Poor Sports End Up Alone

I’ve been getting a lot of requests from Mah Jongg Players to post etiquette and good sportsmanship type stories so they can one, learn from them and two, use them as teaching opportunities for new players and three, point them out to egregious poor sports or out right cheaters when they are wrong. I have loads of stories. Some from my personal experience and often ones from students who send them to me asking me to referee, or just comment. Often the comment I want to make most often is, “Oy vey.” I am not Jewish, but feel like I was in a past life.

Today’s lesson is about racking and calling tiles. A tile that is discarded is available to be called from the time it is named, meaning the person holding the tile says the name of the tile, or the person holding the tile has placed it on the table and taken their hand off it. Notice I said placed it on the table, not dropped it. If a tile slips out of someone’s hand and they have not said the name of the tile, that is just a mistake. Have a little grace.

That discarded tile is available to be called from that time until the person who is naturally next in line has drawn the next tile from the wall and it is placed in her rack on with the bottom of the tile touching the bottom of the sloped rack. Not tapped the tile on a rack, that is nothing. Not having the tile still in her hand just touching the back of the rack, actually resting on the bottom of the rack.

Let’s say player 1 discards a Red Dragon. And player 3 says hold. Player 2 does not pick the next tile from the wall. If player 3 seems to be hemming and hawing, and says never mind and Player 2 goes ahead and draws her tile from the wall, but does not get the drawn tile resting on the bottom of her rack and Player 3 says, “I’m calling that Red Dragon,” technically player 2 has not gotten the tile in her rack so that Red dragon is still viable to be called, even by the person who said call once and then changed her mind. It is no different that if Player 4 said call after player 3 said never mind. A tile is not dead until the next player in line, in this case, player 2, gets the tile drawn from the wall in the bottom of her rack.

So in today’s story this is what happened. But player 2 was furious with Player 3 for being wishy washy, and said, “Well, it touched my rack, so it’s too late.” And Player 3 pointed out it had not touched the bottom and claimed the Red Dragon and exposed it. Player 2, had to put the tile she had drawn back in the wall exactly where it was, but said, “If you win I will be mad.”

Player 3 did go on to win and Player 2 refused to pay her her rightful winnings.

What a poor sport. Yes, Player 3 hemmed and hawed, but did not break any rules. Player 2 not only tried to cheat, by claiming her tile was already racked when it clearly was not, but then cheated by not paying. Telling someone you will be mad is a toddler’s response, not paying the winner for a game you lost is just being a bad sport.

Always consider if the shoe was on the other foot and you were the one who changed your mind, even if untimely, but within the confines of the rules, you would like to be paid for your win.

This is just a game, even for money. Do not lose your humanity over losing a game. Graciousness is always rewarded in the long run. Poor sports find they have no one to play with.