The Game of Mah Jong Illustrated (Paperback)

by Patricia A. Thompson (Author), Betty Maloney (Illustrator) "A full set comprises 108 suit tiles, 16 wind tiles, 12 dragon tiles, four flower tiles, and four season tiles, a total of 144, not..." (more)
Key Phrases: Mah Jong, East Wind, West Wind (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
For complete beginners, this guide to playing Mah Jong introduces each phase of play with a clear explanation and step-by-step illustrations. Scoring is set out simply, with illustrations of scoring for specific hands. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684868431
• ISBN-13: 978-0684868431
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #99,373 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

196 of 199 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for beginners and has a variety of rules., April 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Game of Mah Jong (Illustrated) (Paperback)

After learning Mah Jong playing computer versions and on-line, I wanted to play with freinds. Most Mah Jong sets you buy do not come with a good instruction manual. This book will let you learn how to set the tiles, play the hand and keep score. It tells you how to keep the game to a simple level or make it very complex. It explains the various styles of play and shows special hands. The novice will enjoy the how-to and the illustrations. The intermediate player will like the explaination of different styles and scoring. The professional will most likely find the book light and not very useful. If you are starting out playing Mah Jong, this book is a great way to learn the game quickly. I would probably add more background on the special hands and strategy. Otherwise, I really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Mah Jong Must Have, February 26, 2005

By	Lady McTeach "Regent of Reading" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This is my favorite book to use when teaching mah jong to friends. I use it as my primary resource for the version of mah jong that I learned. The writing is straight forward and easy for the novice to understand. It has suggestions for simplifying the game to teach to children. The pictures of the vaious hands are a great help. Thompson & Maloney's other two books are also wonderful to have. Beware, mah jong can be become an "addiction", or as I prefer, passion!

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very appealing for a 4 player mahjong instruction book., November 18, 2005

By	J. Rowe (Australia) - See all my reviews

Beginners of the REAL mahjong will find this appealing because everything is explained carefully with plenty of pictures. The first section introduces the mahjong tiles, set up, and basic gameplay. The next section talks about the basic Chinese rules, and then a method to teach real mahjong to children.
But many Westerners will find this book particularly good because it talks about the Vanilla Western style (I think) in the second half with just about every possible special winning hand + an example of each and its score value.
At the back of the book is also a scoring chart for easy reference.
I would recommend this book to people who have never played actual mahjong in their life, or those who want to learn the Western rules.