How to play a Goulash ?
Jan Elders
I am a Mahjong player for many years, but until today I was not aware of the
rule to play a "Goulash" in case no Mahjong has been achieved.
The document in which I found this, describes the usage of the Jokers (or the 2
of Bamboo) and an exchange mechanism.
The usage of the Jokers is clear to me, but I fail to understand the exchange
mechanism.
The documentation says :
" Having looked at his hand, each player picks three tiles which he would like
to exchange and places them face down in front of him. Tiles are exchanged three
times - firstly with the player opposite, then once with the players on either
side. East sets the pattern, exchanging tiles first with West, then with South
and finally with North. After all exchanges are completed, play continues
normally with East's discard."
This is too cryptic for me !
Does East exchange all three of his selected tiles with West's three selected
tiles, and does East subsequently exchange the three received tiles with South
and after that the ones he received from South with the ones from North ?
This does not make sense to me.
Can anyone explain the Goulash exchange mechanism ?
Thanks in advance.
XXXXX Jan Elders
XX
XXXX E-mail : j...@iaehv.nl
XX
XXXXX Nuenen, the Netherlands
June R Berridge
Jan Elders <j...@iaehv.nl> asked about rules to play a "Goulash" in case no
Mahjong has been achieved.
>
Max Robertson rules for a Goulash -
The player who was East wind remains East wind for the Goulash, but
irrespective of who wins, East wind moves on for the next game.
Before play starts, each player puts a fixed amount in the kitty [we put in
200 using the following values for the bones 2000, 1000, 500, 100]
The 2 of Bamboo is a 'wild card' tile - that is it can represent any tile
No chows are allowed except for Concealed Mah Jong and Imperial Jade hands
All winds exchange 3 tiles with each other
The exchange goes as follows -
East exchanges 3 of their tiles with 3 selected by West
whilst South exchanges 3 of their tiles with 3 selected by North
The 3 tiles received can be incorporated into the recipient's hand, all
passed on, or some kept and some passed on
East then selects another 3 tiles [which can be the 3 received from West, a
different 3 altogether or a combination of some of those received from West
and some from his/her hand]
East then exchanges these 3 tiles with North
whilst West exchanges 3 with South
Steps 2 and 3 above are repeated
East then makes the final exchange with South
whilst North exchanges 3 with West
If there are only 3 players, the exchange with the 'missing player' is made
by the 'live' player with whom the exchange would have taken place choosing
3 tiles anywhere from the wall and replacing those tiles with the 3 they
have chosen for the exchange
NB - Don't forget about the 2 of Bamboo being the 'wild card' tile and
accidentally pass it on. Also that no chows are allowed in a Goulash except
in Imperial Jade and Concealed Mah Jong hands.
Happy playing
Regards
June Berridge
Merlin Null
What variant of MJ is this? We play a variant based on HK and don't
do anything like what you describe. We play until we reach the tail.
(7 or 8 tiles). If the last discard results in no MJ we pay off as
the same as the 3 players who did not MJ in the normal ending, but
all 4 players pay off differences. I have also seen postings here
describing this as a no payoff ending of the hand and they redeal
without changing the wind. We do pass on the dice and change the wind.
The method you describe sounds like it has been crossbred with the
card game "Hearts."
Merlin R.(Bob) Null
June R Berridge
In response to my posting about how to play a Goulash Merlin Null asked
what variant of MJ mine was. We play to the Max Robertson rules as I wrote
at the beginning of my posting. I have printed out Merlin's variant and
will show it to my tutor when the group meets next Monday. We are a group
based near Lincoln, UK and would be interested to hear from others or other
groups who would like to meet up to play.
Regards
June Berridge
Jan Elders
In article <01bc8fdc$a6675c20$354798c2@default>,June,
Thanks for the information. It was really helpful to me.
