Interesting idea, but sometimes the associations feel a bit arbitrary. Also, I'm unsure about the "mahjong" presentation: since the game shuffles automatically when you're out of options and never leaves you in a dead end, the player is incentivized to minimize the amount of options they have at any given time, since that makes the game easier.

Both your points are solid. I think I'm pretty liberal about opposites, I can see opposites to major political and cultural figures too. You are right that the mahjong presentation loses rigor if there's not enough downside from choosing the wrong sequence. The mobile mahjong games often have a small fill-tray so the player needs to really focus on the sequence.