Etiquette for discussing passing conventions?

[mickalot]

Is there an acceptable way to agree with partner at the start of a match what your passing conventions to opponents are? (For example, to avoid quad bombs, if you're not splitting a pair, either pass even to opponent who precedes you in the rotation and odd to opponent after you, or vice-versa.) I've had a few games where I've wondered if partner and I have reversed conventions so that we're both passing evens to the same player, so having some agreement would be helpful.

Communicating privately seems like a pretty clear no-no (I had one person attempt to do so and I shut that down immediately), but is it ok to ask/divulge your passing conventions in the table chat at the start of a match where all can see? Or is the onus on you to learn from and/or review previous games with that player?

[aesche]

I also was confused initially, but learned that there is a clear logic to what is the best convention: Assuming that you have the Mahjong, and want to wish from the guy after you what you passed, the lowest you can do so with is a 2. In consequence, one passes even to the following opponent, and uneven to the preceeding opponent.

Usually, I guess, the confusion comes from different players/countries playing card games into different directions.

I‘d still say it‘s ok to state initially, just as I‘ll tell players that pass dogs to opponents regularly (edge cases as GT calls and no winner excluded) that this is no good strategy. I don‘t think it should be the goal of the game to win because one pair is more tuned on conventions than the other.

[Flashes_of_Light]

Is there an acceptable way to agree with partner at the start of a match what your passing conventions to opponents are?

Yes.

In table chat window, type the following...

Option 1——>“My passing convention: even to the player going after me, odd to the player going before me”

Option 2——>“My passing convention: even to the player going before me, odd to the player going after me”

(I personally go with option 1).