Book excerpt: This book is designed for those familiar with the game who now want to improve their skills and maybe teach others to play. The illustrations are all in colour to simplify identification of the various hands -- 55 in all. The calculator in the back cover makes scoring simple. The modern Western game of Mah Jong has evolved from the original Chinese game, first recorded about 500BC. Mah Jong is played in slightly different forms in many countries around the world. Once the basic structure of the game is mastered players find no difficulty in adapting to another version of the game.