Pokémon and Mahjong Tile Games

Aside from being a fan of Pokémon, I'm also a fan of mahjong tile games and all its related variants. This is an area where the influence of Pokémon is relatively little, but perhaps could be considered.

Let's start off with the tile-matching games, the one that most people think of when thinking of mahjong; it goes by a lot of different names and trademarks, but the point of the game is to match tiles and is not mahjong proper. Pokémon could be easily adapted to this - 36 of the most popular Pokémon, for example, could be placed on four tiles each for a total of 144 tiles, the same number in a full Chinese mahjong set (with seasons and flowers). This works for the regular tile-matching games with different layouts and the open sides matching rule, but there is another tile-matching game where this already has prominence involving Pokémon.

A different rule for the tile-matching games involves tiles spread out in a single layer (sometimes two or more) and demands players to match any two tiles so long as their open sides can be connected by a path that traverses no more than two bends; games utilizing these rules are part of the Four Rivers (Shisen-Sho) family. One particular incarnation of this game does involve tiles with Pokémon on them, and furthermore, as the player matches tiles, the player also reveals a background image of Mewtwo. As you might expect, this game is wholly and completely unofficial, but nonetheless it is amusing for any Pokémon fan.

As for proper mahjong, I do play it and am quite adept with it, in particular for the rule variety that I play most often now, Japanese or Riichi mahjong. While standard, traditional mahjong sets are strictly based on certain patterns, a non-standard and non-traditional set could be conceived with the addition of Pokémon images. I propose that Fire types represent the character (Crak) suit, Water types represent the pin (Dot) suit, and Grass types represent the bamboo (Bam) suit, while three Dragon types represent the dragons of each color (white, green, red), and legendary Pokémon closest to the animals of the cardinal direction animals of the Orient represent the winds (east, south, west, north). And certainly they need numerical and letter markings to make sure what they represent is clear.

Mahjong tile games are on the whole an area that is not normally connected to Pokémon, but with some work, they could both be linked, albeit unofficially. It would at least give a different and non-traditional character to these games, something that some fans, including myself, may enjoy.