Mahjong

Ever get the feeling that you're not intelectually stimulated while playing?
Do you feel like the rules are all too easy?
Well, worry no more! Because I've got the cure for YOU!
It's Mahjong!
Developed in the Eastern, this game holds old roots, and a complexity you cannot begin to comprehend!
The basics in themselves are simple: You get 14 tiles, and you shall throw the ones away you wish no business with to gain the ones you favor in order to create some kind of pattern. Pretty much like poker.
Does it sound simple?
Well that part is.

Then you get to the scoring rules.
Every winning hand, yaku, (Yes, i've been learning japanese mahjong) yields a number of Han and Fu depending on how you made it and what it consists of. A winning hand normally consists of 4 sets (a set is three or four tiles in corresponding order, or just identical, though they must be of the same suit) and a pair (same as set, but only two).
The Fu is pretty much a matter of how and when you got the hand, whereas the Han depends more on the content.
The most basic hand to get would be a hand with three sets, a pair, and a set of dragons or a active wind (there are two winds per turn, one active wind and the wind you sit at. Only these score points).
This hand would give you 20 Fu and 1 Han, scoring a total of 80 (rounded to 100 points). The formula for determing points is Fu x 2^1+Han.
Complex already?
You're not halway there yet.

A hand that is made of random sets, without any active wind or dragon set, is worth no points, therefore not being a yaku and not a winning hand. Therefore, following the 4-sets-and-a-pair guideline might sometimes not be of help, leaving you with a hand that is no longer usable.
Also, in the middle of the table there is a fifth wall (the other four walls are the players' walls). This wall has one tile turned up, and this tile is the Dora. The Dora is important to keep an eye on, because the tile after the Dora in it's suit (let's say the Dora is wheel 5, then it applies to wheel 6) yields yet another Han to your score. And whenever a Kan is score, that is a Quad, another tile is turned up, presenting yet another Dora.
So, are you getting the complexity?
Then I think you should give it a go!

This flash game has addicted me for all day, I just can't stop playing:
http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/mahjong/mahjong_e.html

Also, if you feel like you need more understanding of the Scoring Rules, here is the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Mahjong_scoring_rules

Oh, and if you're wondering what caused my interest in Mahjong, it's a manga called The Legend of Koizumi. It's about the previous prime minister of Japan, travelling around and saving Japan from George W. Bush, Putin, Kim Jong Il, the Pope, and eventually faces Hitler in games of Mahjong, on a unsurpassed mountain of ridiculous epicness. Here's a link if you're interested:
http://www.mangareader.net/1413-45749-1/the-legend-of-koizumi/chapter-1.html

Well then, until next time... Happy insanity playing Mahjong!