instructions provided! I struggled to piece together the complete rules through an assortment of online English resources and then felt compelled to share. I'd been using the guides and forums of the GameFAQs community for many years and decided to give something back, writing a Yakuza 2 guide explaining the rules of Japanese mahjong. Soon after I imported Kenzan (PS3) - a fun spin-off from the Yakuza series set in samurai times which is available only in Japanese. Using a GameFAQs guide in conjunction with educated guesswork, I made it through the game and then reworked my first guide into a version for Kenzan and wrote a new one explaining the hanafuda (Japanese flower cards) minigame.
The next step was to import a "proper" mahjong game so I bought Mahjong Taikai IV (PS3) and started writing a guide for that too. I only knew a few basic greetings in Japanese (and when playing through Kenzan I couldn't even read "yes" and "no" in hiragana) so it was about this time that I started teaching myself, not so much to read written Japanese, but at least to be able to translate it quite slowly! (My high school French and German classes were a long time ago so I can't claim to have any other useful language skills.) With my combined interests in mahjong, guide-writing and Japanese, I went on to import a number of other games for the PS3 and later for the Nintendo DS and obviously I wrote guides for all them too - you can access all my mahjong game guides here (along with guides for a few other random games, most notably Battlefield 3 and Sleeping Dogs).
Having acquired a reasonable knowledge of the rules (and after struggling to find a definitive English resource previously) in the summer of 2010 I decided to make a complete general PDF guide to the equipment, rules and terminology of modern Japanese mahjong. Unrestrained by the standard plain-text format of GameFAQs, I was able to make this more user-friendly by adding hyperlinks and diagrams throughout - you can download the current version of my guide here.
I often joke that I enjoy reading and writing about mahjong more than I do playing it but to a greater extent that is true. I only played online for a few months (on Janline-R (PS3) where my ID is Barticle), I've never played in real life and show no real interest in developing advanced strategy. I tend to play now only when I'm in the process of translating a game and writing a guide for it. I don't think I've played any form of mahjong for about six months so I guess it would be fairer to categorize it as an "interest" rather than an "activity" now!
My favourite yaku is probably Honitsu (half flush) - I always go for that more often than I should - but arguably the most beautiful hand is Tsuuiisou (all honours), preferably stacked with Chii Toitsu (seven pairs). My favourite mahjong video-games are Mahjong Fight Club (PS3/DS), Akko de Pon (DS) and Mukoubuchi (DS) and I live in the eternal hope that one day Sega will bless us with a home version of MJ5 (or perhaps MJ6 by then) for the PS4.
I'm a passionate collector of most forms of electronic music and for many years I've contributed to a large online music database called Discogs (my profile is here). I also record occasional DJ mixes and you can listen to some online here (those are all reasonably accessible, the chilled Balearic ones especially so). I also enjoy cycling (unless it's hilly, windy or cold!) and reading (mainly science fiction). The best book I've read this year is Ready Player One by Ernie Cline (which just happens to include a small but perfectly formed joke about D&D alignment).
- wavemotion
- Expert Reacher
- Posts: 217
- Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:57 am
- Location: Plainville, MA
Re: Newbie introduction
Great writeup, Bart!
Ready Player One is a fantastic read for anyone who lived through the 80s. Highly recommended. I've gifted it to several of my geeky friends and they have all loved it.
From what I know about you, I'd peg you as Lawful Neutral for sure.
Ready Player One is a fantastic read for anyone who lived through the 80s. Highly recommended. I've gifted it to several of my geeky friends and they have all loved it.
From what I know about you, I'd peg you as Lawful Neutral for sure.
Re: Newbie introduction
Ah well, I guess I'll introduce myself.
I'm only 15 as of now, but since I'm on this site you can tell that I really love mahjong. I've been playing for a few years now but I hadn't really got into it until about last year. Now, I can't stop playing it and it's quite common for me to see tile in front of me when I close my eyes too. Yeah... I'm weird like.
Location: USA
Occupation: Full time student
Interests: Mahjong, anime, japan in general, games
Affiliations: what?
Rules Played: Mainly RCR
Languages: English, Mandarin, Japanese (currently studying)
Gender: Male
Real Name: Brian
I'm on Janryumon, alias on their is Erilea same as on here. I want to play on tenhou, but alas I can't figure out how to use it ><.
I guess that's it, I've never been very good with intros so yeah.
I'm only 15 as of now, but since I'm on this site you can tell that I really love mahjong. I've been playing for a few years now but I hadn't really got into it until about last year. Now, I can't stop playing it and it's quite common for me to see tile in front of me when I close my eyes too. Yeah... I'm weird like.
Location: USA
Occupation: Full time student
Interests: Mahjong, anime, japan in general, games
Affiliations: what?
Rules Played: Mainly RCR
Languages: English, Mandarin, Japanese (currently studying)
Gender: Male
Real Name: Brian
I'm on Janryumon, alias on their is Erilea same as on here. I want to play on tenhou, but alas I can't figure out how to use it ><.
I guess that's it, I've never been very good with intros so yeah.