Playdate: Mahjong Mornings IV

It was not the Ron.

Haha, since I did a bit of an info dump last week, my plan this time around was to do a Q&A of their unanswered questions, but I guess a side effect of having knowledgeable guests is that there were no unanswered questions.

That being said, a lot of my last comment is still pertinent, particularly the list of versatile yaku/one-page yaku chart (the one in Mahjong Soul isn’t super easy to navigate), and the part on the dead wall/ura dora (since Brin got a bit confused there—it’s not super important though since it’s just for bonus points).

I don’t want to comment too much on strategy since a lot of the fun when you’re starting out is intuiting basic strategy on your own, but I will say that Jan is calling too eagerly—it’s generally a bad idea to call in the hopes that your hand will “figure itself out” unless you have a specific yaku in mind that you’re going for. The primary exception being if it’s the end of the game and you’re calling just to get into a no-yaku tenpai for pity points.

Also, the least consequential correction imaginable, but honba, the bonus points after a dealer keep/draw, count for whoever wins, not just the dealer.

This is a harem Mahjong now

MORE SAMANTHA KALMAN!?!?! BLESSED CONTENT

Phil

Saints Ron

Is furiten still in effect if someone takes the tile? Is that why they're positioned to indicate who they were taken from?

@eccentrix: Yeah

@brinty: Cool, thanks!

Real talk, this series has become my appointment viewing of the week and look forward to it every week.

I think you might have hallucinated Wario being Mario's cousin. He's only refereed to as a childhood rival in the manual to Mario Land 2. It is actually something i believed myself until recently, so you're not alone.

*Jan hovering over the East tile*
Don't you click that tile Jan. Don't you fucking do it.
*Jan clicks*

I loved this stream. Makes me really miss poker night with the friend.

Thanks Phil

Jan, i wonder if you dislike shiny bonuspoints tiles for some reason. You seem to get rid of them way sooner than necessary. ^^

I am surprisingly into this feature considering I know nothing about Mahjong, and both Brin and Samantha were amazing guests. Looking forward to it each week now!

(I'd love an episode where Brin/Sam/etc. coaches Jan live though and explains the hand a bit, that'd be fab)

@aera: I don't know how well it would go since I've never tried it, but I think it would be worth trying at least once playing with open hands and having someone walking them through just to get a feel for the thought process. The caveat of course being that mahjong with open hands is a very different game, but still.

This website is very good.

It took me two weeks to realize Ben's username joke

Stakes are raised!!!!!!

Comeback Benny!!!

Thanks to this feature I will never finish Yakuza 7. I just play Mahjong at the beginner table for hours and get really salty.

This is quickly becoming my favorite GB show.

Thanks to Brin and Samantha and Ben and Phil

There have been four different Lupin III jacket colors: Green, Red, Pink, and Blue, in that order.

These are really fun. Having Brin and Samantha on made it x10 better!

dude you really have to stop calling pon and chi like this ...

ou should only pon and chi if you have a yaku or it if you get a yaku from it.

Now that I understand the basic rules, Jan's play is both amusing and frustrating. :)

Giant Jong

More Brin and Samantha please, this was a great episode :)

@mikachops:Brin can't come back, she won so she was banned.

Okay, but seriously... who is Brin?!?

@brinty: I’m willing to look the other way :P

@alanmckinnon: She's from the UK

Vini, Vidi, Riichi

I feel like these games would be a lot more educational for both the viewers AND THE STREAMERS if Jan just talked about his strategy out loud. It kind of feels like they're treating Mahjong not as a strategy game, but as a mindless coop game (like a Borderlands).

I don't want to come off as like I'm telling people what to do, but personally, I really like watching people learn and improve. It's part of why I liked Ranking of Fighters so much, it's really fun watching the arms race of who can find the degenerate bullshit first, and how fast can their opponent adapt. The strategy comes out both in their gameplay and the commentary.

I have also now started playing Mahjong Soul to learn this game. I have to say, this series sold me on it. I even came second in a public match once. It's a really interesting and deep game.

If the beginner table in Yakuza 7 is the same as in Yakuza 0, i think you will have more fun with the intermediate table. Because the beginner table opponents (in 0 at least) always go for the cheapest hands, and if 3 players do that, one of them will most likely win the hand before you can. I had stress at beginners, tried the other tables and ranked. Those were much more fun.

I like the guests. I just wish they did co-op against bots or matchmaking so they could talk about Mahjong strategy a little more. Watching Jan play mahjong poorly as they mostly talk about unrelated stuff isn't what I personally wanted from this feature.

I mean, my only headstart on the series is 3-4 hours of Yakuza mahjong, and Jan's playing is still killing me. He doesn't seem to understand the absolute basic rules about what lets you win a single round.

Got me to download Mahjong Soul for IOS to give it a go. I've always found Mahjong intemidating but this feature demystifies it somewhat. I appreciate them having on some more experienced Mahjong players. Especially since they aren't like grand master mahjong players or anything just amateur enthusiasts so it doesn't feel like I'm getting beat over the head with high level play tips when they help Jan and Ben.

This was such a fun episode! Felt like gaming with friends when Jan discarded a piece that Ben immediately Pon'd into a Yaku was a great moment! As was the ensuing emote battle, it had me cracking up. Looking forward to learning this game and finally doing the stuff in Yakuza or winning a bunch of MGP at the Golden Saucer in Final Fantasy XIV

Having only watched these videos and then gone on to play the game by myself, I feel like this is true; from this series I thought the whole point was forming a yaku and I only grasped how to actually complete a hand when playing by myself. Unless I just missed it myself, I think they skipped over this most basic step.

What a great video. Hats off to Brin and Samantha for crushing it. Now I want to play Mahjong...

You're really riiching with some of these mahjong puns

Jan discarding his North Wind pair from a pretty good hand really set the tone.

This is coming back right? Like no rush at all I know y'all are on break just wanna make sure this wasn't an unofficial last episode or something