Sunday, January 24, 2010

Jan 2010 - Noda Breaks 3 Yearly Records In Two Weeks!

A quick glance at our 3 player mahjong scoreboard for 2010 will show that Noda is registered as having achieved the highest score so far this year, the best result AND the worst result after just two evenings of play.

  • Higest score = Noda +124
  • Lowest score = Jaime -89
  • Best result = Noda +124
  • Worst result = Noda -96

Friday January 15th


The first game took place on January 15th amid the smog of cigar smoke as David and Jaime puffed away in celebration of David's birthday.

Those two had spent the previous couple of hours in Kemby's along with Noda, Ray, Tim (and his new Kindle), Don, Alex, Tim. The cigars had been procured from the upstairs bar, which really deserves to be better frequented as one of the few cigar bars in town. A worrying sign was that the number of cigars available was considerably fewer than the range of cigars on offer on the menu...

Don accompanied the mj players back to Kodama and was present at the brief prize-giving ceremony in which Noda was awarded a natty Saint Andrew's golf tin containing a divot tool and ball place markers and Nobu was awarded a chopstick rest in the form of a DUCK. (There are five more chopstick rest ducks available for award ceremonies for the years 2010-2014.)

David presents Nobu with the 2009 3PMJ DUCK!

The air was thick with chatter and smoke, so it is no surprise really that Noda started the year as strongly as he finished the previous one.

The amazing thing is that David managed to get into double figures on the beer front, go through two cigars and end up in his favoured position of "second and in the black".

Noda +33, +91, --, --, -- = +124
David --, -14, +36, -14, +3 = +11
===
Ray -2, --, +3, +21, -23 = -1
Nobu -24, 0, -22, --, -- = -46
Jaime -7, -76, -17, -7, +20 = -88

Friday January 22nd

The second evening of play was a much quieter affair as far as the peripheral activities are concerned and all the activity was focused on mj play.

Noda, David and Jaime got through six games in the evening. David ran away with the first game at Jaime's expense. Noda threatened to take over in the second but was contained.

We changed seats. Noda moved into the unoccupied seat to his left and David and Jaime switched places. David continued to do well, but the real focus of play shifted as Jaime recovered from the minus 90s and Noda languished and even got caught with his Yakitori on the table, the first of the year!

The score sheet was left at Kodama, but the final reckoning was as follows:

David +97
===
Jaime -1
Noda -96**

** Yakitori

David Hurley
Japanese Mahjong

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Monday, January 11, 2010

Noda's Mahjong Parlour Putsch

Here is a belated history of the 2009 winter campaign at the Cock's-Eye Mahjong Club.

The last time I wrote anything here, Noda had got into second place while David was shedding points and defending gains and Hide was also threatening to take the crown.

Noda's year-end winning streak continued to the end and he was in first place by the close of play on 9th November, the 85th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch, while David performed a belly flop under fire.

The following week, Noda's "march on Berlin" saw him break the highest score record for the year.

On St Nicholas' Eve Noda won again, but Santa Claus was kind to Jaime, who finally managed to finish an evening in positive territory and began something of a mini-revival.

Jaime's winter offensive rolled on, and over the lightly defended American sector commanded by Kenyon, who made a rare visit to the front on 10th December.

Would Sepp Dietrich really achieve a breakthrough and reach the sea before the end of the year?

On 14th December Noda's advance continued, while David suffered a treble disaster in a single game by committing TWO chombos and ending up skewered with a Yakitori on the table and began to wonder if he would finish the year in the black after all... It was the siege of Bastogne all over again!

"Surrender?"

"NUTS."

And the evening was salvaged with a last game revival.

David's two
chombos were his first of the year, but not his last...

By now it was clear that Noda would be the winner. The questions remaining were, "Who will finish in second place?" and, "How far will Sepp Dietrich get before running out of fuel?".

The final game of the year was not played at Kodama, but at a new
janso near Takanobashi, Hiroshima, which Hide recommended. The janso had previously been a love hotel.

David finished top in each of the first three games and began to fondly think of a year-end shock victory over the absent Noda when he threw away the West tile...

Hide cried "Ron" and revealed Tsuuiisoo (4 Winds). David had to pay out 64,000 for the hand... and his winter counter offensive came to a halt, although he had made up enough ground to finish the year in second on +303 points, enough to keep Hide at bay.

David gets caught by Hide's Tsuiisoo (4 Winds) hand.

Nobu joined us and broke the year's bottom record in a single game.

Sepp Dietrich's advance was hampered by lack of fuel and clear weather. His armour was blasted in a series of air strikes from Hide and David. Jaime abandoned his panzers and retreated on foot...

So the year ended as it always ends, with Noda on top.


Name
PlayedChomboYakitoriScore
Noda
80
2
0
+494
David
91
3
6
+303
Hide
50
0
0
+278
Koji
5
0
0
+143
Neil
3
0
0
+94
Ray
13
0
0
+77
Kenyon
21
0
0
+61
Kiyo
1
0
0
-39
Jezz
6
1
0
-44
Yasu
4
1
0
-152
Jaime
96
6
3
-469
Nobu
30
7
2
-746


David Hurley
Japanese-Mahjong.com

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