I’m on day 2 right now. Yesterday I lost my ass (about US$50), but we’re on game three for today and I’m breaking even so far. We’ll see where I’m at later tonight.
At least I’m learning some Taiwanese.
I’m curious if there are other foreigners on Forumosa who enjoy playing.
Nah! Thank you.
I do. Yet to play a game so far this year. 
I play, but I never gamble.
Love playing it, even got my old-ish neighbours in Germany to play with me 
Haven’t had a chance to play since a few years though. We should do a Forumosa mahjong meetup!
I can’t get my head around Mahjong.
16 tile Taiwan Mahjong. Super simple to play as long as you’re not into the gambling aspect for calculating points and exchanging money.
If you really want a hassle, try to learn Japanese Mahjong or American Mahjong. My next door neighbor in the US belongs to an American Mahjong club and sometimes hosts home games and attends tournaments. I can’t wrap my head around American Mahjong rules with jokers and counter disks, etc, and I really don’t want to.
I taught 16 tile Taiwanese Mahjong to my family back home in the US and everyone plays. It was so popular that on my subsequent trips I had to bring back Mahjong sets for all the family units. It’s popular to play during Thanksgiving and Christmas. My father was the best before he passed. My mom sucked and always threw out the winning tile, but she enjoyed herself and that’s what counted.
In my family, Majohng ranks right up there with Yahtzee, Monopoly, Boggle, Clue and classic card games such as Hearts, Spades, Rook, Uno, Skip-Bo, Gin Rummy and of course Eenendertigen.
Good family fun and 16 tile Taiwanese Mahjong is simple enough that we have 6 year olds who play.
Mahjong is like Texas holdem. Takes 5 minutes to learn to play, years to be good at it.
I think it’s more like the card game Gin Rummy in terms of game play.
Runs of three or three of a kind/four of a kind, drawing, discarding, etc.
But, like Texas Hold’em, hard to be good at winning.
Your entire comment almost mirrors my own experience! I learned to play before I ever came to Taiwan. I first heard about mahjong when I was a child in an old Hoyle’s Rules of Games book. Skip ahead 30 years when I was looking for a new kind of game to play with my three kids (we also played Yahtzee, Spades, Canasta, etc.) The most difficult aspect was trying to find a mahjong set in the rural town that I lived in! We originally played Hong Kong style but I switched them up to Taiwanese style after learning that here. Much easier to calculate the scores.
Since I moved to Taiwan my kids have taught some of their friends/significant others to play. Now my elementary aged grandchildren are learning as well. When I go back to the U.S. for visits we’re all excited to play together again. We always play for points, not money; I wish more people here did that.
I’d love that! I’m in Taoyuan and could host. I have a table and 3 different mahjong sets (I’m a collector as well). There’s also a mahjong parlor (no gambling, no smoking, no drinking) in my area with electronic tables, but there is a 1NT/minute fee for each player (60NT per hour, not bad).
Where are you located?