Although i have a really beautiful mahjong set at home (but not enough friends that know how to play) i was looking for mahjong sets here in Hong Kong. The whole operation was kind of disappointing as they only seem to have cheap plastic sets (the gift shops all have one bone/wood set, but that is exactly the same as the one my late grand-aunt once brought us back from China, claiming that is was ‘unique’).

However there was one set on display in a small shop next to temple street market that really caught my eye. on this set the white dragon tiles (which i have always detested) are decorated with the microsoft office logo:

Click on image for larger version and here is another shot

Unfortunately the guy in the shop did not speak english so he could not explain how microsoft office 2003 has become associated with white dragons (which – i guess – is better than dancing paper clips) and what the fuck Microsoft has got to do with Mahjong. Maybe licensing there logo for mahjong sets is their attempt to generate a bit of revenue from this corner of the city which is otherwise known for getting pirated versions of just about any Microsoft product.