How To Play Mah-Jongg
- Setting up the board
- Prevailing Wind and Game Wind
To determine the Player Game Wind (門風 or 自風), each player throws three dice (two in some variants) and the player with the highest total is chosen as the dealer or the banker (莊家). The dealer's Wind is now East, the player to the right of the dealer has South wind, the next player to the right has West and the fourth player has North. Game Wind changes after every round, unless the dealer wins. In some variations, the longer the dealer remains as the dealer, the higher the value of each hand.
The Prevailing Wind (場風) is always set to East when starting. It changes after the Game Wind has rotated around the board, that is, after each player has lost as the dealer.
A Mah-Jongg set with Winds in play will usually include a separate Prevailing Wind marker (typically a die marked with the Wind characters in a holder) and a pointer that can be oriented towards the dealer to show Player Game Wind. In sets with racks, a rack may be marked differently to denote the dealer.
These winds are also significant as winds are often associated with a member of a Flower tile group, typically 1 with East, 2 with South, 3 with West, and 4 with North.
- Dealing tiles
All tiles are placed face down and shuffled. Each player then stacks a row of tiles two deep in front of him, the length of the row depending on the number of tiles in use:
136 tiles: 17 tiles for all players
144 tiles: 18 tiles for all players
148 tiles: 19 tiles for dealer and player opposite, 18 for rest
152 tiles: 19 tiles for all players
The dealer throws three dice and sums up the total. Counting counterclockwise so that the dealer is '1', a player's row is chosen. Starting at the right edge, 'sum' tiles are counted and shifted to the right.
The dealer now takes a block of 4 tiles to the left of the divide.
The player to the dealer's right takes 4 tiles to the left, and players (counterclockwise) take blocks of 4 tiles (clockwise) until all players have 12 tiles for 13-tile variations and 16 for 16-tile variations. In 13-tile variations, each player then takes one more tile to make a 13-tile hand. In practice, in order to speed up the dealing procedure, the dealer often takes one extra tile during the dealing procedure to start their turn.
The board is now ready and new tiles will be taken from the wall where the dealing left off, proceeding clockwise. In some special cases discussed later, tiles are taken from the other end of the wall, commonly referred to as the back end of the wall. In some variations, a group of tiles at the back end, known as the dead wall, is reserved for this purpose instead. In such variations, the dead wall may be visually separated from the main wall, but it is not required.
Unless the dealer has already won (see below), the dealer then discards a tile. The dealing process with tiles is ritualized and complex to prevent cheating. Casual players, or players with Mah-Jongg playing cards, may wish to simply shuffle well and deal out the tiles with fewer ceremonial procedures.
- Mah-Jongg Game Play
Each player is dealt either 13 tiles for 13-tile variations or 16 tiles for 16-tile variations.
A turn involves a player's drawing of a tile from the wall (or draw pile) and then placing it in his hand. The player then discards a tile onto the table. This signals the end of his turn, prompting the player to the right to make his move. As a form of courtesy, each player is encouraged to announce loudly the name of the tile being discarded. Many variations require that discarded tiles be placed in an orderly fashion in front of the player, while some require that these be placed face down.
- Flower Tiles
Flower tiles, when dealt or drawn, must be immediately replaced by a tile from the dead wall, or if no dead wall exists, the back end of the wall. They are immediately exposed (placed in view on the table on front of the player's tiles). At the start of each round, where two or more players may have flower tiles, flower tiles are replaced starting with the dealer and moving to the right. Flower tiles may or may not have point value; and in some variations, possession of all the flower tiles wins the round regardless of the actual contents of the hand.
In American Mah-Jongg, however, Flower tiles are not instantly exposed and replaced, as they may be melded with other Flower tiles in the same group (in essence, they are treated as if they were another set of honor tiles) or be used as a requirement of a winning hand. Early versions of American Mah-Jongg used Flower tiles as Joker tiles.
- Joker tiles
A feature of several variations, most notably American variations of Mah-Jongg, is the notion of wild card or Joker tiles. They may be used as a substitute for any tile in a hand (or, in some variations, only tiles in melds). Depending on the variation, a player may replace a Joker tile that is part of an exposed meld belonging to any player with the tile it represents.
