Friday 4th April: The Battle of Kodama

I knew it was going to be one of those epic nights at the mahjong table when I received this photo from Jaime. It shows the hand that Noda went out on at Nobu's expense. It is a beautiful hand. Of course, Noda was Oya at the time and won 49,000 points! 

Nobu is a recent recruit to the Cockseye Mahjong Club and is serving his apprenticeship as Noda's stooge. I mean, anybody who has played with Noda for any amount of time would take one look at his discard row and keep all his bamboo tiles locked safely away in his hand. 

Noda went out on Ryuisoh, which scores Yakuman (48,000 for Oya). His hand also happens to have Tanyao, Honitsu, Sananko (although it looks as if it was "open"), but they are not scored because of Yakuman.

Ryuisoh is a relatively uncommon Yaku, at least in our games, consisting of "green tiles"only, that is, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8-Bamboo and the Green Dragon (Hatsu).

Anyway, here is Jaime's report from, sent in straight from the front:

Saturday 5th April 2008 On an unseasonal warm spring morning ninety years ago the 2nd Battle of the Somme’s guns embraced silence and the carnage, misery and despair of a hideous war started its slow creep towards its own demise. It was therefore slightly appropriate that on the 90th anniversary of such a miserable day, further destruction was inflicted ad memoriam on the green baize of the mahjong table. After the false ceasefire of the late winter months, the behemoth returned with a savagery rarely witnessed in living memory. Noda had returned, his Persian training regime of the last two months honing a poisonous ability to inflict pain at his opponents weakest point. Nobu, Ray and Jaime embracing Pantites, Aristodemus and Leonidas at Thermopylae, held the breach gallantly, but like Cnut on the shore, they could not prevent the tide from claiming its right. For over six and a half hours the protagonists struggled, only once when the battle was lost a brief respite hard won stopped the hemorrhaging. In the five games played, Noda (like Xerxes) destroyed all that opposed and forgave none that dared entered the fray. True to historical myth, Pantites (Nobu) committed mahjong suicide, Aristodemus (Ray) suffered some small permanent loss, but managed to stand as a survivor. Leonidas (Jaime obviously), led the attack bravely, but ultimately was doomed as his resistance could not hold back the mechanical onslaught with his bare hands alone. He fell, not once drinking from the chalice of victory. In the 3rd game of the night, Pantites championing his heritage was riichi. Xerxes too prowling in the shadows (as oya) was reading himself for the pounce, as Aristodemus was taking a breather (yet again!) from battle; it was left to brave Leonidas to stem the rivers of blood. He tried gallantly, cuts and abrasions severely restricting his movement, he readied himself for the inevitable. Twice tiles were thrown with deep suspicion that Pantites would pounce (calculating that would be less painful than Xerxes), yet somehow through the fates of the Gods, Leonidas prevailed. Pantites then threw a bamboo tile of green and his doom was sealed. Xerxs, showing no mercy smashed Pantites with furious venom and claimed a yakuman hand with Ryuisoh. 49,000 points were handed over and Pantites fought for breath. Only then did Leonidas, thinking what could have been, notice that Pantites had in fact commited ritual suicide. The previous tile to the one that had skewed him, a non-descript 2 of coins, would have been enough to claim a pyrrhic of Leonidas, alas the fortunes of war! After five vicious, brutal encounters, the night drew to a close, the broken spirits of men and beast littered the blood flooded planes of the mahjong table. Xerxes marches forth, can an ancient mythical hero be found to stop his megalomaniac march? Result: Noda +4 +34 +181 +40 -5 +254 === Ray +35 -24 -11 +13 -27 -14 Jaime -39 -13 -18 -48 -1 -119 Nobu --- +3 -152 -5 +33 -121 Jaime