Don't be baffled by a mah-jong master's mumbo jumbo because on a basic level this old Chinese pastime is a very simple game.

Forget about East, West, North and South winds and the other rules. Just think of the popular card game gin rummy, and you'll be slapping the table and screaming out: Mah-jong in no time.

In mah-jong, a player holds 13 tiles (or cards), and has to collect certain groupings of these pieces before they can win. When a player holds a winning hand 13 pieces, plus the new matching piece they pick up they yell out, mah-jong!

A gin rummy player collects a 10-card winning hand, and yells out "gin" when they complete a 10-card set. The other players are caught with their hands and scores are tallied against them.

In gin rummy, a player collects three or four of a kind, and straights, such as three 10s, three Kings and 6,7,8,9 or 2,3,4.

The gin rummy player keeps picking up fresh cards one at a time, and discarding cards one at a time that are not useful for their strategic collection.

Ten cards are always kept. The player on the left side can pick up a discarded card or can choose a fresh, down-turned card.

Mah-jong operates in the same way. You keep picking up fresh pieces or can choose a piece discarded from the player on your right side.

Mah-jong does not have kings, queens, jacks or aces. It has moon-cake-style circles and bamboo sticks instead. You will learn the other pieces as you go along.

Another point of difference between gin rummy and mah-jong is gambling.

My Chinese mah-jong playing friends insist that gambling is an intrinsic part of the game.

However, I played gin rummy with my grandmother for 30 years and we never had a bet. We used to tally up our scores.

I reckon the common Chinese element between gin rummy and mah-jong is tea drinking.

Nana and I drank copious amounts of that in our hard fought games of gin rummy.

Despite my reluctance to wager a bet, it is almost impossible to play mah-jong in China without gambling, so agree to keep the stakes low.

The very best way to learn how to play mah-jong is to sit with Chinese friends and ask them to play a demonstration game.

Ask them to turn their pieces upwards so you can see what everybody is doing.

If you can explain to your Chinese friends that you're keen to play with them, and you have plenty of cash to burn, your friends will be only too willing to help you learn this fun game.

And they will also be very willing to relieve you of your hard-earned yuan.

Happy mah-jong playing.

(China Daily 01/31/2007 page4)