Rules governing discarding Joker tiles also exist: some variations permit the Joker tile to take on the identity of any tile, and others only permit the Joker tile to take on the identity of the previously discarded tile (or the absence of a tile, if it is the first discard).
Joker tiles may or may not have an impact on scoring, depending on the variation. Some special hands may require the use of Joker tiles (for example, to represent a "fifth tile" of a certain suited or honor tile).
In American Mah-Jongg, it is illegal to pass jokers during the Charleston.
- Melds
When a player discards a tile, any other player may "call" or "bid" for it in order to complete a meld (a certain set of tiles) in his or her own hand. The disadvantage of doing this is that the player must now expose the completed meld to the other players, giving them an idea of what type of hand he or she is creating. This also creates an element of strategy, as in many variations, discarding a tile that allows another player to win the game causes the discarding player to lose points (or pay the winner more in a game for money).
Most variants (again, with the notable exception of American Mah-Jongg) allow three types of melds. When a meld is declared through a discard, the player must state the type of the meld to be declared and place the meld face-up. The player must then discard a tile, and play continues to the right. Because of this, turns may be skipped in the process.
Pong or Pung (碰 pinyin peng, Japanese pon) - A pong or pung is a set of three identical tiles. In American Mah-Jongg, where it is possible to meld Flower tiles, a pong may also refer to a meld of three of the four flower tiles in a single group. American Mah-Jongg may also have hands requiring a knitted triplet - three tiles of identical rank but of three different suits. For examples:
Kong (槓/杠 pinyin gang, Japanese kan) - A kong is a set of four identical tiles. Because all other melds contain three tiles, a Kong must be immediately exposed when explicitly declared. If the fourth tile is formed from a discard, it is said to be an exposed Kong (明槓/明杠, pinyin ming gang). If all four tiles were formed in the hand, it is said to be a concealed Kong (暗槓/暗杠, pinyin an gang). In some forms of play, the outer two tiles of a concealed Kong are flipped to indicate its concealed status. It is also possible to form an exposed Kong if the player has an exposed Pung and draws the fourth tile. In any case, a player must draw an extra tile from the back end of the wall (or from the dead wall, if it exists) and discard as normal. Play then continues to the right. Once a Kong is formed, it cannot be split up (say, if you wanted to instead use one tile as part of a Chow), and thus, it may be advantageous not to immediately declare a Kong. For examples:
Chow (吃 chi, in some versions 上 shang) - A chow is a meld of three suited tiles in sequence. Unlike other melds, an exposed Chow may only be declared off the discard of the player on the left. American Mah-Jongg does not have a formal chow (that is, you cannot declare chows), but some hands may require that similar sequences be constructed in the hand. Some American variations may also have the knitted sequence, where the three tiles are of three different suits. Sequences of higher length are usually not permissible (unless it forms more than one meld). For examples:
,
Chow:
Eye (將 jiang, in some versions 眼 yan, also Pair) - The pair, while not a meld (and thus, cannot be declared or formed with a discard), is the final component to the standard hand. It consists of two identical tiles. Two
are the eyes in this case:
It is to note that American Mah-Jongg hands may have tile constructions that are not melds, such as "NEWS" (having one of each wind). As they are not melds, they cannot be formed off discards, and in some variations, cannot be constructed in part or in whole by Joker tiles.
When two or more players call for a discarded tile, a player taking the tile to win the hand has precedence over all others, followed by pong or kong declarations, and lastly chows. In American Mah-Jongg, where it may be possible for two players needing the same tile for melds, the meld of a higher number of identical tiles takes precedence. If two or more players call for a meld of the same precedence (or to win), the player closest to the right wins out (but the game may be declared an abortive draw if two or more players call a tile for the win, again depending on the variation). In particular, if a call to win overrides a call to form a kong, such a move is called robbing the Kong, and may give a scoring bonus.
