Compete in 'All Dragon' Tournaments and win Mahjong sets!

Overview:  For the next five weeks Mahjong Time will offer additional prizes to the winners of 'All Dragon' Tournaments. Everyone can participate in the tournament but only Premium and VIP Members will be eligible to convert the Dragon Chips won at the tournament for Mahjong sets.
 

Tournament Schedule and Time:
First week(Jan 29th, 2011):  MCR - 'All Dragons' Tournament

Time: 6:30 AM (Pacific Time ); 14:30 Europe/London; 22:30 in Singapore

Second week(Saturday, Feb 5th 2011) RCR - 'All Dragons' Tournament

Time: 6:30 AM (Pacific Time ); 14:30 Europe/London; 22:30 in Singapore

Third week(Saturday, Feb 12th 2011) TW - 'All Dragons' Tournament

Time: 6:30 AM (Pacific Time ); 14:30 Europe/London; 22:30 in Singapore

Fourth week(Saturday, Feb 19th 2011) HK - 'All Dragons' Tournament

Time: 6:30 AM (Pacific Time ); 14:30 Europe/London; 22:30 in Singapore

Fifth week(Saturday, Feb 26th 2011) AM - 'All Dragons'  Tournament

Time: 6:30 AM (Pacific Time ); 14:30 Europe/London; 22:30 in Singapore

Prizes:

First Place:

●     The winner can exchange the dragon chips won at the tournament for an authentic Mahjong set

Second Place:

●      The runner- up will be able to exchange the Dragon Chips won for a travel size Mahjong set.

Restrictions: Only players who have an active subscription(VIP or Premium Mahjong Time Membership) are eligible for the tournament prizes. NO EXCEPTIONS. 

You may cancel your entry into the tournament and receive a refund of your entry fee as long as you cancel at least 6 minutes prior to the beginning of seating for the tournament, which is usually 15 minutes before the start of the tournament.

Rounds

Number of rounds depends on the number of players who sign up for the tournament

4 Players - One 40 min round.

8 Players - One elimination round and 4 players who accumulate the most points(score) proceed to the 4 player final.

12 or more players - One preliminary round, then and an 8 player elimination round and a 4 player final round.

32 or more players - One preliminary round, then a 12 player elimination round, then an 8 player elimination round and a 4 player final round.

Each round consists of 40 min. of play.

Table Details:

Rated: No

Game Helper: Yes

Time to discard: 8 sec.

RCR - Min points: 1 yaku ; Flowers: No

MCR - Min points: 8 ; Flowers: Yes

HK - Min points: 8 ; Flowers: Yes

AM - Min points: 0 ; Flowers: Yes

TW - Min points: 6 ; Flowers: Yes

Dragon Chip Winnings

The 3 best scorers at the final round win the dragon chips which are at stake.

1st place - 50%

2nd place - 35%

3rd place - 15%

Please note that winnings are raked:

VIP members - 0% Rake

Premium - 5% Rake

Free Players - 15% Rake

Scoring

At the end of each round, players who have the best scores at their tables move to the next round.

If two (or more) players tie for a position, the player that won more hands in the game will be ranked higher. In the unlikely event that two players are tied in both scores AND hands won, the player that has a higher rating will be ranked higher.

REPORTING PROBLEMS

Tournament administrators shall be contactable via support@mahjongtime.com. All complaints will be filed and saved. Tournament administrators reserve the final right to every decision including, without limitation, the decision to disqualify any participant due to complaints. Participants must strictly adhere to all game play guidelines or risk the possibility of disqualification. Participants are required to file all questions, comments, disputes, no-show claims, schedule conflicts, or other Tournament related issues through the Website with the appropriate subject. Be sure to explain your situation thoroughly and include any details necessary to assist the Tournament administrator in making a decision. Administrators, in their sole discretion, reserve the right to change the score of a Tournament match. This decision could be made based on administrator's judgment that the game reported the result incorrectly or the participants tampered with the game software or hardware to manipulate the reported score.

Mahjong Time reserves the right to alter the rules and make final decisions on all tournament related issues as they arise, and at our sole discretion.

Guild Play Improvements coming soon

It has been more than one year and a half since we introduced Mahjong Time Guilds. The guild play has became pretty popular, but unfortunately, we have not been able to improve  the team play much since then. Now, we have collected enough feedback to get ready to improve a few aspects of the guild play, and before we go into the development we would like to share our thoughts with you:

Guild Score Design(Guilds tab) 

One of the major changes that we are going to implement with this update is how the guild score will be calculated. 

The score which will be taken into account to announce the wining guild is going to be the Total Score. The Total Score will take into account your Game Score(the points earn in a particular game) and the Dragon Chips bet at that table.  

This is how the Total Score will be calculated:

For HK, MCR, AM, EC, TW:

Dragon Chip Winnings*Game Score/100,000

For RCR:

Dragon Chip Winnings*Game Score/10,000,000 

Note: The Dragon Chips you win will be raked and then the Total Score will be calculated.

VIP - 0% Rake

Premium - 5% Rake

Free - 15 % Rake

Example:

HK:

VIP Member

Dragon Chip Winnings = 400 DC - 0(0% Rake)

Game Score = 124

Total Score = Dragon Chip Winnings * Game Score/100,000;  400*124/ 100,000 = 0.496
------------

Premium Member

Dragon Chip Winnings = 400 DC - 20(5% Rake)

Game Score = 124

Total Score = Dragon Chip Winnings * Game Score/100,000; 380*124/ 100,000 = 0.471
------------

Free Player

Dragon Chip Winning = 340 DC -60(15% Rake)

Game Score = 124

Total Score = Dragon Chip Winnings * Game Score/100,000; 340*124/ 100,000 = 0.421
------------

And this is how the Guild info window will look like:

Guild Chat 
In the Guild Info window we are going to place a “Chat History” visible only to members of this guild. The Guild Chat itself will be located on the right bottom corner where the Public Chat and Game Chat are.

Prizes

The Guild Prize is going to be calculated against the Total Prize Pool of 500,000 Dragon Chips, and it will  depend on the number of active guilds in the entire competition:

The Guild will be considered active if they achieve at least 25% of the average of the total score of guild winners for the last 4 weeks period.

Example:

HK

First Week - 47,920 (Total Score)

Second Week - 45,684 (Total Score)

Third Week - 42,024 (Total Score)

Fourth Week - 46,228 (Total Score)

------------------------------------

Average Total Score = 45,464 

25% of the average = 11,366

A HK Guild becomes active when its score becomes equal or greater than: 11,366

Based on the data from Dec. 24th, 2010 we have two active HK Guilds

MCR

First Week - 22,815

Second Week - 16,271

Third Week - 17,847

Fourth Week - 19,131
------------------------------------

Average score  = 19,016

25% of the average = 4,754

Based on the data from Dec. 24th,  2010 we have six active MCR Guilds

AM

First Week - 24,610

Second Week - 21,340

Third Week - 17,620

Fourth Week- 20,180
------------------------------------

Average score = 20,937.5

25% of the average  = 5,234.3

Based on the data from Dec. 24th, 2010 we have six active AM Guilds

RCR

First Week - 4,677,731

Second Week- 5,006,096

Third Week - 5,540,378

Fourth Week - 12,679,469
------------------------------------

Average score = 6,975,918.5

25% of the average  = 1,743,979.5

Based on the data from Dec. 24th, 2010we have two active RCR Guilds

EC

First Week - 130,430

Second Week - 74,028

Third Week - 96,822

Fourth Week - 125,896
------------------------------------

Average score = 106,794

25% of the average  = 26,698.5

Based on the data from Dec. 24th, 2010 we have three active EC Guilds

TW

First Week - 22,974

Second Week - 19,921

Third Week - 17,597

Fourth Week - 15,813
------------------------------------

Average score = 19,076.25

25% of the average = 4,769.1

Based on the data from Dec. 24th, 2010 we have two active TW Guilds

We have a total of 21 active guilds which is 100%

The Prize Pool of 500,000 DC will be distributed as follows:

21 active guilds - 100% of the Prize Pool

As we had 2 active HK guilds, the winning HK Guild  will receive 9.52% of the prize pool. 

And the entire distribution of the prize pool among Guilds would be:

Winning HK Guild- 9.52% - 3,966 DC per member  (9.52% of 500000 DC = 47600 DC )

Six MCR Guilds- 28.57%   - 11904 DC per member (28.57% of 500000 = 142850 DC)

Six AM Guilds- 28.57% - 11904 DC per member (28.57% of 500000 = 142850 DC)

Two RCR Guilds–  9.52% - 3966 DC per member (9.52% of 500000 DC = 47600 DC)

Three EC Guilds- 14.28% - 5950 DC per member (14.28% of 500000 = 71400 DC)

Two TW Guilds- 9.52% - 3966 DC per member (9.52% of 500000 DC = 47600 DC)

Guild Prize = Number of active Guilds in the specific style * 100 / Total Number of active Guilds

Prize for the each Member of the winning Guild = Prize of the Guild / Number of Members

The automatic distribution of the prizes will be made as follows:

Winning guild members - Dragon Chips + Medal on player's avatar

The most active member of the winning guild -  Dragon Chips + 300 Golden Coins + Medal + Guild Leadrship

Non-active member of the winning guild - 0 and no medal

Guild Leadership

The guild leader will became the player who has accumulated the most total score points, and in case  the guilds most active player refuses to be the guild leader the next player who accumulated the most points will be offered guild leadership, and so on

a3geffen's Hints and Pointers - Right time to act

There are quite a number of manuals on the basics of how to play a game of mahjong. The amount on strategy and tactics however is limited. Mahjong Time has asked Adrie van Geffen (a3geffen) to share his views in that territory. In the year 2011 he will publish a series of articles with hints and pointers having to do with strategy of mahjong in the different styles (excepting American): Hong Kong (HK); European Classic (EC); Mahjong Competition Rules (MCR); Riichi Competition Rules (RCR); Taiwanese (TW). Below part 2 – Right time to act.

