My Friend Calls Blanks the Devil

A Mahjong buddy recently called me competitive - and apparently, they had evidence. In this Season Two opener, we’re examining the difference between healthy competition and table-clearing combat. When should we slow down, play defense, challenge one another, or simply celebrate a beautiful hand? Because winning is wonderful - but the real victory is creating a table people want to return to.Gather. Play. Connect. And occasionally… destroy.If you’d like to continue the conversation beyond the podcast, I invite you to explore my books:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8

Twelve episodes, countless technical difficulties, and one very talkative Mahjong instructor! Season One is officially in the books! Join Cris for a peek inside her recording studio, a few laughs about the learning curve, and a little encouragement inspired by Alix at The Mahjongg Insider.It's a reminder that you don't have to have everything figured out to begin.And we're just getting started! Join me for Season Two, with more Mahjong musings, strategy, table talk, unexpected lessons, and plenty of laughs.Because apparently, neither the tiles nor I are finished talking!Gather. Play. Connect.If you’d like to continue the conversation beyond the podcast, I invite you to explore my books:⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8

We went to our first Mahjong tournament with two very simple goals: stay alive and don’t get called dead.Turns out… we loved it.In this episode of If These Tiles Could Talk, I’m sharing what happened when a few of us traded our comfortable tables for a local, half-day tournament - complete with timers, scoring, rotating tables, unfamiliar players, a little East confusion, and the rather important discovery that there were BIG prizes involved.We’ll talk about why starting small might be the perfect way to dip your toe into tournament Mahjong, what playing with new people can teach you, and why someone else’s mistake doesn’t need to become a story told at their expense.We went in hoping to survive.We came out already planning the next one.Apparently…Gather. Play. Connect.If you’d like to continue the conversation beyond the podcast, I invite you to explore my books:⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8

A student gave me a beautiful Mahjong set, and an unexpected tug-of-war with my conscience. The tiles weren't authentic, but their teaching potential was hard to ignore. Was I finding a useful purpose or a convenient justification? Join me for an honest, humorous musing on creativity, temptation, and listening to that little voice, even when an adorable panda is involved. I haven’t tied this one into a tidy bow. Pull up a chair, and let’s think it through together.If you’d like to continue the conversation beyond the podcast, I invite you to explore my books:⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8

Two players. One discarded tile. And suddenly… it's the O.K. Corral at the Mahjong table!Who gets the tile when two players call for the same discard? Does the next player in turn have priority? What exactly is "slamming"? And do those tiles you've already exposed give you some kind of Mahjong seniority?(Spoiler alert: They do not..)In this episode of If These Tiles Could Talk, we tackle one of American Mahjong's surprisingly controversial rules: calling priority. We'll clear up the confusion surrounding exposures, explore the infamous slam, and ask whether winning a battle over a tile is really worth losing the goodwill of your Mahj friends.Plus, we'll meet the little green monster who seems to show up whenever money, prizes, or bragging rights enter the picture.Because sometimes the biggest challenge at the Mahjong table isn't knowing the rules…It's remembering why we gathered around the table in the first place.Gather. Play. Connect.If you’d like to continue the conversation beyond the podcast, I invite you to explore my books:⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8

Mahjong bots can be fantastic teachers. They help us learn the card, spot hands we might have missed, and even venture into sections we'd normally ignore.But what happens when helpful coaching becomes something we depend on?In this episode of If These Tiles Could Talk, we're talking about the difference between using an app to train your Mahjong brain and letting the app be your Mahjong brain. And if you're absolutely crushing those bots and beginning to suspect you're a Mahjong prodigy? It might be time to test that theory against the most unpredictable opponents of all:Actual people.Because the goal isn't to become really good at being coached. It's to become the player who eventually doesn't need the coaching.Gather. Play. Connect.If you’d like to continue the conversation beyond the podcast, I invite you to explore my books:⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8

One of my Mahj friends calls blanks the devil. Another says they give you hope, although she only plays with two, so apparently we're rationing hope around here.Me? I prefer no blanks. I play and teach NMJL rules, but there's another reason: I actually like what happens when the tile you need is gone, and Mahjong asks, “Now what?”We’re talking blanks, house rules, learning to pivot, and why I can understand the appeal of a little Mahjong hope… while still leaving those blanks in the box.And if you invite me to your table and you play with blanks? I'll honor your house rules.Will I accept a second invitation?I’ll need to check my calendar.If you’d like to continue the conversation beyond the podcast, I invite you to explore my books:⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8

What if your Mahjong tiles could tell you everywhere they’ve been - and everyone they’ve known?Vintage tiles carry scratches, softened edges, that unmistakable click-clack…and maybe decades of stories we’ll never know. Who played with them? Who learned on them? Who became friends around them?And then it hit me: our new tiles are collecting stories, too.Someday, the sets we’re playing with today may become someone else’s vintage treasure.So pull up a chair. We’re talking provenance, beautiful old tiles, the sound of Mahjong and the stories we’re leaving behind every time we gather around the table.If these tiles could talk…oh, the stories they could tell.Gather. Play. Connect.If you’d like to continue the conversation beyond the podcast, I invite you to explore my books:⁠https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8

See a discarded tile that could replace an exposed joker? Don’t call it just yet! Today we talk about why a discard may only be called to create a new exposure or complete Mahjong, and why joker exchanges must be made with a tile already in your hand. And if someone discards an actual joker? That poor joker is gone forever. Completely visible. Entirely unavailable. RUDE!If you’d like to continue the conversation beyond the podcast, I invite you to explore my books:⁠https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8

1-3-5 OR 5-7-9.So… why not 3-5-7?They’re all odd numbers. The card says “any suits.” And Jenni had a brilliant plan.There was just one problem.That wasn’t the hand.In this episode of If These Tiles Could Talk, we tackle a question every American Mah Jongg player eventually faces:How do you know what’s fixed on the NMJL card—and what you’re allowed to change?We’re cracking the code: numbers, colors, groupings, parentheticals, floating pairs, and one very important little word:OR.Because the card can’t possibly tell us everything we can’t do.It tells us what we CAN do.And sometimes, the best question is simply asked.Gather • Play • ConnectIf you’d like to continue the conversation beyond the podcast, I invite you to explore my books:https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8