Green Tile Back Japanese Mahjong Set Now Available on TripleClicks!

 

The popular green-tile-back Japanese mahjong set is once again available over on http://tripleclicks.com/bargains.

At the moment only one is available. I only get hold of one set at a time so I offer them on a one-off basis on Tripleclicks rather than on my website, http://japanese-mahjong.com.

The tiles in this set are a bit heavier than the Standard Japanese Mahjong Set available on my site, but apart from that, and the colour of the tile backs, the specs are similar.

Anyway, now that the winter backlog of orders has been cleared I hope to be able to keep a small stock of green-backed sets available. I'm also hoping to add some new sets to my range later this month...

One more thing... I'm currently reading Jenn Barr's book, Reach Mahjong and will be reviewing it on my site shortly. Suffice it to say here that it is an entertaining read and a good introduction to Japanese Mahjong.

David Hurley
Japanese-Mahjong.com

More Japanese Mahjong Sets on TripleClicks

I have been adding more mahjong special offers and one-off mahjong sets to the Tripleclicks garage sale site.

Today I have 5 different mahjong sets featured on the site, which either (a) are not featured on my main site at Japanese-Mahjong.com or (b) are available on my website but I am running a special offer on Tripleclicks.

Note, I am only offering one of each type of mahjong set at a time on Tripleclicks. So far the most popular item is the $35 Classic Japanese Mahjong Set.



This set is a real bargain because the Classic Japanese Mahjong Set costs $45 on my site, and the tiles are indistinguishable from the Sango set that goes for $55.

I am also offering a similar quality Japanese Mahjong set with GREEN TILE BACKS for $45.

I have a spare set of new "Classic" Japanese mahjong tiles that I posted on TripleClicks for just $25. Note, they are literally just "Japanese mahjong tiles", wrapped in their original wrapper, with no case, trays, game accessories etc.

Then there are the novelty sets...

1. Sushi Mahjong!

This is a great party version of mahjong and not to be taken too seriously... It is available on Tripleclicks for just $55.

2. Saki 1.5 Mahjong Set

This is a real collector's item for fans of the Saki manga series and of Japanese mahjong. This set came out in 2008 and cost about $100 at the time (i.e. around 10,000 Japanese yen) but has been featured on Amazon.co.jp and Yahoo.co.jp for prices of $500 and $1,000... So I don't think the set I am offering will be around for too long as it is going for just $175, despite being in excellent condition and complete.



I have already received several enquiries about this set and the later Saki 2.0 so if I can find some more sets and good prices I will certainly post them on Tripleclicks...

The best thing to do is to check this link from time to time and type "mahjong" into the search field:

http://www.tripleclicks.com/bargains

David Hurley
Japanese-Games-Shop.com

New Combination: Japanese Mahjong Set AND Junk Mat!

I just added another new product to the listings on Japanese-Mahjong.com...

Introducing, the Japanese Standard MJ set AND JUNK Mat combination!



Now you can get standard Japanese mahjong tiles, score sticks, wind marker and dice together with one of the popular "JUNK mats".

The bag that holds the JUNK mat has pockets in the sides where you store the mahjong tiles and score sticks etc.

It makes for a very convenient set, which can be carried easily.

For more details go to: http://japanese-mahjong.com/mahjong-tiles-and-mat.html.

David Hurley
Japanese-Mahjong.com

New Matsuoka Mahjong Wind Marker

The classic Matsuoka Wind marker for Japanese Mahjong has changed!

Out with the orange-black-white and in with the white-red-black!

The new design makes it very easy to see at a glance the presiding wind.

The katakana script on the tile reads "Matsuoka", "Century NEXT".

The Matsuoka Mahjong Wind marker is available at http://japanese-mahjong.com

How to Read a Mahjong Tile Before it is Your Turn to Take it From the Wall!

This is an article I recently posted to Articlesbase.com about the practice of "thumb-reading" tiles in Japanese mahjong.

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Modern Japanese mahjong tiles are made of a synthetic nylon material with the symbols for the suit numbers, winds and dragons stamped onto the face of the tiles. The face of every tile in a set can be distinguished not only by the design that you see, but also by the design that you can FEEL when you rub your thumb across the face of the tile!

And that is just what many of the more experienced Japanese mahjong players like to do in the course of a game - use feel the concealed face of the tile next to be taken from the wall with their thumbs! Yes, not a few seasoned hands have become competent at tile-reading by rubbing the indentations on tile-face with their thumbs.

It takes hours of practice to get to the point where you can accurately distinguish each of the 34 different tile faces of a standard Japanese mahjong set with your thumb, and there seems to be little advantage in being able to do so. It is a diverting party trick and it also adds some kudos to a player's game if the player can pluck a tile from the wall, announce what it is and discard it without so much as glancing at it. Mahjong is most exciting when played swiftly, so being able to read a tile without looking at it may be said to help the cause of speedy play, but apart from that there does not seem to be much practical profit in taking the trouble to learn the skill.

However, there is one case where a "thumb-reader" could glean some useful information about an opponent's tile. Experienced mahjong players enjoy playing a fast-paced game so if one player hesitates before discarding a tile, the player to his right is likely to have reached for "his" tile on the end of the wall before the first player has discarded. An experienced tile-reader places his thumb under the tile on the wall that he is about to take so that he can "read" it while waiting for his turn.

But then, when a discarded tile is claimed by another player as an open "Pon" the sequence of play is broken and the player who was waiting to take a tile - and who has now "read" it with his thumb - is passed over so the tile will most likely end up in another player's hand. In that case the "thumb reader" will know what the tile is and will perhaps pay attention to where it is placed in the other player's hand.

Some people might object that such a practice is a form of cheating, but others counter that it is just part parcel of the Japanese approach to the game.

Of course that is not to say that the player who took the tile from the wall cannot resort to some deceptive tactics of his own by adding the tile to a random place in his hand while appearing to concentrate on placing it carefully into position so as to mislead the "thumb-reader" as to the construction of the hand.

Whatever your attitude towards players reading tiles with their thumbs may be, that it can be done at all shows you how sensitive the human thumb - or "oya-yubi" in Japanese - can be.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/how-to-read-a-mahjong-tile-before-it-is-your-turn-to-take-it-from-the-wall-367683.html

About the Author:

This is the place where I try to persuade you, my fellow Japanese mahjong fanatic, that you ought to hot foot it over to my website, Japanese-Games-Shop.com and blow a large chunk of your hard earned wages (or ill gotten gains) on a seriously expensive, exclusive, utterly exotic, Japanese mahjong set. I recommend the Nintendo Yakuman New Ivory Japanese Mahjong Set, possibly the most expensive Japanese mahjong set this side of the Milky Way.