Mahjong - how to learn to play online

[Thertza]

I know I'm probably BU putting this in AIBU but I really want some guidance as to a good online resource for a total beginner

I have Shanghai mahjong free app, it’s very relaxing!

Do you have people to play with? It's a four-player activity. We play Singapore rules as taught by my granny from there which just think has more generous scoring than some.

There must be an online rule book online somewhere otherwise I can write out how I teach new people.

As in the game played with the tiles rather than the online matching game?

Finding a 3rd and 4th is our permanent challenge - would love to play more.

I managed to get one of the special hands a while back and was so thrilled (we’re real novices despite playing while).

DC are 7 and 8 now. They've played with an adult as a team mate when we've been at my parents so we have enough adults around but hoping they'll get it enough to play alone soon and we can be a 4.

Taught another couple when we were younger and pre-children and used to regularly spend Saturday nights playing till about 2am. Good times!

Pokey chips are good for scoring

I was very disappointed with online Mah Jongg , it's just glorified Pelmanism .
The real thing is my favourite game and my DC and DGC picked it up really quickly when they were very young .
The rules and various 'hands' seem endless and complicated at first but the rule book that comes with your set will be easy enough to follow .

I planned to seek out people to play with via U3A but wanted to try playing online to get the hang of it.

I started by messing around on a free games site and got the hang of the tiles and matching rules quicker than I expected. Once I felt more confident, I moved on to playing against simple AI before trying multiplayer. The visuals helped loads, especially for spotting patterns. It was way easier than trying to learn from reading instructions alone.