How to Play Mahjong With the Basic Rules

Moving counter-clockwise, each player takes four tiles and continues where the dealer left off, picking two tiles from the top and two from the bottom. The tile that has most recently been discarded can be called by any other player if the tile will complete a pung, kong, quint, sextet, or any other combination for an exposed hand. It’s a good idea to have a mix of sets, sequences, honors, and bonus tiles to increase your chances of winning. Arguably more of an art form, there are different versions such as Shisen-Sho and Solitaire Mahjong. These games are not competitive, and instead single-player. The player has to remove tiles in pairs to clear the board of all tiles arranged in special shapes.

As table rules add a large amount of flexibility for players, they can choose to disregard the rule of extra hands and pass on the dealership regardless of who wins or if it results in a goulash hand. This puts a maximum estimated limit on the game duration and provides some amount of predictability. Most players include table variations in their games, of which some non-standard are included. The hands of seven different pairs and 13 orphans are examples which do not have four melds and the eyes. Alternatively, a player may also win by drawing a tile that completes a legal hand. In Hong Kong mahjong, winning from the wall doubles the number of base points each loser must pay. A match consists of four rounds, each representing a "prevailing wind", starting with East.

Players exchange tiles equal to the lower of the two numbers. Each section in this guide will be illustrated with screen captures of tiles from our Online Mah Jongg Game. Note that there is a wide variety of tile designs available, so the tiles in your set may look different from the ones pictured here. Mahjong Solitaire is a fun game that offers multiple ways to keep your brain active while solving puzzles. This step-by-step guide to getting started can help you have a great time learning to play. With the Season tiles, you’ll have ones representing spring, summer, fall, and winter.

  • Dealing does not have to be strictly this way and may be done quite differently based on house rules.
  • The tiles have a different artistic rendering of a specific type of flower or season.
  • Korean mahjong removes the bamboo suit or at least its numbers 2–8 so that terminals can be used.
  • The principles of the new, wholesome Mahjong are no gambling, no drinking, and no smoking.

Your entire hand can be a mixture of pongs and chows; however, it can only be made from honour tiles and one suit only. The eyes will have to follow the same constraint, and it can only be a two of a kind from either honour tiles or the suit that you’ve chosen. There are different geographic variations of https://williamhill-vegas.com Mahjong (ie. American Mahjong, Taiwanese Mahjong, Japanese Mahjong, etc.) and equally as important, there are house rules. It is important at the beginning of the game to ensure all players are aware of the style, any house rules added, and if money will be involved and how much is the monetary value.

How Do You Play Mahjong For Beginners?

Bar Games 101 is a website devoted to helping you learn about the best games to play with your friends. We review the games, research the rules, and uncover helpful tips and strategies. Also, sets of Cardinal and Honor tiles are valued at twice the score value as the minor tile sets. There are the Cardinal tiles representing the four winds; East, West, South and North. Typically, you will find Mahjong sets have 144 tiles, which consists of 136 main tiles, plus four Flower tiles, numbered 1 – 4 and four Season tiles also numbered 1 – 4. Because there are various versions to play, you might see some variances between sets and even the rules.

In Thailand the game Includes extra tiles, bringing the tile total to 168, one of the highest among all Mahjong styles. Achieved when the East Wind dealer wins with the starting hand and draw. Pung or kong with all 3 Dragon tiles, any set of chow, pung, or kung, and any pair. Different variations of Mahjong have specific scoring systems, though a common basis is the payout. There are payout rules for people playing for money and point accrual rules for tournaments.

Drawing & Racking

If the dealt hand contains flower or season tiles, they are placed face up above and to the side of the hand and replaced with regular tiles taken from the wall’s back end. The National Mah Jongg League determines a list of hands for scoring (NML). Each player keeps a card for reference when building hands and employing Mahjong strategies.

Wuhan Mahjong

This does mean it is possible for the East Wind to win immediately on their first draw. In the case of the first turn, the dealer, going first, draws one tile from the wall. To end their turn, the player is required to discard one tile of their choosing, placing the discard in the middle of the board face-up.

What is a meld in Mahjong?

The other players have an opportunity to seize the discarded tile; if no one takes it, the turn continues to the next player. An extra hand is also played if there is no winner by the time all the tiles in the wall have been drawn. When there is no winner it is known as a "goulash hand". Depending on table rules, the winner of the next game may take an agreed number of points from each player, carrying over the points from the non-winning hand to the winning one. If there are two or three goulash hands in a row then the winner would collect a considerable number of points from each player on top of their scoring hand. Because extra hands may be played every time a dealer wins or if there is a goulash hand, a match of 16 hands can easily become a match of 20 or even much more. The winning hand is made of four melds (a specific pattern of three pieces) and the eyes (a pair of identical pieces).

How difficult is Mahjong?

Each player draws a total of 13 tiles, and each variant of Classic Mahjong has different draw rules. In general, all players draw 6 tiles each in turn order and repeat once. Now all players have 12 tiles, and following turn order, each player draws one tile, giving all players 13 tiles. A player starts their turn by drawing a tile from the wall that is currently in play. This tile is selected from the end of the wall closest to the center of the table and it is placed on the tilted side of their rack (visible to them only). The racking of a tile is the signal that the previously discarded tile can no longer be called.

How To Play Mahjong

Each hand’s value is listed next to the “X” or “C” on the card. The winner receives the value indicated on the NMJL card for basic scoring. On the very first round of play, any non-dealer wins a hand. A player completes their hand by using the final tile from the opponent who drew the final tile from the wall. A player completes the hand with the final tile before the dead wall. When playing Mahjong, you need to learn to read the scorecards. This can be repeated if need be a second time, pending all players’ agreement.

If a win results from a claimed discard, the discarding player needs to pay double, whereas the other players simply pay the point value of a hand. The unique thing about a Kong is that a previously called and revealed Pung can be completed by any player once the final duplicate is drawn. Once the Pung is converted into a Kong, the player adding in the final 5Gringos Casino tile draws another tile to replace the used tile. This is allowed since each tile only has a maximum of 8 duplicates total. When a claim is successfully made, the turns skip to the player, and the draw stage from the wall is skipped, and replaced with the claim. The claiming player is then required to place the completed set face-up in front of their hand.

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