But these rules - like the game itself - continue to evolve and there are now so many variations that all four participants have to agree on terms (including the amount of payout) before the dice are cast for the first round. Most Hongkongers still favour the 13-tile local rules, but another mutated strand of the game, courtesy of Canadian returnees, has been creeping into the local mahjong scene in recent years.

Video Gaming

A day indoors is a great opportunity to dust off the XBox or PlayStation and fire your imagination with some new games. Check out Golden Computer Arcade in Sham Shui Po, where you can bag the latest titles such as or, if you can wait until September 1, the highly anticipated . Don't forget to trawl the bargain bins for retro classics.

For those of you who wonder what a dystopian version of our city would look like, August 20 sees the release of , a crowdfunded RPG for PCs and Macs set in the imagined Hong Kong of 2056.

You can also get your gaming kicks at one of the city's video arcades. Head underground into Game Centre, where it's always 1995 - and always busy during the day. Peruse your options as eardrums rattle to the noise of shoddy techno music from the racing games, gunfire from , and shrieks of "GOOOOAL!" from the football consoles.

Fighting games such as and are perennial favourites, as are the more modern - and positively baffling - reaction games that seem to put players into a trance.

Games start from HK$1 per play, and go up to HK$6. Which sounds like great value, until you get hooked and realised you've spent HK$200 in an hour like we did. Totally worth it.

Cooking competitions

With food programmes increasingly popular on television, it's no surprise that people are staging their own kitchen battles.

Lip-Sync Challenge

Lip-syncing is all the rage, and with free apps such as Dubsmash (available for Apple and Android devices) anyone can get in on the fun. Sing along to clips of your favourite songs from the latest Beyoncé hit to classic Beatles ballads. The great thing about this app is the wide range of sounds to choose from.

If songs are too boring, you can dub iconic movie lines, popular advertisements and more. The sound you want isn't available? Not a problem. The app has a feature that allows you to record any sound and add it to the app's collection.

The simple share feature makes it easy to instantly send your video to your friends through Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or regular text messages. The app can only record 10 seconds of sound, so if you want to perform an entire song just do it the traditional way by playing your song in the background while recording a video. Start up some friendly competition by seeing who can do it best.

Karaoke

Few people admit to actually loving karaoke, shaking their head in faux panic as the microphone approaches their trembling hand. But once they grip that handle, all eyes watching, many will start howling like a Tina Turner wannabe. So ignore your friends' protests and organise a session. You'll be everyone's hero by the end.

Try a private room at Music Box, which carries more than 140,000 songs. Its Tsim Sha Tsui branch has rooms for up to 20 people for HK$800 an hour. The Causeway Bay branch can fit up to 16 for HK$550.

There is an afternoon promotion with free drinks for HK$200 per person, if you think you can drunkenly sing karaoke on a weekday afternoon.

If you're after something more upmarket, head to String Champagne Club in Wan Chai. Along with three VIP karaoke rooms, it has an extensive bar with champagne, wines and whiskies from around the world.

Once you're ready to show off in front of strangers as well as friends, head to your local Bar Pacific (there are scores of them around Hong Kong), where the beer is cheap and there's always a microphone or two doing the rounds.

Film/TV Marathon

We've all pulled off marathons, such as watching the trilogy in one sitting, or an entire season of . Could you get through Christopher Nolan's intense and brooding trilogy in a day? Maybe you can get in the mood for J.J. Abrams' upcoming reboot by watching the first six back-to-back. August could be the month you finally give in and binge watch

You can find all of the above on Google Play and iTunes, but if you prefer the old-fashioned method of browsing the racks, head to ABCD inside the shopping centre known to locals as "188" in Wan Chai, or the nearby Rock Gallery. These are especially good places to pick up Cantonese films ( trilogy, anyone?)

For the full effect, you'll want to get your hands on a projector. You can rent these for HK$800/day from TKP Conference Centre in Wan Chai. Or head to Comdex in Sham Shui Po's Golden Centre, where you can buy a new one from about HK$2,500.

Top it off with the quintessential cinema snack: popcorn. Garrett Popcorn inside the IFC mall does excellent takeaways; we recommend the Chicago Mix. Its combination of tangy cheese and rich caramel might raise a few eyebrows at first, but it's excellent. Just try not to be that guy who noisily rustles and crunches his way through the entire film.

Board Games

You could dust off the ever-reliable Monopoly or Scrabble, but there's a lot more to board games these days, with whole new avenues to explore.

In Eldritch Horror, up to eight players work together travelling the world, unlocking spells and clues to solve mysteries, before the ominous "doom clock" ticks down and an ancient evil is unleashed on humanity. It takes a while to get the hang of it, but is pretty compelling when things hot up. You'll need to set aside a few hours for each game. A similar but less daunting option is Pandemic, which - as the name suggests - involves players saving the world from terrifying diseases.

You can buy these games and many more at Jolly Thinkers board game cafe in Wan Chai. It has a boisterous atmosphere during weekends, and you may want to book a table. The friendly staff will always help find a fun game to suit your needs from the myriad options on their shelves. We played Geistesblitz, a card game of super-quick thinking and fast reflexes.

Doga

Check out "pets interrupting yoga" on YouTube and you will see how a serene home practice can quickly descend into a fracas between human and animal. Speaking from personal experience - I practise yoga and have two dogs at home - I'm convinced dogs have an intuitive alarm that detects (and goes off) whenever a human face is lowered to their eye level.

No matter where I am in the flat, when I get into the "downward facing dog" pose, it's only a matter of seconds before I get pounced on by my dogs, tongues/tails wagging. If you can't beat them, why not let them join you? "Doga" has been practised in this city for at least five years, with some local yoga studios occasionally offering sessions for pet-owning practitioners. It involves lifting the dog (works better with, say, a papillon than a medium-size bichon frise); massaging their back and tummy, as well as stretching your limbs and theirs. It promises to foster bonding between a pet and its owner.

Illustrations: Brian Wang