This month, Mahjong time is spotlighting Martin Scheichenbauer (username: nobody), a player who has been at Mahjong Time since 2005! Martin holds the highest MORSE rating in the world, along with 2 black belts at Mahjong Time (MCR and RCR). Hailing from Austria, Martin won the Second Italian Open at Mahjong Time, along with many live victories such as winning of the Open Hungarian Championship! Mahjong Time got the chance to ask Martin a few questions to get to know him better:

Q: How did you originally discover multiplayer Mahjong?
A: I can not remember.

Q: How much time do you spend playing Mahjong?
A: That varies a lot. There are days when I am playing a lot and then not even one deal for a few days. It depends also on the players who are online.

Q: How long have you played at Mahjong Time?
A: I started to play on MJT in November 2005.

Q: What do you like most about Mahjong Time?
A:There are a lot of players from all over the earth to play with. I am able to play there 24/7 whenever I am in to mood to play.

Q: How long did it take you to learn and become as good as you are at Mahjong? Was it easy?
A: It took me a few weeks to understand the MCR rules really. It has not been so easy because I have been an autodidact without players around. In the first time it has been a little strange to work with the low number of points after being used to add 1000's of them. Otherwise, if I would not have found the MCR rules I would not play MJ anymore.

Q: What advice would you give to Mahjong players who are just starting out?
A: Play whereever. ask for help whomever.

Q: What other interests/hobbies do you have in addition to Mahjong?
A: I am doing "easy" exercises like inline-skating, ice-skating,  juggling and cross-country skiing but all without the aim to reach a high level. I am also playing GO.

Q: Which style of Mahjong do you like best? Why is this your favorite?
A: MCR, because those are the sole rules where you can also win with somehow useless tiles.

Q: Tell us more about yourself! What would other Mahjong Time players be surprised to know about you?
A: I am terrible in mathematics and I do not have really a strategy when playing. Often I know when I will lose on discarding a tile but I am doing that with contempt of death. :-)

Q: Looking back on your Mahjong Time experience, what would you say was your favorite tournament to play in?
A: Honestly: There is no one.