The Game

For me, Chinese New Year is about mah jong - the Chinese tile game played as a form of gambling. No, not just the gambling. It's the bonding while playing the game.

To be sure, the object of the game is to win money from the others at the table. Mah jong is a game of skill, luck, and concentration. One of the strategies is to try to psych out your fellow players before and during the game, especially if you know what their game weakness is. This strategy is an art and a game in itself. The method is witty puns and jovial banter. Much carelessness during the game ensue if you are distracted by the bantering. These often invoke hilarity, sometimes with much shouting and hooting.

Before our game even started on New Year, Aunt said over breakfast, "Oh Sylph, I brought watermelon seeds to eat during the game because I will have lots of time between turns waiting for you to go." She was implying I am slow at the game, a sign of inexperience or dullness of mind, and therefore a weakness.

"Oh Auntie," I said in the kindest way, "It's not whether one is fast or slow. What matters is that I win all your money today."

"Won't you be thrilled if that were to happen. You dream big, Daughter," chimed in Mom. "How much money did you bring to lose?"

"None. I don't need to bring any. One puts money in one's pocket when one wins. I won't need to take any out," I said.

When someone wins a hand, it's called taking or eating the hand. Aunt said, "Have some more food, Sylph, so you are full before we start. That way, you won't have to eat anything during the game." Clever she is.

So the banter goes on in this vein.

I did quite well at the beginning, taking every second or third hand in small winnings. But my first falter came when I realized half way through a hand I was short a tile. You need to build a winning hand with 14 tiles and I only had 13. That meant I had no chance of winning the hand we were playing and my strategy was then to prevent others from winning big by putting out tiles no one wants.

But my second mistake came when I tried to win with an incomplete hand. That is, I had 14 tiles, but I hadn't accumulated the tiles in a winning combination. I just thought I had. That was a big mistake. You get penalized as if you had cheated someone out of a big win. I had to pay everyone as if they won a full-house round. I accused Aunt of making up rules as we play. Being penalized for ruining a hand was not a rule I was aware of.

After this, my game went to hell. I kept putting out the tile for someone else's win. The person who feeds the winning tile to someone pays double to the winner. At one point, I was sure I had lost over $50. But then Bro Bro and his family arrived with 20? 100? 1000? dishes of food for dinner. And Uncle arrived with his children. And Bro Bro and Uncle filled in for Bro so he could tend to hosting duties. That must've changed the game dynamic at the table.

I sensed my luck change. At one point, I stopped all talking in the room to focus on winning an 8-fold hand, the largest hand one can win, only to be beaten by Bro Bro's chicken win, the smallest hand one can win. Despite that tease, by the end of the evening, I had won back most of my money. Aunt calculated I only lost about $9.

Which was a darn good price for a great day of fabulous entertainment and bonding.