The tiles are there, the tension is there. You’ve made up your mind what you want to get based on what you have. The first tile is discarded and you go for a chow immediately. Better to have than to wait is what you figure. If you are playing EC it could mean that you go for the fast win because with a zero points minimum, as EC is played, you can’t be too fast. Or you are playing HK and want to go for a no flower hand with all chows and self drawn to reach your 3 fan minimum and you cannot use a flower taken from the wall. Otherwise: bad strategy.

It is not only because you can get points for a concealed hand in most styles. By claiming a discarded tile you show your opponents which way you are going and you give valuable information. In HK it could be the color you are going for, in MCR and RCR you limit your own possibilities hugely. But simple mathematics tell you that there is a better reason not to claim a tile immediately, especially when it concerns a chow. If it’s a closed wait in this chow then there is three more of that tile in the game, probably in the wall. If it is a two-sided wait then there are still seven tiles to complete the chow. The tile isn’t claimed for a pung (otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten it anyway) and chances are quite large that it will be discarded again and most of all: you pick it up yourself. The latter means that you not only will have kept your hand concealed but also that you haven’t lost two turns: one to claim a tile and one to discard that tile when you pick it yourself but no longer need it.

To claim a tile to make a pung is more tempting and not totally unwise when you are playing HK, EC or TW. Especially pungs and dragons can be profitable and then it could be a good decision playing RCR to make a small quick mahjong with 1 yaku. But even then: if you already have two of the same tiles and a third is discarded, you may as well wait. The fourth is bound to be thrown too unless one of your opponents is playing for a special hand (13 orphans or knitted tiles). When you are playing MCR you do a lot better to wait, as goes for non-yaku pungs in RCR. In that way RCR is even more special because it is played much more defensive. The two tiles in your hand, especially when being wind or dragon, could be a certain safe discard.

Waiting can be strenuous, but try it. Don’t claim a tile and check how many times you pick it of the wall yourself. If it works out well you not only keep your hand to yourself but you might even pick up a lot bigger score by winning by self draw.


Written by Adrie van Geffen
Adrie van Geffen
homepage: http://homepages.ipact.nl/~geffen/




Related Articles:
Player Profile a3geffen

a3geffen's Hints and Pointers - Be comfortable

There are quite a number of manuals on the basics of how to play a game of mahjong. The amount on strategy and tactics however is limited. Mahjong Time has asked Adrie van Geffen (a3geffen) to share his views in that territory. In the year 2011 he will publish a series of articles with hints and pointers having to do with strategy of mahjong in the different styles (excepting American): Hong Kong (HK); European Classic (EC); Mahjong Competition Rules (MCR); Riichi Competition Rules (RCR); Taiwanese (TW). Below part 1 – Be comfortable.

Although you play a mahjong game with three other players you are mostly depending on yourself and for a little on the discards of your opponents. From what you get dealt with you have to create your own opportunities and strike when the moment is right. That means invariably that you have to be confident in your actions. If in a live game you take a tile from the wrong side of the wall you have a dead hand. When that happens you not only are sure to lose but it does take out the fun of the game. Besides that you will annoy your fellow players when you repeatedly let your arm wave over the table, unsure which tile to take.
Of course in the automated environment of Mahjong Time you will have no trouble with that. But when you click on the chow-button because you haven’t figured out yet that the game is played anti-clockwise you’d better try the practice room for a while.

Knowing the rules also implies knowing how to score. At least when there is a minimum of points or fan required to win the game. Although the other players will gain points when you make a false mahjong, you may have ruined a high score hand of another player. Some players on Mahjong Time set up a trap with the setting of minimum points. They deliberately set the table to a minimum of 9 instead of the regular 8 points for MCR or set 2 yaku instead of 1 at a Riichi table. So always check on the minimum score to make mahjong at a set table. And then be comfortable you know how to reach that minimum by knowing the score of the style you are playing.

Apart from knowing the rules you should take care to be comfortable in other ways as well.  When playing a live tournament you are restricted in your possibilities. Perhaps a cushion and a drink of your liking but that’s it. And an empty bladder of course. Get familiar with the environment you’re playing in and check the tiles in the mahjong set. It could be embarrassing to put away a bamboo 1 as if it was a flower tile. When you are playing a tournament on Mahjong Time then make sure you won’t be interrupted by family. Take the phone of the hook and shut the door: you are entitled to some time of your own. Put on some music you like, or if you prefer shut down any disturbing noise. Get a drink within reach and maybe something to snack. Get your mind at ease, relax and focus on the game. Because you should approach a game of mahjong as if it is chess. Concentration and being able to focus is of the utmost importance. And of course playing as much as you can will build your confidence. And being confident makes you comfortable.

Written by Adrie van Geffen
Adrie van Geffen
homepage: http://homepages.ipact.nl/~geffen/




Related Articles:
Player Profile a3geffen