I wanted to see how Johanna liked Phantom Rummy, so we played a game. It wasn’t quite a success — we aborted after three rounds when Johanna was leading 8-4.

I wasn’t quite sure she’d like the game to begin with… She likes Mhing, but is Phantom Rummy similar enough? Or too similar? As it turned out, Phantom Rummy wasn’t interesting enough compared to Mhing.

There was an interesting psychological aspect, too. As anybody who has played Mhing or Mahjong knows, a large share of the game is about drawing and discarding useless stuff. That is the case with Phantom Rummy, as well.

Johanna felt annoyed when she had to draw and discard cards she knew were useless (as the cards are drafted from an open selection). It’s no big deal when you get a mystery card and it’s useless, but when you get to choose one from three useless cards, that’s annoying to her. That was interesting.

Also, smaller hand means less room to manage cards, which Johanna didn’t like. It’s funny; I like Mhing and Phantom Rummy, Johanna likes Mhing but not Phantom Rummy — it’s not automatic connection at all.