1. Preface

I am in the course of reviewing the Standard Scoring Chart and the
terminology issues of International Mahjong Rules ("IMJ Rules"). This
Worksheet is released for the purposes of initiating discussions,
whether openly or privately, among those who are interested in seeing
or being informed of the developments of International Mahjong or of
other mahjong games in general. In particular, this Worksheet is sent
to those who had downloaded the International Mahjong Rules Printable
File from the IMJ Website and is also announced in several related
newsgroups including rec.games.mahjong; rec.games.board;
fj.rec.games.mahjong and uk.games.board.

The terms INTERNATIONAL MAHJONG and IMJ are registered trademarks in
Canada. Although International Mahjong is promoted and marketed as one
of many variants of mahjong game, I believe authors and developers of
mahjong games bearing other brand names may find the ideas, forms or
concepts in this and other IMJ documentation or in this open
discussion (if proceeded eventually) to be useful in developing their
own games. More information on International Mahjong may be found in
the IMJ Website at www.iMahjong.com.

Open discussions can refer to any mahjong games bearing any specific
brand name or associating to any specific author or organization, or
refer to all mahjong games in general (non-tile-matching only). For
private discussions with the author of this Worksheet please reply to
imj@cofatsuiSTRING.com (please remove the Spam-prevention text
"STRING" from the email address - sorry for the inconvenience).

For the sake of good order, participants in the discussions are hereby
cautioned, that feedback, opinions and comments are solely voluntary
and no reward of any kind is offered or implied to be offered by the
author of this Worksheet, or presumably by anyone.

2. Forms Of Expression Of Terms

The following changes intend to provide more clear guidelines how
terms and phrases could be expressed in some unified forms:

(1) Terms and phrases that are unique and specific shall be
capitalized. Examples include all special winning hands and all score
elements: The Heaven, Eight Flowers, One Suit Of Four Consecutive
Bangos, etc.
(2) Terms and phrases that are referring to players or things
collectively or non-specifically shall be expressed in regular form.
Examples include jonga, nexta, chucker, score element(s), special
winning hand(s), the head (tail) of the wall, a pai on the floor, a
seam, a bango (or 2 bangos), etc.
(3) Terms and phrases that are used as verb or adjective shall be
expressed in regular form. Examples include "bang", "selfmake",
"chuck", "win", etc.

3. Terms And Phrases That Are Most Likely To Change

As a result of continuous research since the release of the current
version (05.01.2001) of the IMJ Rules, there are several changes that
would most likely be adopted in the next version of the IMJ Rules.
These changes include the following:

(1) Pie => pai
(2) Pole => Wind
(3) Award Pattern => score element
(4) Last Draw (Art. 28.5) => Final Draw
(5) Last Exposed (Art. 28.6) => Final Exposed

These are quite straightforward and I have no comments to make at this
point regarding these possible changes but will be glad to response to
any questions or comments from others.

4. Terms And Phrases That Are Under Consideration For Change

The following are major terms and phrases the author of this Worksheet
has long been working on for changes (to the existing IMJ Rules, of
course):

(1) Fairies (Art. 4.2. Covering The Youths and The Winds) => Possible
changes in mind: Faces; Factors; Fantasy(ies); Honours; Credits; or...
(2) Hugh (Art. 5.15. 1's of the Serials) =>
(3) Glen (Art. 5.16. 9's of the Serials) =>
(4) Hugles (Art. 5.17. 1's and 9's of the Serials) =>
(5) Yogles (Art. 5.18. 1's and 9's of the Serials and all of the
Fairies) =>

I am still working on finding words to replace the above terms if
possible. The basic requirement is clear: The new terms or phrases
shall faithfully reflect the meaning (as expressed in the brackets in
the above terms) of the original Chinese terms. Perhaps the
corresponding Chinese terms in Pinyin may also be considered.

5. Proposed Changes In Scores And Addition Of New Score Elements

The attached list represents a complete set of score elements to be
adopted in the new version of International Mahjong Rules. All score
elements (including special winning hands) are divided into FOUR main
groups, each having its specific nature as outlined below:

(1) Group 0 - Special winning hands. These are considered complete
winning hands, not score elements. Score awarded to each hand is
final.
(2) Group 1 - Scores related to HOW - How the winning pai is obtained
(sub-groups 1.1 through 1.3) and how the general status of other pais
is at time of winning (sub-groups 1.4 & 1.5).
(3) Group 2 - Scores based on the basic pattern of a winning hand.
(4) Group 3 - Scores based on the combination of pais of a winning
hand. Sub-groups 3.1 through 3.3 involve only the Serials. Sub-group
3.4 involves only the Fairies. Sub-group 3.5 involves the mix of
Serials and Fairies.

When assessing the scores of a winning hand, other than a special
winning hand, all possible score elements from all groups or
sub-groups, but to a maximum of one score element per group or
sub-group only, may be counted, provided the selected basic pattern
(group 2) of the hand remains unchanged.

6. Scoring System And Issues Related To The "Luck" Factor

The new version of International Mahjong Rules remains using the "From
Folds To Scores" mechanism. The writer believes this mechanism remains
an important feature to help people learn and continue to play the
game with ease. A "Points Only" mechanism is where fixed scores are
assigned to specific score elements and the total score of a winning
hand is calculated by adding up all scores of all available score
elements of the hand. While a "Points Only" mechanism can precisely
assess the "correct" value of a score element based on the degree of
difficulty in achieving it and can better handle the "luck" factor,
the mechanism also brings up great deal of difficulty for players to
learn and memorize the scoring details. It could thus reduce the
popularity of the game.

On the other hand, I believe the luck factor can also be properly
handled in a "From Folds To Scores" system by applying the following
two strategies: (a) by carefully adjusting the number of folds
assigned to individual score elements and (b) by setting different
multiples for the scores according to different ranking ranges.
Strategy (a) may be seen in the proposed new "Table Of Score Elements"
attached to this Worksheet where I have reduced the number of folds of
certain highly "luck-related" score elements. Strategy (b) is
reflected in the Scoring Chart in the current version (05.01.2001) of
the IMJ Rules where winning hands with low ranks (1 to 6 folds) are
assigned with comparatively lower scores (the multiple is 10) and
winning hands with higher ranks will enjoy Scores increased
significantly (the multiples are 20, 30, 40, 50 etc. as the number of
folds increases). Strategy (b) also rewards the effort of achieving
higher ranks with skills, as I believe winning hands of higher ranks
are commonly achieved by those having better skills and play
strategies, and are less commonly achieved merely by luck.

By Cofa Tsui, Owner
International Mahjong Official Website
August 17, 2003.


The above message and the attached "Table Of Score Elements" can also
be found at:
http://www.iMahjong.com/g0maiarchives.html
Archives Topic #207