Occult mahjong

Occult mahjong or flow mahjong is a school of thought that focuses on luck and the "flow" of luck. For example, an occult style of thought believes that the luck from one hand carries over, or "flows", onto the the next.

The converse of occult mahjong is dubbed digital mahjong. A digital mindset focuses on probability and statistics. A clock analogy is used - an analog (occult) clock goes

History

Mahjong is a gambling game where luck plays a very high factor. Therefore, it is natural for superstitions to form.

Before the internet became widespread, occult mahjong was reportedly quite popular.

Occult mahjong takeways

The use of the term "occult" can be seen as pejorative - saying "occult" dismisses the entire thing as superstition. It's true that there were many silly superstitions, such as "calling to shift the lucky tiles to you". However, there are a few takeaways that can prove useful in real life play.

More specifically, it may be useful to read players and/or the room's atmosphere. It is possible to gain information by knowing players' habits, behaviors, and/or subconscious cues.

• For a more obvious example, if you know a player tends to discard hatsu after haku/chun, then that is useful.
• Emotions can be read, just like in poker. Players could be visibly excited/anxious when they have a big hand and show it through the behavior, or annoyed when they have a bad hand.
• Reading discards and getting a sense of what their hand may contain can also be considered "occult". Basic examples, like "a player discarded a lot of souzu/pinzu, so they are likely to have a manzu honitsu" can be considered part of probability. But trying to get a precise read on the hand's contents is in the realm of "occult" play.
  • Another, less clear example: "if many tiles are safe against a riichi, it's likely to have a bad wait". When thinking about probability, it makes some amount of sense. However, a digital player should think "as more tiles become safe, the dangerous tiles become more dangerous". An occult player may "sense" that a hand has an honor tanki wait and discard tiles brazenly.

As you may surmise, these tips are more useful when playing with physical tiles or with a specific group. In an online client, you'll often encounter a player once and never play them again.

External links

• Digital vs Occult