Sunday, 5 April 2009

NAME OF THE GAME

Read on Tom Sloper's website just now regarding new variants of Mahjong in Mumbai, which is close to the Western style of playing but with some notable additions, which makes the variant unique enough to qualify as a new variant on its own. Perhaps. Shan't go into details here. Interested parties can check out Tom Slopers' mahjong website.

I am no purist and I recognise that even within the country of origin and the traditional "strongholds" of mahjong, many variants exist. However, there is a core set of rules/principles which more or less remain unchanged among these variants.

I confess however, that i am rather disturbed by the various mahjong variants that keep popping up in various places, and that bears almost no resemblance to the original game, except the use of a similar tile set and the retention of the name of the game. Of course, in my poor uninformed mind, this refers to mainly the American/Western style of play and its various spin-offs. I'm sure the game that was invented (yes, invented) by the Americans have its own merits, but I wonder why they couldn't invent a separate name for it, so that newbies are not misled into thinking one game has anything much to do with the other.

Call me an elitist, a snob or a bigot, but this is what I think.

No comments: