While there I tried to pick up the local-style of mahjong and with the
help of an english-speaking guide I think I almost got it.
It doesn't corespong very well with the Szechuan Style listed on sloperama
but here's the main features:
- No honor or flower tiles. Suits only (but all three of them).
- Must have one voided suit to go out.
- Kongs apparently score very well.
- Play continues after the first player goes out. And doesn't stop untill
three players are mahjong or the wall runs out.
- There is a penalty for having all three suit in your hand when the game
ends.
- Payment is settled between all players according to the value of their
hand. (There seem to be few patterns..mostly just full flush and as many
kongs as possible seem to score a lot).
- Our guide mentioned a local rule from his village to the south which I
found very interesting. On his turn a player is allowed to expose his
hand if he is waiting, doing so means he can only win on selfdraw but
the other players are not allowed to throw any of the tiles he is
waiting for which could mean they will end up paying a penalty for
having all three suits in their hand when the game ends.
-Cheers Morten (not Tim) Andersen
Great info, thanks Morten. Wish I could've had the time to study the local
game while I was there.
In adding this info to FAQ 2b I discovered that I had had two opposing
descriptions of Sichuan style. Dragon Chang described it differently to me.
Jo Vandeweghe and Benjamin Boas had described this 108-style play,
attributing it to not only Sichuan but also Tibet and Hunan (I guess I'd
already had Hunan style listed originally).
I've updated the FAQ accordingly.
Cheers,
Tom