Original article date: September 16, 2019

Last update: May 29, 2020 (English Translation) - Original Dutch here.

Est. reading time: ± 6 minutes

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This is a work in progress article, it will be updated with additional information as more and foremost more formal information becomes available to us.

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BACKGROUND

Two of our club founders of our Mahjongclub "Haagse Kringen" (The Hague Circles / Dots), Paul and Peter, started to research on the Duplicate Mahjong concept seriously. At the time of writing this article, there's no formal document that describes the Duplicate Mahjong Format, where the concept has been described in all necessary details.

They hoped to have tested the concept at the end of this summer, on a small scale, within the circles of our own Mahjongclub, but unfortunately at this point (May 2020), this is not possible due to the Corona prevention measures.

This article/page is set-up to share with a larger community what our understanding of the concept is.

During this summer we expect that this concept will be available for online play at the online MCR platform mahjongsoft.com.

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THE LUCK FACTOR

Mahjong with all of its well-known and less-known variants of rule-sets like Mahjong Competition Rules (MCR, Chinese Official), Riichi, Hong Kong, NTS (Dutch Tournament Rules), etc., all encompass a considerable luck-factor.

The mahjong tiles are, in the rulesets familiar to us all, drawn from the jointly build wall. None of the contestants has any influence on the tiles they will end up playing with, and the results can simply not be compared with each other, as every game differs from the others that will follow.

De factor luck is undeniably present in all traditional forms of Mahjong, but it is a mistake to think that the outcome of the game solely depends only on luck.

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GAME SKILLS

The ambitious mahjong player can try to influence his game by (1) having a thorough understanding of all the scoring elements of a game variant, (2) knowing exactly which tiles are needed to make a certain valid mahjong formation (3) try to maximize the possible chances to different alternative mahjong-formations as long as possible and (4) attempt to strategically aim for multi wait end-games. Knowledge of known statistical facts, on the most frequently played scoring elements and the associated principles of probability calculation.

All this in the context of the dynamics that our beloved game with four competing opponents brings, every single game. This also means applying tactical skills such as (6) defensive gameplay and sometimes (7) misleading moves.

There are also mental factors, such as (8) applying the skills under the pressure of the speed of the game, as well as (9) being able to deal with loss and (9) having the resilience and perseverance to focus hard every single game, relentlessly trying to get the most out of the tiles presented in each game.

 

PLAY LEVEL AND AMBITION

Many recreational players play the game without much regard to defensive tactics, everyone knows the novice player who seems to prefer the beautiful hand or even the beautiful dragon stone as a "gem" as long as possible, because ... "you never know what luck will bring you".

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By studying and developing the above skills, the player who wants to seriously improve his or her game might be able to reduce the influence of the luck factor. Therefore, there are also less fortunate players and very good players.

However, the luck factor of being able to complete your "unlucky" 13 tile hand into the "a lucky" 14 tile mahjong formation is always present to some degree.

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SCORES ALSO EXORBITANT

In some of the rule-sets, only the lucky player with a valid mahjong formation wins, and in some variants, every player receives a score for any scoring element they'd manage to compose, regardless of who the winner was. In some variants, only the winner scores points, and in some variants, all points scored by each player are settled with every single player. In some variations, a player with an extremely lucky hand may score an exorbitant number of points that immediately determine the outcome of the entire evening or playing session.

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REDUCING THE LUCK FACTOR

To reduce the luck factor, you could of course remove certain elements of "luck" from the game. The most obvious element is the entire set of 8 flower and season tiles, for a good reason most often called tiles of luck. In addition, you could limit so-called limit games that can lead to extreme point totals. In the discussion about which factors you should or should not eliminate, sooner or later the argument will come up "yes but if you get that out of the game, you will lose some of the charms of the game". This perhaps true, but perhaps there's also something that you will get in return!

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COMPARING RESULTS

An additional possibility is to establish a game format that will enable the possibility to compare game results between two or more individual players (or even competing teams) who have played with exactly the same starting position and under exactly the same circumstances as their opponents at another table. Surely it will turn out that based on the level of skills and their application thereof, the different players make different choices and thus will achieve different results.

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An MCR example:

At an imaginary table (A) the player at West manages a 9 points  mahjong-formation (All Types, Mixed Double Chows, Middle Wait and a Pung of Winds 6+1+1+1)

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At a different imaginary table (B) another player also playing at West manages to score a 14 point hand (Mixed Straight, Four Chows, and Last Tile  8+2+4)

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EXACT DUPLICATE STARTING CIRCUMSTANCES

An additional important factor is that the context of play has been made completely comparable by ensuring that the opponents in the seats East, South and North respectively have exactly the same starting tiles in their hands as the players on the other gaming table in the same position.

Each player also has a personal wall that is exactly the same for both seats on both tables.

The lucky tiles have been removed from the game on both tables.

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DIFFERENT RESULTS

The starting situations are the same for all each of the players in the respective wind directions, the choices each player makes are different, the level of different playing skills plays a larger role, the results are most often different.

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DUPLICATE FORMAT
The competitive format described above - using a somewhat simplified example - is the so-called Duplicate Format, originally conceived for the "Bridge" card game as a competition format, which has established Bridge as a Competitive Mind sport for many decades.

Applying the Duplicate Format to Mahjong and to MCR Mahjong, in particular, results in a competition format for the Mahjong Competition Rules (aka Chinese Official) where the luck factor is significantly reduced. In addition, the principles are applicable in a competitive match for both individual players and teams of players.