I dunno if readers of this blog have noticed (they have), but after learning Japanese mahjong I've made a legitimate attempt to get as good at it as I possibly can. As such, I think a lot about the game lately: the lessons I've learned, the weaknesses I still need to improve upon. It's to the point where I've really felt the need to write down my thoughts on the game, both as a possible help to others and as a step towards self-improvement. So, Mahjong Fight Scrub.
(I'm a second dan on my second Tenhou account, I only play in the dan lobby, and I'm about 1650R, if you want to know where I'm at skill-wise.)
The point of the game is to win, right? But it's a gambling game, heavily governed by chance. It is not a game of perfect skill, in which every loss is indisputably your own fault (see chess and other abstract board games, and of course most of my beloved fighting games). There are times when the tiles will be good to you, other times when they'll be indifferent, and other times when they'll act in completely bizarre and cruel ways which seem to deliberately taunt you. This is the nature of the random draw.
A lot of people will tell you that Tenhou is rigged. Those people are weak-minded.
The game is not about overcoming luck, bending the heart of the tiles to your will as though this were Yu-Gi-Oh or Saki or even Akagi. Sometimes at the table, you won't even have a say. The game is about managing your luck. You have to make the best of the choices that you are given, and when these times come you have to make sure you don't blow it. More than winning, mahjong is about making sure you don't lose. And you're going to have many more opportunities to lose than you will to win.
Unless you have a thousand dollars riding on the match you're playing right now, or somebody's going to cut off your fingers if you don't place first, you are playing mahjong to see positive long-term results. Are you on Tenhou? Good. Tenhou puts a simple, immediate goal in front of you-- rise in the ranks-- and it shows you stats that give you an idea of how well you're doing.
(This is the point at which I look at my recent stats and feel sad because I'm playing so badly)
Your stats window is pretty simple: the first column is percentages of how you're placing, 1st to 4th. The final one shows how often you bust. The second column is number of games played, average score, and average place at the table. Average score very simply answers the question "am I up?" If it's positive, you're winning, and if you're in the negatives you're losing. Average place should obviously be as high as you can get it, but an average player is going to even out between 2nd and 3rd.
Note how Tenhou's rankings work. You gain a lot of ranking points for first place and a negligible amount for second. After all, at second place you're a winner too: you just won a lot less. You're still up, usually. As for third place, you get no reward (of course, your average score still goes down), and a fourth place finish loses you as many ranking points as first place earns you. Let me put it this way: as far as Tenhou's rankings are concerned, losing cancels your win. To advance, you're just going to have to win more than you lose.
A really strict rank system like this is good because it forces you to put something on the line. On Janryumon I don't usually put everything I have into the game, both because the competition is much weaker and because it just doesn't matter too much if I lose. I lose a little fake videogame money, I lose a negligible amount of rank points, hell, who cares? Not so on Tenhou. Tenhou is serious.
So think consistent, think long-run and do whatever you've got to do to stay out of fourth place. Keep that as your goal no matter where you're playing the game, and dammit, you will improve.
The next one of these I do, I'll actually talk some tactics.
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