Want to learn about one of the most popular games in Asia, that is fun, intellectual, and culturally significant? Then take The Art of Mahjong!
This course aims to teach students the fundamentals of mahjong, a tile-based strategy game that was first developed in China during the Qing Dynasty and has been widely played throughout Asia for the past 200 years. We focus on a variant of Sichuan mahjong called “Battle to the Bloody End” [血战到底, xuè zhàn dào dǐ], one of the most popular styles of mahjong played today.
The course covers the rules and strategies of Sichuan mahjong and consists of two stages accordingly. The first, shorter stage consists of three lectures on the game’s rather complex rules, including the tiles, the winning hand, the procedure/how to play, and scoring. The second, longer stage consists of eight lectures on the common strategies in Sichuan mahjong, with some approaching strategy in a systematic and game theoretic way and others using a bit of math (not too much – don’t worry!). Among the eight strategy lectures, four are on particular phases of the game (opening, middlegame, and endgame), three are on counting, and one is on OT (opportunity-threat) analysis. Throughout the semester, we will also briefly cover other mahjong styles and the history of mahjong, as well as business- and analytics-related special topics such as game theory and AI/ML, all in the context of mahjong of course.
Methods of instruction: This course consists of two equally important components: lecture and playing session. The class meets in person once a week for 2 hours, generally with the first hour being a lecture and the second hour being a playing session. The only exception is that, in week 3 (first class), both hours are lectures to make introductions and cover basic rules prior to any playing sessions. A running leaderboard for the playing sessions will be kept, with the sole intention of giving prizes to the leaders over the semester.
Grading breakdown: attendance (45%), weekly additional playing (5%), homework (25%), graded playing sessions (15%), final project (10%)
No prerequisites in math, business, or the Chinese language.
Disclaimer: There is absolutely no wagering of real money in this course. We will be focused solely on the rules and strategies of mahjong.
No day(s) left until application deadline!
Section | Facilitator | Size | Location | Time | Starts | Status | CCN(LD) | CCN(UD) |
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1 | Tony Yu | 26 | Haas | [W] 6:00PM-8:00PM | 02/01/2023 | Full | -- | -- |
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