ive been thinking about how to teach mahjong to new players in the spirit of the netrunner teaching decks (omit some of the mechanics so they can actually start playing sooner, even if it screws with the metagame a little)
Comments
Log in with your Bluesky account to leave a comment
i think the easiest sell is to not teach kan until after east 1, or possibly even east 4 depending how they're feeling. that solves the classic "you need to explain that orphans is the only yaku that can rob a closed kan before you can even start" problem among other things
then i remembered seeing that post about scoring without fu, although i have to wonder why not at least preserve the way hands double in value for each han (1000 2000 4000 mangan instead of 2000 4000 6000 mangan). yakuhai nomi being worth 2k feels like itd really mess things up
but, if you're skipping over fu for teaching purposes, can you really justify including pinfu in the teaching game too? it can't be easy to internalize for a first game (especially the valueless pair part) and while it does nerf damaten, that shouldn't be a concern outside of Our Blessed Jade Room
Beginners are definitely going to be less concerned about calculating accurate scores and more concerned with getting the basics down.
If you are playing online that's taken care of for them, if you are playing in person you can use simplified scoring or do the scoring yourself (or with an app)
well you have to teach furiten otherwise no one will know how to defend! im assuming *some* baseline competence at hidden information strategy games otherwise i probably wouldn't bother teaching in the first place
Comments
That's what's worked for me. Once people understand that mahjong is about making a specific pattern, then you can teach about the different yaku.
If you are playing online that's taken care of for them, if you are playing in person you can use simplified scoring or do the scoring yourself (or with an app)
Apart from Riichi, all of them can be done with an open hand. And many other yaku are extensions of these anyway which will make them easier to learn.
Definitely teach furiten though because it will trip them up if they practice in an app later and wonder why they can't win.
https://riichi.wiki/Tibet_rules