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Is it Skill or Luck?
Over the past nine years, I have played American Mah Jongg with probably a thousand different people. I've played in homes, senior centers, libraries, restaurants, at the beach, in local tournaments of 120 players and national tournaments of 500, in private high-stakes monthly tournaments, in monthly year-long tournaments, and in a fund-raising night at an art gallery. I’ve played online at a variety of game sites with both live players and with bots. I’ve played Siamese Mah Jongg with my wife and run several Siamese mini tournaments. I also play regularly in several Royale Siamese groups. (Royale is Siamese Mah Jongg with four people and two sets of tiles.)
As a result, there are a few things I can safely conclude:
First, you can't escape the effect of luck in American Mah Jongg: good or bad, luck will happen, no matter what. Ask anyone sitting with no jokers on their rack, or who has been one away for an entire game and still loses, if they think luck has anything to do with it. Ask anyone who loses game after game for no apparent reason if they think luck has anything to do with it, or when the opposite happens, and they win one game after another after another. Luck is inescapable.
Second, luck is a major reason that the game is so popular. In the same way that people who buy lottery tickets believe that they can get lucky, Mah Jongg players also believe that luck may come their way. Whether they’ve only played a few times or for a few decades, they can always get lucky. Otherwise, why bother?
Third, there is a natural evolution of the game of American Mah Jongg. First, there was the National Mah Jongg League’s codification of the International Mah Jongg game for American players, then there were Mah Jongg tournaments across the country, then there were the websites where you can play the game by yourself or with friends, and most recently there are Siamese and Royale Mah Jongg.
However, one question still nags me:
Is it possible that the rules of the game favor luck over skill?
So, in December, 2022, I decided to seriously investigate the issue of luck vs. skill. I invited a small group of expert players, teachers, tournament directors, and online game designers to join in a conversation about the possibility of shifting the balance from luck to skill. Through many, many, hours-long and sometimes meandering Zoom meetings, we learned to talk to and listen to one another-- skills that paid off as we gave thought to which rules we might amend or add. As often happens in these situations, new ideas sprang up, so that eventually a new version of the game emerged. MAHJ-X's integrated set of rules works in concert to allow players to become more strategic and lessen the influence of luck.
MAHJ-X
You are invited to learn more about the game and the MAHJ-X team by
joining the MAHJ-X Facebook Group HERE
Or
visiting the MAHJ-X website HERE
Or
Following MAHJ-X on Instagram HERE
Or
Registering for the free online Zoom panel discussion HERE
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