What is pinball?

• Pinball is a game consisting of knocking a ball around a board with a series of strikers
• The criteria is score as many points without the ball going out of bounds, usually at the base of the pinball board

How to play the game?

• Pinball machines are predominantly coin machines in game arcades, entertainment & gambling centres
• Insert coins to start the game
• Release a long striker along the side to launch the ball into the pinball board
• The ball would roll over certain paths, but eventually would roll down to the base
• A series of two or more strikers are used by the player to strike the ball to control its movement & the score
• These strikers are located at the base, with some optional ones at the middle & top of the board, it depends on the type of pinball machine played
• At more advanced stages, multiple balls might appear to add to the challenge
• A typical pinball board

So what’s about this game?

• It has proved to be quite addictive to some players in the following ways:

1. Appeals to the playful – flashy, attractive sounds & motion
2. Appeals to the challenger – striking & banging to keep the ball(s) in play, & score more points
3. Appeals to the competitor – compete with adversaries for fun, challenge or rewards
4. Appeals to the thrifty – relatively cheap & if the player is competent enough, long playing time
5. Appeals to the idealist – pinball games are nothing but simple hit-and-roll without the attractive power of a story line

• Each pinball game is actually designed with a plot & game path in mind
• The scores are tabulated according to the ability of the player to control the ball(s) to hit the locations in line with the story line – with more points at certain hard-to-hit locations & fewer points at those hit-all-you-want targets
• The plot would also cater to the ball(s) movement & target hits, leading the player along
• In essence, pinball is a cognitively reinforcing game – it rewards correct ball(s) control with points, music, story development & sometimes video; it punishes with a psychologically-devastating method, the end-of-game
• Through this reinforcement, once the game starts, the player has to conform to the rules & be annihilated yet addicted
• The player would feel a sense of longing & desire, not only as a challenge, but also to know more about the story development
• In short, the player is led by the nose once the coins are in
• Of course, anyone can just walk away, but how many would really give up on something they pay & crave for?
• Are you one?

Pinball conclusions

• A downright simple game with ball(s) to control
• Marketing with story development & packaging highlight the competitive advantage
• Pinball leads to a game hinged on chance, but masked with the player seemingly in control
• Chance leads to betting & desire
• Desire leads to habits
• Habits leads to thoughtlessness
• Thoughtlessness leads to deterioration of the mental faculty
• Deterioration leads to dampening of the spirit
• Spirit dampening leads to addiction to ironically sustain the deterioration
• Addiction leads to attachment
• Attachment leads to supernormal profits for makers

What is mahjong?

• Mahjong is predominantly oriental game consisting of four players with about 200 tiles carved with various symbols
• The criteria to winning is to manage & produce a series of tile symbols that fits any of a range of winning configurations
• Each player plays with thirteen tiles, unless mahjong events are evoked
• Mahjong events are special matches of private & public tiles that present a rare chance of happening, in terms of the entire collection of mahjong tiles

How to play the game?

• In line with the rules of mahjong:
• With all four players seated according to the East-Notrh-West-South directions, all the tiles are checked & shuffled thoroughly & noisy (for the atmoshpere)
• Each player stacks up each tile group (consists of 2 rows of tiles) with all tiles facing down
• The four stacked tile groups are aligned to form a windmill & two dices are thrown within the centre enclosed space to determine the order of playing & location of the picking up the tiles
• Each player picks up 13 tiles with a total of 52 tiles used & the rest still in stacked form
• The first player dictated by the dice roll would start off by throwing an unwanted tile in the centre space, with the tile facing up & exposed
• Then the mahjong play plot begins in non-linear fashion:
• Once a tile is thrown out, mahjong events can be triggered:

1. The next player in order can choose to pick up the tile that has just been thrown or pick up one from the tile stack (default)
2. Any of the other 3 players can shout out a mahjong command to reserve the thrown tile before the other eligible players; this player would pick up the thrown tile for events like pong, gang, etc. (immediately draws rewards)

• After picking up a tile, whether thrown or default, a player must throw a tile into the centre space, exposed
• This would in turn another round of mahjong events, thus with each round, there is the possibility of playing in the default order or mahjong event order
• Eventually, a player (winner) would manage & produce a tile configuration that fits one of many winning criteria
• Winner takes all – the other 3 players split the losses according to the fitness of their tile configurations

Then, what’s about this game?

• Mahjong is not simple & has multiple facets for both players & audience:

1. Atmosphere: loud, noisy, ambient & chatty, great for mingling
2. Fun: suitable for all ages, as long as the rules are followed; people can easily join in
3. Durable: like card & board games, players are able to play for extended period
4. Challenge: to win mahjong needs luck, strategy & understanding of adversaries; the winner takes all
5. Appeals to mechanists: for people to focus on their hand (tile configuration) & get the winning configuration before the adversaries
6. Appeals to socialists: for people to observe, experiment & understand people skills through the hand of mahjong
7. Appeals to strategists: for people to create & crave out a niche for themselves within the mahjong operational framework
8. Appeals to audience: for people to watch, join & yet maintain competitive silence as respect & the young to learn
9. Appeals to luck: for people to work & wait for luck to arrive

• Mahjong can appeal to various types of people, thus its popularity amongst the Chinese & Japanese
• It is becoming a global game as more people are attracted to it

What’s difference with pinball?

• Like pinball, mahjong can be addictive & more:

1. Mahjong is a group game, thus the cognitively reinforcing aspect is enhanced not only by the game itself, but also the other players as well as audience
2. Winner takes all is very attractive, unlike pinball where the coin is definitely gone
3. Mahjong play is non-linear & each mahjong game is quite different & varies with the players
4. Due to its wide availability (in hard tiles, cards or software), least cost (cost of the hardware), durability, communal attraction & multiple appeals, more people can be attracted & get addicted – both mechanical & intellectual

Mahjong conclusions

• Mahjong allows for more developed game play than pinball & depends largely on the players, less on chance (as many are led to believe)
• Essentially, its attraction or addiction lies in its rewards
• Playing with a group of friends but with conflicting objectives (to win) is quite interesting & reflective of society
• To take mahjong basically, to win by forming the winning configurations also require skills, luck & sometimes help
• To take mahjong adventurously, playing with strategy promotes thoughtfulness – a pitfall to avoid is the promotion & practice of shrewdness, slyness & desire for pure luck
• Communally it is fun, but is too often taken off balance – the noise becomes persistent, incessant & disturbing; attachment, craving for luck, desire to just win & not learn, disturbance of neighbours
• It is often said that the addiction of mahjong is no different from that of opium (as in the Opium War); it represents a degrading, deteriorating & demoralising force that stems not from the exterior but from the hearts of people – Greed

Last words

• Pinball & mahjong are just games which people invent to entertain themselves
• Let’s not stray too far from this intention
• Avoid extremes at all costs or rewards
• Balance desire with thoughtfulness