"Klick-Klack, Klackidy-Klick." Is the sound you will hear coming from homes as you walk down the street during chinese new year. This is the sound of playing mahjong.
What is mahjong? well it's not that game you've played on your phone or computer that uses mahjong tiles. What mahjong really is, is a game in the same vein as gin/rummy/gin rummy/500. It's a game where you have to put your tiles into groups of three that are either the same, or progressive in number in the same "suit" (close enough).
The main difference is obviously that it's played with large tiles that are like dominoes, rather than playing cards. The other big difference is in the scoring. When somebody gets "gin" (close enough) the round ends and all types of strange scoring commences. The actual game itself is quite easy, but i still have no idea how the scoring works, so i don't play it too often since i don't want to be cheated because....
Mahjong must be played for money. Even with family, friends, young kids, you must play for money. Taiwanese feel that it's not fun if you don't play for money, which always makes me think that the game must not be fun in itself if you can't just enjoy it without the money. Sometimes I'd like to play but without the money, but it's hard to find people (it's a 4 person game) who are willing to play just for the love of the game.
Because of the gambling aspect, mahjong is banned in many public places, as well as in some hotels. This is not just because of gambling but also because of the noise it makes. After each round you have to "shuffle" (close enough) the tiles but since they are big and thick you can only do this by just mixing them up in circles on top of the table. This action is called "washing the table" as that's what it looks like you are doing, and it's also quite loud. So it's banned in places where they want to keep the noise level down.
The picture is of my small sized set which fits in to a nice little binder. Not all the tiles are in this picture, and when everything is out on the table it takes up a lot of space.
