Mah Jongg

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>                                              Holly Lake Ranch, Texas</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" "><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="1c32d2c00dkelyh.jpg"> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Mah Jongg</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><B>return to :</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Clubs/Organizations"><U><B>Clubs/Organizations</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" "><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> © </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Mah Jongg</I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Open Play:</B></I></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Wed. 1pm at the Fore Seasons</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Thurs 10am at the Fore Seasons</div> <div> <I><B>Stop in and check it out</B></I></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> -----------------------------------------------------------------------</div> <bR> <div> Almost every day, somewhere on the Ranch you will hear talk of  <I><B>Winds, Dragons, Flowers, Craks, Bams, Dots, Jokers, and the Charleston.</B></I> You will hear the click of tiles, the sound of laughter and the words Claim and Mah Jongg. Mah Jongg is a very popular and frequently played game at Holly Lake Ranch, in East Texas, across the country and around the world.</div> <div>  </div> <div> Mahjong (also called <I>mah-jongg)</I> Is a game for four players that originated in China. The game involves skill, strategy, and calculation, as well as a certain degree of luck. The game is played with tiles and the object of the game is to form pre defined combinations or “hands” using the tiles. </div> <bR> <div> Some say the game dates as far back as 2,000 years. One of the myths of the origin of Mahjong suggests that Confucisu the great Chinese philosopher, had developed the game in about 500 BC. The general consensus is that the game was actually developed from existing Chinese card and domino games sometime around 1850. </div> <bR> <div> The game was a sensation in America when it was imported from China in the 1920s. It took on a number of trademarked names, such as <I>Pung Chow</I> or the <I>Game of Thousand Intelligences</I>. Groups held “Mahjong Nights”, where they would decorate the room in Chinese style and dress like Chinese. Several hit songs were also recorded during the mahjong fad of the 1920's, most notably "Since Ma is Playing Mah Jong" by Eddie Cantor. </div> <bR> <div> Received enthusiastically by the American public many felt the game would be improved and simplified by adding new combinations of tiles and eliminating some of the old combinations. It wasn't long before every group had its own combinations, and version of the original game.</div> <bR> <div> In 1937, a number of Mah Jongg enthusiasts met in New York City to standardize the game so that all American Mah Jongg players would play the same hands and rules. It was at this meeting that the National Mah Jongg League was founded. </div> <bR> <div> American Mah Jongg<B> </B>differs in several ways from the traditional Chinese Mahjong. The American version is played with 152 tiles. It uses Joker tiles, the Charleston (an exchange of tiles with other players at the beginning of the game), plus melds of five or more tiles. Each player has 13 tiles with which to form combinations to match a specific “hand” on the Mah Jongg card.  </div> <bR> <div> Each year the National Mah Jongg League issues a new card with different hands to add more excitement to the game.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="1c411cd50.jpg" border=0 width="284" height="213" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">      <IMG SRC="1c3619d30.jpg" border=0 width="281" height="211" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="1c381acf0.jpg" border=0 width="282" height="207" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">     <IMG SRC="1c3a15d00.jpg" border=0 width="277" height="208" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="1c3c1be20.jpg" border=0 width="283" height="226" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">     <IMG SRC="1c3e2de20.jpg" border=0 width="301" height="226" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>