New terminology and rules guide available

[Barticle]

Hi gang. I mentioned a while back that I'd been writing a new mahjong guide. Well, I'm very pleased to be able to let you all know that this is now available online.

http://www.uspml.com/index.html#learn

http://uspml.com/documents/japanese_mahjong_guide_v103.pdf

I devoted a lot of time to this project over the summer with a view to producing a comprehensive guide to the terminology and rules of modern Japanese mahjong. I'm hoping a lot of people will find it useful and informative.

guide-preview.jpg (87.43 KiB) Viewed 15161 times

I'd welcome any and all feedback, comments, corrections and suggestions. I've already spotted one typo (doh!) so there will be another version at some point and I'll give credit to anyone who contributes.

Thanks,

Bart

[Gamegrunt]

Looks good, Bart! I'll be sure to print it out and have four copies for my next session.

You rock!

Gg

[Barticle]

Thanks Gg.

I knew from the start that I wanted it to be an electronic document - the hyperlinked references between terms are an important part of it - but being formatting into pages as a PDF it does lend itself to printing. Would be interested to know how you get on with it in paper form.

[Referee]

Whoa, that's exhaustive and good. Great job, barticle! One thing I can tell you (because I was corrected from that very mistake the other day in my Japanese clases) is that the correct term for "four people" is "yonin", not "yon nin". [A reeeeeealy minor thing, hehe]

[Barticle]

Great job, barticle!

Thanks Ref!

One thing I can tell you (because I was corrected from that very mistake the other day in my Japanese clases)

Oh really? That was timely!

is that the correct term for "four people" is "yonin", not "yon nin". [A reeeeeealy minor thing, hehe]

I remember googling that one and finding both examples...! I guess it depends on whether you read 四人 as two separate characters or as a single word. I've not had the benefit of lessons, I just try to figure out each new thing as I come to it!

Like I said, all contributions and corrections are welcomed (no matter how large or small) - so thanks. Hopefully there shouldn't be any major ones! heh.

[Barticle]

Hmm, I should've just consulted my favourite online dictionary!

http://tangorin.com/general/四人

Also their first example sentence happens to be "Mahjong is a game four people play".

[chalwa]

Just looked throu, and looks really great! Great job! I will read into it soon, and report I found any mistakes.

[Barticle]

Hey chalwa, thanks for taking time out of your trip to download my guide.

Would appreciate any feedback you'd like to give, at your convenience.

[Barticle]

A year later, I finally got around to doing my planned update on my PDF guide.

I've fixed a couple of silly little errors, replaced my scoring-stick diagram with an image of the same art (which now doesn't get mangled in PDF conversion) and I've updated/added about fifty entries across the document. Seems to have grown a few pages in length too.

The new version (1.02) is available now for download as detailed above. Please delete/burn all old versions.

[bontakun]

A year later, I finally got around to doing my planned update on my PDF guide.

I've fixed a couple of silly little errors, replaced my scoring-stick diagram with an image of the same art (which now doesn't get mangled in PDF conversion) and I've updated/added about fifty entries across the document. Seems to have grown a few pages in length too.

The new version (1.02) is available now for download as detailed above. Please delete/burn all old versions.

I just wanted to say that your guide is great. I'm (slowly) making my way through it. It sure is a lot of information, but it's presented extremely well.

[Barticle]

Thanks, it's always good to hear from satisfied customers!

[Kyuu]

I oughta reference your book into Wikipedia.

[bontakun]

Thanks, it's always good to hear from satisfied customers!

Nice of you to give it away for free. I probably would have made a Kindle or iBook or some other sort of ebook version and sold it
But then you are probably way nicer than me

[Barticle]

Heh! I've been using the internet for (wow) almost twenty years now. It's provided me with a vast amount of info on a wide range of topics and I've met a lot of friends through forums and, before that, newsgroups. The virtual realm of the net is far from perfect and it's changed a lot over the years but I still hold the idealistic view that it should be a (virtual) place where people can share information and ideas (for free) and help each other out (ditto) so I try to do this as much as possible. I firmly believe in the concept of "giving something back" and this is quite deeply rooted in my psyche.

That said, my mahjong PDF guide has been downloaded over 1400 times. If each person had paid just a couple of dollars each... And what if I'd received 20 cents for each of the 200k hits my GameFAQs guides have received... Hmm, perhaps I should rethink my unprofitable utopian ideals!

[Barticle]

I'm very happy to announce that the new edition (1.03) of my PDF mahjong guide is now available!

http://www.uspml.com/downloads/entry/ba ... panese.htm (free download)

If you'd downloaded the previous version I'd strongly recommend replacing it with this one. This was a major update, with over seventy entries added or updated. I've fixed the temporary furiten rule and added the quirky open pinfu rule (both previously discussed on the forums). The biggest changes were in the sections on equipment, making ready, defence, kuikae and of course the exotic optional yaku/yakuman and optional rules. Additionally I've moved or reworded some entries, adjusted the line and paragraph spacing throughout and added two Chinese fonts.

I'd like to reiterate my thanks to Steve who was the driving force for several improvements. Also thanks again to the USPML for hosting.

Bart