Review: The Little Book of Mahjong: Learn How to Play, Score, and Win

The Little Book of Mahjong: Learn How to Play, Score, and Win by Seth Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a signed copy from the author when we told him we play a lot of mahjong. Unfortunately, we play riichi mahjong, and this book only has a few paragraphs on that variation.

But this was a really interesting way to learn about the International and American styles of mahjong. I grew up playing a very simplified version of riichi with my parents (they didn't really know the scoring or many of the rules, but I was a child, so it was still fun), and had only a vague idea that American mahjong had yearly cards and International mahjong was more forgiving in terms of open/closed hands.

Now when someone asks me what's the difference between riichi and either of these other two types of mahjong, I feel like I will have a clearer and more articulate answer, thanks to this book! And this was a question I had to answer a decent amount when I worked a riichi mahjong booth at a board game convention. There really are a lot of differences, so it seems like it would be difficult to play multiple styles and change strategy to match each style.

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