One of my housemates wanted to play Mah-Jongg yesterday, and by a miracle we were all home and awake, so I broke out my set and we played several hands. At the rate we were playing, a full cycle (20ish hands) would have taken four hours or so, I think, which is a while, but we play games that long all the time anyways. Everyone seemed to have fun, even if the person who really wanted to play didn't manage to win a single hand (and also lost at Mississippi Queen and Carcassonne: Hunters and Gathers).
The one mistake I made was trying to score the hands. This involved trying to explain things like the winds. ("Hmm. Set of west winds. That's four points, plus a double." "Why's it a double?" "Well, he's east, and you're sitting opposite him, so you're west." "I have a set of south winds. Is that a double?" "No, you're sitting in the north seat. North and south are backwards from the way you expect. No, really." "You're making this up.") But having gotten that far, special hands weren't that much of a surprise. ("So, if you make a set of four, you draw an extra tile. If you use that extra tile to make another set of four, you get another extra tile. And if you use that extra tile to win...") The game was likened to Mao. Which isn't entirely true; the play is fairly straightforward, and I can explain all of the rules, and we can talk. It's just the scoring that's obscure.
The one mistake I made was trying to score the hands. This involved trying to explain things like the winds. ("Hmm. Set of west winds. That's four points, plus a double." "Why's it a double?" "Well, he's east, and you're sitting opposite him, so you're west." "I have a set of south winds. Is that a double?" "No, you're sitting in the north seat. North and south are backwards from the way you expect. No, really." "You're making this up.") But having gotten that far, special hands weren't that much of a surprise. ("So, if you make a set of four, you draw an extra tile. If you use that extra tile to make another set of four, you get another extra tile. And if you use that extra tile to win...") The game was likened to Mao. Which isn't entirely true; the play is fairly straightforward, and I can explain all of the rules, and we can talk. It's just the scoring that's obscure.