Mahjong

Mahjong is a game that originated in China, commonly played by four players. While the single player tile matching game mahjong solitaire is familiar in the West, in Asia it is the four-player table version which holds predominance and has little in common with the solitaire version other than using the same tiles. Similar to the Western card game rummy, mahjong is a game of skill, strategy and calculation and involves a certain degree of chance.

The game is played with a set of 136 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols, although some regional variations use a different number of tiles. In most variations, each player begins by receiving thirteen tiles. In turn players draw and discard tiles until they complete a legal hand using the fourteenth drawn tile to form four groups (melds) and a pair (head). There are fairly standard rules about how a piece is drawn, stolen from another player and thus melded, the use of simples (numbered tiles) and honours (winds and dragons), the kinds of melds, and the order of dealing and play. However there are many regional variations in the rules; in addition, the scoring system and the minimum hand necessary to win varies significantly based on the local rules being used.

3 suits (108 titles)

There are three different suits numbered 1 to 9, which are called simple tiles. They are bamboo, characters (or myriads), and circles (or dots).

Circles
Number 1 to 9, 4 tiles each

Bamboos
Number 1 to 9, 4 tiles each

Characters
Number 1 to 9, 4 tiles each

4 Winds (16 titles)

East (E), South (S), West (W), North (N)(4 tiles each)

3 Dragons (12 titles)
Red (C), Green (F), White (P)(4 tiles each)

Choosing the first dealing and taking positions at the table

The dealer is chosen by various means, either by throwing dice (the highest total takes the east wind) or placing one of each wind face down and having each player randomly select one of these tiles. Each player sits down at their respective position at the table, which is of the reversed map: East is dealer, the right of the dealer is South, across is West and the left is North. The order becomes counterclockwise

HOW TO PLAY

 Building the wall

First build the wall as shown, with each of the four players building their side

 Breaking the wall

Next each player rolls two dice, the player with the highest roll is known as the “East,” (东   dōng,  also known as the dealer  庄家  zhuāng jia) 3 .

The East player rolls the dice again. The total of the two dice decides which wall to break, as counted clockwise starting with themselves. So, a roll of three would be opposite the first player (one for the player’s position, two is the person on their left, three is the person opposite).

Then the lowest number of the two dice decides where exactly to break the wall, counting in from the nearest (clockwise) end of the wall (that is, for whichever player is sitting at that side of the wall, it would be on their right hand).

This might sound a bit tricky, but to give an example:

A roll of a one and a four. With a total of five the East player is to break their own wall, and the lowest roll was one, so they start one tile in from their right

After the first game, whoever won the last game is now East and gets to break the wall.

Taking your tiles

The East player is the first to take their tiles, and they take a stack of four. Going anti-clockwise round the table, each player takes four tiles until everyone has 12 tiles in their hand.

Then the East player takes two tiles off the end of the wall, like this:

(The East player gets one tile extra because they have to discard one tile to start the game).

The remaining three players take one tile each in sequence.

Now that each player has a hand of 13 tiles you can begin the game.

Playing the game

For the first turn in the game, the East player discards one tile.

After this, standard play begins. Each player picks up one tile, and chooses a tile to discard (the discarded tile can be the one they have just taken). Play continues anti-clockwise, with the player on the right taking the next turn.

Usually, players pick up a tile from the remaining wall.

However, instead of picking up a tile from the wall, there are three alternative moves that can be made: peng, kong and chow

Pong/ Pung  is a set of three identical tiles. For example

You can form a pong with any tile (except flowers as they are bonus tiles set to the side when drawn from the wall). The tiles must be identical (you cannot mix suits).

Kong is a set of four identical tiles. For example:

Consider a Kong the same as a Pong/ Pung with an additional tile to make a set of four. There are three ways to form a Kong. At any point during a players turn, if they have all four matching tiles in their hand, they may declare the Kong. They do so by revealing the meld and placing two pieces in the middle face up and two pieces on the ends face down. This is called a concealed or hidden kong. It is worth noting as having several concealed pongs and/or kongs are worth points. If another player discards a tile and a player has the other three matching tiles in their hand, they may take it and create a melded (stolen) Kong. The player does this by placing the three tiles down and the fourth tile on top of the middle one. The final way to make a Kong is if a pong/ pung has already been melded and the player draws the fourth from the wall. They may add the fourth piece on top of the middle tile in the melded pong/ pung. If a pong/ pung has been melded a player cannot steal the fourth piece if another player discards it.

In any case, whenever a Kong is formed, the player must draw an extra tile from the end of the wall and then discard a tile. Kongs count extra for scoring purposes.

Chow  is a meld of three suited tiles in sequence. For example

meld must be in absolute numerical sequence. There is no skipping of numbers, nor does 9 loop around to 1. The sequence must be in the same suit. Honours, flowers and seasons cannot be used to make chows. A player can steal a discard to form a chow from the player prior to them in order if no one else needs the tile to make pongs/ pungs or kongs. When stealing a discard, winning precedes merely making melds.

Eyes, also known as a pair, are two identical tiles which are a component to the standard hand. The eyes cannot be declared or formed with a discard except if completing the pair completes the hand. For example

Winning

When a player picks up their final tile completing a winning hand, they shout HU LE! (  和了   hú le) and put that tile face up next to their concealed tiles. Some of the sets will still be concealed because they were made by tiles drawn from the wall – these concealed sets are not revealed until everyone has gone out. Sichuan mahjong is often played as a “Battle to the Bloody End,” ( 血战到底  xuè zhàn dào dǐ ) so when one player goes out the three remaining carry on. Then when the next player goes out the two remaining fight it out.

Scoring

Methods of scoring are different everywhere, but as an example here is how scoring works in Beijing:

If the winning tile is drawn from the wall ( 自摸  zì mō) all the players who have not yet gone out have to give the winner money.

If the winning tile is taken from a discard, the player who discarded that tile is the only one that has to pay the winner.he also have to help the other three to pay the winner

Example winning hands

 Below are examples of winning hands, which are split into melds and a pair for clarity. A winning hand must consist of four melds and a pair (with special patterns available), and must score the agreed table minimum as well
————

Hand formed with pongs and the eyes (pair) of East wind. Only bamboo is used (no other simples) scoring extra points (clean hand). No chows are used (all pong/kong hand scoring extra points).

Dragon tiles:
++

You are waiting for Or

Beijing Mahjong
Beijing Mahjong have a Huner(it can represent any tile)
The East player takes two tiles off the end of the wall, like this:

(The East player gets one tile extra because they have to discard one tile to start the game).

The remaining three players take one tile each in sequence

Then the east player turn the last tile to find the Huner,like this

For example,if the tile is  ,the huner is

If the Tile is East,Then the Huner is South,if the tile is North,then the Huner is East

If the Tile is C,then the Huner is F

For Example,Huner is
—–——

You can use  represent, or  any of the tile  ,so it make the game easy to win.

Of course the different way you win will influence the money to earn,more difficult,more expensive!

For Example(you are playing with 2yuan,4yuan,8yuan style),the huner is

————

So you are waiting for another

If you are the East,and you get another  on your own,you don’t have a huner then each player give you 256rmb
If you are the east,someone else discard ,you don’t have a huner,then this player have to give you 512rmb.If you have a huner,then it is 256rmb
If you are not East,then east discard ,you don’t have a huner,then East give you 192rmb,if you have a Huner,then East give you 96rmb
Only If you Zimo,everyone have to give you money..seems complicated..