There is generally an informal convention as to the amount of time allowed to make a call for a discarded tile before the next player takes its turn. In American Mah-Jongg, this "window of opportunity" is explicitly stated in the rules, where in other variants, it is generally viewed that when the next player's turn starts (ie. the tile leaves the wall), the opportunity has been lost.
- Ready hands
When a hand is one tile short of winning (for example:
or
Some variations of Da Mah-Jongg, most notably Japanese variations, allow a player to declare riichi (立直 - sometimes known as reach as it is phonetically similar). A declaration of riichi is a promise that any tile drawn by the player is immediately discarded unless it constitutes a win. A player who declares riichi and wins usually receives a point bonus for their hand, while a player who declares riichi and loses is usually penalized in some fashion. When four players declare a riichi, the game is a draw. Declaring a nonexistent riichi is penalized.
- Draws
If only the dead wall remains and no one has won, the round is drawn (流局 liu ju, Japanese Ryuukyoku) or "goulashed". A new round begins, and depending on the variant, game wind may change.
- Abortive draws
In Japanese Mah-Jongg, abortive draws (draws where the game is declared drawn while tiles are available) are possible. They can be declared under the following conditions:
九種幺九倒牌 (kyuu shu yao kyuu tou pai): If, on a player's first turn, and with no melds declared, a player has nine different terminal or honor tiles, the player may declare the round to be drawn (for example:
; but could also go for the nonstandard thirteen terminals
hand as well).
三家和 (san ka agari): If three players claim the same discard in order to win the round, the round is drawn.
四風子連打 (suu fontsu renda): If, on the first turn without any meld declarations, all four players discard the same wind tile, the hand is drawn.
四家立直 (suu ka riichi): If all four players declare riichi, the round is drawn.
四槓流れ (suu kan nagare): The round is drawn when the fourth kong is declared, unless all four kongs were declared by a single player. In this case, the round is drawn when another player declares a kong.
- Winning
"Che hu!"
The three great scholars: A player wins the round (胡, hu) by creating a standard Mah-Jongg hand (in Western Classical variants, this is known as creating a Mah-Jongg, and the process of winning is called going Mah-Jongg) which consists of a certain number of melds, four for 13-tile variations and five for 16-tile variations, and a pair. Some variations may also require that winning hands be of some point value.
Variations may also have special nonstandard hands that a player can make (in this sense, American Mah-Jongg is a variant where only special hands exist).
- Turns and rounds
If the dealer wins the game, they will stay as the dealer. Otherwise, the player to the right becomes dealer and the player's wind becomes the Game Wind, in the sequence East-South-West-North.
After the wind returns to East (ie. each player has been the dealer), a round is complete and the Prevailing Wind will change, again in the sequence East-South-West-North. A full game of Mah-Jongg ends after 4 rounds, ie. when the North Prevailing Wind round is over. It is often regarded as an unlucky act to stop the gameplay at the West round, as West has a similar sound to death in Chinese.
- Scoring
Scoring in Mah-Jongg involves points, with a monetary value for points agreed upon by players. Although in many variations scoreless hands are possible, many require that hands be of some point value in order to win the round.
While the basic gameplay is more or less the same throughout Mah-Jongg, the greatest divergence between variations lies in the scoring systems. Like the gameplay, there is a generalized system of scoring, based on the method of winning and the winning hand, from which Chinese and Japanese (among notable systems) base their roots. American Mah-Jongg generally has greatly divergent scoring rules (as well as greatly divergent gameplay rules).
Because of the large differences between the various systems of scoring (especially for Chinese variants), groups of players will often agree on particular scoring rules before a game. Like with gameplay, many attempts have been made to create an international standard of scoring, but most are not widely accepted.
Points (terminology of which differs from variation to variation) are obtained by matching the winning hand and the winning condition with a specific set of criteria, with different criteria scoring different values. Some of these criteria may be subsets of other criteria (for example, having a meld of one Dragon versus having a meld of all of them), and in these cases, only the most general criteria is scored. The points obtained may be translated into scores for each player using some (typically exponential) functions. When gambling with Mah-Jongg, these scores are typically directly translated into sums of money. Some criteria may be also in terms of both points and score.
