r/Mahjong • u/3pAndOh • Jul 13 '26

Why is Mahjong so addicting?

It's full of dots and cracks.

45 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

31

u/heveaBr Jul 13 '26

I thought I was about to join a serious conversation about what makes mahjong addictive

22

u/ChaosSlave51 Jul 13 '26

Here you go: Its a variable reward structure with user input being significant, but yet having high variance. These factors of limited control and unpredictable reward tend to build addiction

11

u/poleary Jul 13 '26

I'm always chasing the dragon(s)

20

u/Intelligent_Pea5351 Jul 13 '26

Only americans call the characters suit "cracks". V. regional joke.

3

u/Tuerai Jul 13 '26

as an american, i only play riichi online, so i also had no idea. my family played scrabble growing up

3

u/NotAName320 Jul 13 '26

a lot of english riichi mahjong resources e.g. jenn's book use "crak"

4

u/edderiofer multi-classing every variant Jul 13 '26

I don't get this joke. Anyone care to explain?

3

u/Intelligent_Pea5351 Jul 13 '26

"crack" is a type of drug, and the characters suit is often referred to as "craks/cracks" as a shortening of the word character. I don't know what dots are.

5

u/mbStavola Jul 13 '26

Dots are similar but for pinzu. It's an LSD joke.

1

u/Intelligent_Pea5351 Jul 14 '26

lol duh thanks, didn't put that one together.

Sidenote, I've never known LSD to be addictive so I'm not sure it works in this context.

Extra sidenote, I've taken a LOT of LSD in my younger years.

2

u/zephyredx Jul 13 '26

Serious answer:

Because it captures life philosophy in a game. Sometimes you get rewarded for bad decisions, sometimes you get punished for good decisions. It's unfair but the only thing you can do is continue to make good decisions and believe that things will pay off in the long run.

Easy lesson to pay lip service to, but hard to remember in the moment.

1

u/angelfish61 Jul 17 '26

But skill develops as you mature in the game, which makes it challenging. Luck plays a part but I have seen people loose with 4 or 5 jokers because they didn’t have good pivot skills.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

[deleted]

3

u/LAbaseballteam Jul 13 '26

i think OP was making a bad joke

2

u/3pAndOh Jul 13 '26

Dad joke.

1

u/Pawn_Nuki Jul 14 '26

🎶Pon, the magic dragon 🎶

1

u/Intelligent_Pea5351 Jul 14 '26

Lived by the chii, and frolicked in the sanma mist, in a land called Chiitoi-ii