MERRILY WE MOVE ALONG....

Things are moving along on the mahjong front.

The People's Association has contacted EP regarding their interest in propagating mahjong as an intellectual game for enhancing mental well being, especially in senior citizens. As part of this push, EP has been asked to offer mahjong classes, mainly at community centres (CCs) and residents' committee centres (RCCs). EP has done some drafting and is in the midst of discussion with some interested parties. We were also at an official PA event held yesterday to promote the game and his workshop(s) to the various CCs and RCCs under the umbrella of the "Mental Well-being" theme.

The interest shown was rather overwhelming, but that is only to be expected. Mahjong is after all already commonly played among the Chinese community in Singapore, only that it has been relegated to somewhat of an "underground" status due to the association with gambling and vice. It is therefore only natural that we see many enthusiasts crawling out of the woodwork now that official approval has been given. Singaporeans are nothing if not obedient.

We hardly needed to do much promoting of the game itself. It was a case of preaching to the converted in most cases. Some of the CCs and RCCs already had their own interest groups and had already or were in the midst of planning their own mahjong tournaments. Some wanted to tailor the workshops towards a non-Chinese audience - that we really welcome.

Of course, there were the expected negativity - that we are really encouraging gambling while promoting the game. We made the same noises we always have, about how gambling and addiction is really a personal responsibility, and nothing to do with the game per se etc etc, but it was rather hard to convinced people who had such mind sets. No matter what, we were, in their eyes, introducing a tool whereby more harm could be done, and that was unacceptable. Ultimately, we do not intend to get into any sort of moral arguments on this matter, for there is really no end to it and will also get us nowhere. We support the game purely as an intellectual pursuit and that is how we will be making any offering(s).

I just wondered if the naysayers were also players of the game already.

My own interests lie in the spreading the MCR variant. EP intends to introduce both the Singapore and MCR variant in his workshops. My feel is that it will be difficult to convince the players who are already deeply rooted in the Singapore variant to pick up the alternative. It is human nature to continue to remain in our comfort zone. Perhaps, I myself should lead by example, and try my hand at Riichi, and hope for not too many chombos.

I had the opportunity to sit down to a quick game of Singapore mahjong during the PA event. It has been months and months since I last played the variant, and man, was I stressed out. When playing with expert players, Singapore mahjong is fast. It takes quite a bit of getting used to, after the slower and deeper play during MCR sessions. And the haphazard discard of tiles takes major getting used to, especially when one is rather short sighted. The pure excitement in the game comes from the speed of play.

Once we take away the speed of play though, I personally feel that Singapore mahjong has nothing on the MCR variant. It never hit me more clearly than during yesterday's game, when I had to "dumb-down" my play in order to make more frequent wins. The trick to the Singapore variant is to win, fast and frequently. The best defense is offense. This is especially the case as most recreational play involves a one-double minimum, and anything goes. An animal, the correctly numbered flower, pung of a dragon, boom, that's one double. Build pure straights? Set shifting? Concealed hands? Forget about it. Just hu.

I don't think it gets any more interesting if we just raise the minimum and maximum-double limits. It gets harder, sure, but not more interesting. With only a number of limited fans to make, there are only so many approaches. Give me MCR any day. 81 scoring fans gives one more room for creativity.

It is perhaps worth mentioning that the Singapore Contract Bridge Association was also at the event promoting contract bridge. EP and I used to play contract bridge in our university days, and I have to admit I kind of miss it. I personally feel it is not as easy to get really involved in contract bridge, because of the logistics involved in partnership formation and maintenance. Serious contract bridge play works better with a fixed partner, to develop bidding strategies and mutual communication synergy. With the typical hectic schedules of working adults, getting a fixed partner with the correct chemistry makes for a bit of a difficulty. I have also seen many friendships disintegrating after partnership strains. That is something I absolutely want to avoid. EP and I may try picking up the game recreationally again though, depending on our respective schedules, but I have a feeling that he may be too busy with all the developments on the mahjong front though.

Anyway, there is plenty going on, so we will wait and see what the next few months bring. I have not forgotten that there will be a tournament in Netherlands in 2010. Wishing....and hoping....and thinking....and praying....