1. What is Zung Jung mahjong?
Zung Jung is a modern rules system developed by Alan Kwan. It takes all the best developments of modern mahjong, particularly the rich variety of yaku from Riichi mahjong, and synthesizes them into a much more logical, deliberate set of rules. It means "The MiddLE Way" in Confucian doctrine.
2. Why is Zung Jung better than Riichi?
- No excessive emphasis on closed hands.
- Hand values are actually balanced towards the difficulty of achieving them. There aren't any "bad yaku," where the point value is out of line with the difficulty of achieving it (ex., chanta in Riichi).
- Less random luck which doesn't add to the game's strategy (no ura dora, double riichi, ippatsu riichi, etc).
- A much more elegant set of rules, without tons of archaic exceptions (ex., abortive draws)
3. Where can I learn more about it?
http://home.netvigator.com/~tarot/Mahjong/ZungJung/#EnglishI personally recommend playing Zung Jung with minimum point requirements = 5 and standard score value = 0. This best captures the feel of "like Riichi, but better." It's how I always play mahjong with my friendS IRL.