Blog
Writing about Turkic myth, tamgas and how a mahjong game gets built.
Three realms, seven layers, nine layers: where the numbers come from
Balbal's thirty floors are not an arbitrary number. Why the underworld has seven and the sky has nine — and why the middle world grows sideways.
What "every board is solvable" means, and how it is guaranteed
Unsolvable boards are a familiar complaint in mahjong solitaire. Balbal does not deal at random and hope — it generates the solution first and builds the board from it.
What is a tamga? Writing that is recognised, not read
A clan's mark, struck on animals, rock, carpets and coins. Not an alphabet, though an alphabet grew from it — and it branches like a family tree.
What is a balbal? The stones standing in rows on the steppe
The stone figures set beside a kurgan, two readings of what they are, and why a mahjong game took its name from them.