I never played Mahjong(麻将) and I rarely see people playing this game (游戏) in South Korea(韩国). During my time studying Chinese in Beijing, I saw many old people(老年人) play Mahjong and they looked really into it. I thought maybe this game is complicated(复杂) but also very interesting to play. I really wanted to try it.
Last Friday night, I went to a traditional courtyard(四合院) with some of my friends to learn how to pay this mysterious(神秘的) game. This is my first time to touch the games pieces and it was a good feeling. There are 136 cubes and it has Circles(饼)，Bamboos(条) ,Thousands(万) ,4 Winds(东西南北风)and 3 Dragons(中 发 白).The two most important parts of the game are the dice(骰子) which will help you start the game.
The Rules(规则) of this game are much easier than I imagined. The teacher gave us a simple formula(公式) like n*AAA+m*ABC+DD. If you have this kind of match, then you will win. We say 和了 when you win. When the teacher explained the rules, he also told us how to read the characters(汉字)on the cube. Most European students and American students cannot read because most character are written in traditional characters(繁体字).
After our teacher finished explaining the rules, we began to play. Four people sit on the four sides of the table which were called east, south, west, north(东南西北). The people who sit on the east side play the dice first. The numbers on the dice tell us where to start pick the cube. Each player takes 4 cubes each time and will have 13 cubes in total. If the someone in front of you throws out a cube and you need it to make a ABC, then you can say I eat this(吃了). If some one throw out a cube which will match an AAA, you can say bump(碰了). The player who get the n*AAA+m*ABC+DD first wins.
We played many rounds for fun, but we gambled for our last round. No worries, it is one mao(一毛) and it is not illegal(不违法). I was the winner in the end. There is one Chinese saying “who laughs last laughs best” (笑到最后，笑得最好). I am the one who laughs last.
