If you’ve never experienced the hum and buzz of excitement around a game of American Mahjong, then you are missing out on one of the hottest gaming trends in American history. Thanks in no small part to its rich history and continuing influence, Mahjong is a great way to bring family and friends together for a challenging and exciting game of strategy. Once you learn how to play Mahjong, other games just won’t even compare.
Players first need to acquaint themselves with the rules of the game before they take on the harness and medics in a game of American Mahjong. Players must remember that this is a game that is played with a single deck of 52 cards and not a standard deck of 52. This difference is particularly important to understand, as many novice players believe that the general intent of Mahjong is to “draw cards” or “burn” cards, whereby the more cards you discard, the better your chances of winning. However, this is simply not true.
All cards are simply drawn from the top of the deck and placed face up on the table, the top card removed from the deck to prevent cheating. A set of four cards is then dealt to each player and all players are given four cards, face down. (In some variants, the fifth card is also dealt face up.)
After these four cards are dealt, the player to the immediate left of the “dealer” first shows his hand. In a game of American Mahjong, the player directly to the left of the “Dewacasino” is required to hold a better hand than any player at the table. This is because the “dealer” will top out the best hand regardless of the number of players at the table.
After the hand is dealt, each player at the table, including the player who was initially the first to act, may discard from the hand and/or form a new hand. The game ends when one player forms a hand with all of the cards on the table, including the cards that were removed during the draw phase.
The general purpose of Mahjong is to form a hand of five cards that best combine in some way the various combinations of the hand, the deck, and the dealer. However, the actual strategy of the game is much more complex and sophisticated than this.
The Mahjong hand is not unlike the standard poker hand. Both are best five-card hands composed of cards of various suits. However, because Mahjong is slightly different in many significant ways, you will need to study the rules of the game to determine your strategy. The strategic choices will have to include the number and rank of cards you hold, the cards you discard, and the cards you are willing to discard in the face-off.
While American Mahjong is quite a simple game to learn and play, special rules apply to specific situations. You will need to learn how to effectively combine your hand and the cards you are dealt with to create a great hand. American Mahjong is also known to have some rather complicated rules, which are not much different than the standard rules of Poker. You can also find some variants of the game of Mahjong, such as Lucky Number Bingo and Chinese Mahjong, which may be more complex than the standard game.
Although you won’t have to be an avid gamer to enjoy a game of American Mahjong, you should know the game well and have a pretty good idea of how it is played. The game is not for everyone, but for those who are excellent at the game, it can be a very end rewarding hobby. You can also find online American Mahjong casinos to join in the exciting and challenging game.