House Of Pi
What is the House Of Pi? It isn't really a specific building; but coincidentally, our address is "Apartment 314". The value of the mathematical constant Pi is approximately 3.14 and represents the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. The traditional MahJong symbol of the intersection of Heaven and Earth is a circle superimposed upon a square (straight lines in the directions of the Four Winds, rotating on the axis at the Centre).
In the deck of MahJongg tiles, the highest tile of superior Honours is the White Dragon, which is known as "Pai", the symbol of the mysterious. It is unlike all the simple Honours (four winds), the other two superior Honours (Red Dragon Chung and Green Dragon Fa), and the eight supreme Honours ('guardian' flowers and seasons); they all signify a direction, whereas the Pai represents the unknown course of Fate.
I acquired a set of tiles and game accessories from The Mah Jongg Maven, and they kindly included some other items. There was a key-holder with the 3~Circles ("Phoenix" constellation, symbol of Joy and Splendour). Our Pai tiles ("White~Dragon" of Mystery) have an ornately engraved border. The first tile in our deck, 1~Bamboo ("Peacock" of Success) features a drawing of a Hemp Bird, from which the Chinese words "Mah-Jong" originate. The Mah Jongg Maven also gave us a magnet with the 4~Wan ("Lute" of Music, Leisure and Relaxation) decorated with the symbol of Ten Thousand (signifying all the myriad wonders of the Universe). You can arrange these emblems as Three Dot One Four ("3.14"), which is the beginning of Pi, conceptualizing where we live and play.
So i like to say that we conduct our Mah Jong games at the "House Of Pi". It's not just a place, not just a home-- it's a state of mind. It's a union of heavenly and earthly realms. It's an environment for playing a wonderful game of Joy, Mystery, Success, and Leisure. It's an irrational constant, unending and never repeating, which describes the proportions of that union.
Here are elaborations on our games at the House of Pi:
House of Pi - Scoring - tile points, bonus Doubles, total scores, maximum limit, and basic explanation of our usual method of keeping score.
House of Pi - definitions and Fan Counting - KFC, 1Fan, 3Fan, 5Fan... these are our definitions, terminology, and usual methods of playing by various "Faan" rules.
House of Pi - Conventions and Rules - general preferences; explanation of our games for four, three, or two players; important differences between House of Pi rules, Yahoo Games, and games played elsewhere; and Official Rules About Official Rules
House of Pi - "Special Hands" - plain text description of nearly one hundred fanciful winning hands and their scoring values
My friend Alex is one of the most skillful players of 5Faan+ MahJong in the Lion's Lair at Yahoo Games. He has written a webpage with details of the Yahoo MahJong Point and Multiplier System.
See how Yahoo Games calculates scores, and examine popular methods of counting Fans at Yahoo with my Guide To Count Faan.
See a detailed page illustrating Faan calculation at Yahoo Games:
See example snapshots of hands won by me and some friends in the Lion's Lair, with details of how to count their Faan:
Flickr photos: Snapshots of Advanced tables
Play MahJong at Yahoo Games: 
If you seek me in the Lion's Lair, these are my Yahoo Profiles:
Find Kevin Hutchins' public home page here.
