So lately I've been playing a lot of 天九. I discovered a nice little java applet that has decent AI. Aside from a few quirky rules (and the omission of a few rules I'm sure many would consider quirky), it's a pretty accurate representation of the game I grew up with. Each year around Chinese New Year--and at random times throughout the year if I was lucky--we'd gather around the old dining room table at my grandparents apartment for ouur family game. My father's generation had grown up cherishing the same tradition and now it had been passed on to me. Grandma, an uncle or an aunt, my dad, and I would sit around the mahogany table intently shuffling the glossy black tiles in our hands. To the chorus of clacking tiles and frequent laughter, we'd play late into the night, continuing on "just a few more rounds" past everyone's bedtimes. By the end, I was always exhausted but knew that there was no other way I'd rather have spent my time. I have so many good memories of the game. I picture the cunning smile that surfaced on my grandmother's face when she had saved just the right tile to 結起 and win the round. I hear my uncle talking on and on about how he almost could have swept the round. I think it was when I played 天九 that I felt most connected to my extended family, bound by the arcane set of rules in a game of oversized dominoes that would seem odd to the uninitiated. Playing on the computer isn't nearly the same as sharing the evening with family but I do thoroughly enjoy it. While I'll never get to play with my grandmother or that uncle again, each hand helps me cherish what great times we had and relish the familial bonds that grew even stronger with the help of 32 plastic tiles. But I guess playing the computer is nicer in one aspect: against the computer, I actually get to win once in a while! (Before stopping at round 600 to restart my computer, I took this screenshot.)