USPML Update: Teaching Mahjong
Teaching mahjong can be a little difficult. I know I have had a tough time in the past trying to teach others how to play. But I’ve been working on improving my teaching methods and as a result have developed an effective graduated lesson plan that makes it fun and easy for a complete beginner to learn to play mahjong.
One of the major goals of the USPML is to introduce Riichi Mahjong to Americans and get people interested in the game. Part of that, naturally, is teaching people how to play.
Teaching mahjong can be a little difficult. I know I have had a tough time in the past trying to teach others how to play. But I’ve been working on improving my teaching methods and as a result have developed an effective graduated lesson plan that makes it fun and easy for a complete beginner to learn to play mahjong.
This graduated plan divides the rules into a series of levels, and each level introduces more rules and game concepts. At each level, students learn the new rules for that level, and then play a hand using only the rules they have learned so far. Thus, students get to reinforce and practice what they’ve learned, and have fun doing it. Each level contains a manageable amount of information to learn at one time, and each level’s practice hand is playable and fun.
I have tried out this method using a table of four players (three students and myself), and it has worked well. It does a lot to help ease the process of learning. Students don’t feel overwhelmed, they don’t “glaze over” and get bored while I’m explaining important things, and they feel overall like the game is fun and approachable. This method does take some time, but because it’s interactive and the students get to play while they learn, the time seems to pass quickly.
In addition to using my graduated plan, I follow three more guidelines in order to reduce potential problems:
First, I use a numbered set to teach beginners. It’s easy to forget this, but when you have never seen mahjong tiles before, it can be tough to read them. Especially the tiles with characters on them, but even the pin and sou suits, simply because they are unfamiliar. When I first learned, I had to use a reference sheet. Every time I had man tiles (or winds) in my hand, I’d have to use the sheet to figure out which ones I had. Every time I drew a man tile, back to the sheet again. Heck, every time someone discarded a man tile, I’d have to say “Wait up everyone, I have to look at my sheet”. It’s possible to play like this, but it’s slow as snails and it doesn’t feel that good either. Even for pin tiles, at first I had to divert at least a little conscious attention to count up the number of circles on the tile, just to be sure… until I eventually got used to recognizing them. Figuring out what’s in your hand shouldn’t feel like the “hard part”. I use a numbered set, let students focus on learning the game. Later, when they are excited about how fun it is to play, they can graduate to an un-numbered Japanese set. By that time, they’ll have seen the tiles quite a few times and have built up some familiarity with them.
Second, I preset the table (shuffle, build walls, break walls, deal 13 tiles each) before I have my students sit down to learn to play. (I use a second set of tiles, or a photo of the tiles, to show what a set of tiles looks like as a whole.) Setup has a number of rituals and procedures. If this is the very first thing I teach, my students try extra hard to pay attention and memorize the complicated-sounding rituals. In reality, the setup procedure can be picked up easily just by practicing it a few times, which happens naturally using the graduated plan. I preset the table so that the first thing the students learn – the thing they’ll pay the most attention to – is how to play the game.
Third, I don’t say that a dora tile is worth a han. In the past when I have taught, beginners have been confused about whether having a dora counts as the minimum 1 han needed to win. It doesn’t. So now I don’t say that dora is worth a han. Instead I say that dora are bonus tiles that, when used in a winning hand, will roughly double the score. So you have to win to get the bonus, and you have to have both a complete hand and a minimum hand value of 1 han in order to win. It no longer causes confusion.
I will be more fully testing and vetting this teaching method at a private USPML Learn-to-Play workshop to be held on Tuesday March 23. I’ll use feedback and experience gained from this event to refine and polish the teaching method and lesson plan. So more information will be coming soon. Please visit our website at www.uspml.com to keep in touch and stay informed.
