Who you are playing against
Three opponents, and you choose who sits where. They see what you see: the discards, what everyone has exposed, and their own tiles. None of them can see your tiles or the wall.
-
Daisy
Knows the rules, not the card
Daisy has just learned the game. She knows how a turn works and what a set is, but she has not learned the card, so she keeps what she happens to draw and hopes it comes to something. She will not notice what you are collecting, and she throws tiles a better player would hold on to.
Play her Your first games, or an easy game while you get used to the table.
-
Vivian
Knows the rules and the card
Vivian plays a tidy game. She knows the card, picks a hand early and keeps what that hand needs. What she does not do is watch anybody else, so she will hand you the tile you were waiting for without seeing it coming.
Play her Once you know your way around the card and want a real game rather than a lesson.
-
Mei Ling
Knows the card by heart, and is watching you
Mei Ling knows the rules inside out and the card by heart. She reads the discards, remembers what you have picked up and what you passed, and works out what you are collecting long before you finish it. She will sit on the tile you need rather than hand it over, and she changes her own hand when the table tells her to.
Play her When you want to be tested, and to find out what you have been giving away.
-
Tran
Knows the card by heart, and picks her moments
Tran reads the table the way Mei Ling does and is sharper about when to take a tile and when to let it go. She was our strongest player until Rosa came along.
Play her When Mei Ling has stopped surprising you.
-
Rosa
The strongest we have
Who you get unless you change it
Rosa learned from games played the way a real table plays: once you put a set face up, it stays exactly as it is. She reads the discards, keeps the tile you need, and wins more often than Tran against the same opponents.
Play her When Tran has stopped surprising you.
You can mix them
Every chair is set on its own, so you can put Daisy on your left and Mei Ling across from you. The table says who is who, and the log calls them by name. Our own tables run mixed on purpose: when everybody plays well nobody makes an interesting mistake, and the move of the day comes out of those games.
These are names for the program, not people. The names around your table, Ruth and Marilyn and the rest, are drawn fresh for each deal, so a seat is somebody to remember rather than a compass point.