So You Think Today's Rules are Confusing....

The rules published by the National Mah Jongg League have evolved over time. The old rules books are fascinating reads for anyone interested in that evolution. Certainly changes were necessary when the League added 8 jokers to the set in 1960, but new jokers aside, did you know ...

That the NMJL used to be in sync with the Chinese rule that if there was a Wall Game, East did not shift to the next player? So that a Round could have more than 4 games? 

OR 

That at one point, East was paid double for a win?

OR

That if you had an exposure that originally had a joker in it but that joker was later exchanged, your hand was NOT considered jokerless if you won?

OR

That if a joker was discarded, a player had to call it the name of the previous discard? And that another player could call that joker? Well, the League wasn't that generous. A player couldn't call the joker but a player could call the natural tile named when the joker was discarded and would claim the tile discarded just before the joker. If two jokers were discarded back to back, a player could NOT call that natural tile with the second joker discarded. In other words, years ago the League called a properly named and discarded tile "covered" (meaning it was no longer eligible for being called; it was dead). And there was an exception to that rule: Discarding a joker left that natural tile discarded just before the joker "uncovered" allowing a player to call the natural tile when that joker was then discarded. But that second joker discarded in succession then resulted in the first joker "covering" the natural tile making the natural tile well and truly dead. Today, we play that as soon a a tile is racked (after being picked from the wall or from a called discard), the previous discard is dead.

And you thought the modern rules were confusing!