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Mahjong |
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A game of Chinese
origin, played with tiles, or p'ais, similar in physical description to those
used in dominoes but engraved with Chinese symbols and characters and divided
into suits and honours. A fad in England, the United States, and Australia in
the mid-1920s, the game was revived in the United States after 1935 but never
regained its initial popularity. In the United States, the official body is the
National Mah-Jongg League, founded in 1937.
The game is probably of
19th-century origin. Before World War I each Chinese province had its own style
of play and dialect name for it. Signifying "sparrow," the name has been
variously transliterated as ma tsiang, ma chiang, ma cheuk, and ma ch'iau. The
sparrow or a mythical "bird of 100 intelligences" appears on one of the tiles.
The name mah-jongg was coined and copyrighted by Joseph P. Babcock, an American
resident of Shanghai, who is credited with introducing mah-jongg to the West
after World War I. In order to promote the game in the West, he wrote a
modified set of rules, gave English titles to the tiles, and added index
letters and numerals familiar to card players. |
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Variations
- American
Uses 152 tiles (8 jokers added). Many (about 50) special hands. Only the winner
is paid.
- Chinese
Classical Uses 144 tiles. Not many special / limit hands. All players score
points and not just the winner.
- Hong Kong
(Old Style) Uses 136 or 144 tiles. Not many special hands (tile
combinations). Score by counting doubles, then convert to points. Only the
winner is paid.
- Japanese
Classical Uses 136 tiles. Flowers come with the tile sets, but are not used
in play. Several special hands (tile combinations). Only the winner is
paid.
- Japanese
Modern - Riichi / Dora Uses 136 tiles. Flowers come with the tile sets, but
are not used in play. Hold 13 tiles in the hand, go out on 14 tiles. Many
special hands (tile combinations). Score most easily by memorizing chart. Base
points times fan. Only the winner is paid.
- Korean
104 tiles are used ( Characters, Dots, Winds, Dragons and 4 flowers) There is
no melded chow. Only secret chow!! That means you can't use a discarded tile to
make chow. 3 as well as 4 people can play mahjong. You can't use a tile to win,
if the tile is discarded by you before!! Every player must discard their tiles
in front of themselves inside the wall. That's how they know which discarded
tile they can't take. You must make at least basic 2 fans unless you finish
totally secret hand. Korean mahjong one game is composed of 8 rounds( East,
South, West and North X 2 ). Hence, One game should be at least 32 games !!!
This is a traditional rule.
- Malaysian /
Singaporean The tile set is made up of 148 tiles. These 148 tiles are
broken into suits that contain 136 total playable tiles, flower suit tiles that
contain 8 tiles, and animal suit tiles that contain 4 tiles.
Rules.
- Taiwanese
Uses 144 tiles. Hold 16 tiles in the hand, go out on 17 tiles. Several special
hands (tile combinations). Score by counting doubles, then convert to points.
Only the winner is paid.
Rules.
- Western
(Classical or "Vanilla") Uses 144 or more tiles (jokers are optional and
may vary in number). Many special hands (tile combinations) which vary slightly
from book to book. All players earn points (not only the winner). "Goulash" may
be played (BMJA) which replaces 2 Bamboos with jokers, and then a "Charleston"
is played.
Modern
mahjong sets are usually made of plastic instead of bone or ivory. A full set
contains 136 or 144 tiles, depending on whether the flowers or seasons are
used. Some sets include 20 flowers.
A tile set is made up of the
following:
- Special Honours:
Four Seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter) and four Flowers (Plum,
Orchid, Chrysantheum and Bamboo).
- The Honours:
Four Winds (East, South, West and North) and three Dragons (Red, Green and
White).
- Circles:
Numbered from one to nine.
- Bamboos:
Numbered from one to nine.
- Characters:
Numbered from one to nine.
The Object of the Game
Each player has a hand consisting
of 13 tiles. In their turn they will pick up one tile and discard either it or
another from their hand. The aim is to assemble a hand of 14 tiles, consisting
of four sets of three pieces, each set made up of either three identical tiles
(known as a Pung) or a run of three tiles with consecutive numbers in the same
suit (known as a Chow), and a pair of identical tiles. When a player gets a
tile completing such a hand, they call out 'Mahjong!' and the hand is over.
There are two other hands that allow a player to declare Mahjong. One of these
is the hand of 'Thirteen Odd Majors', consisting of a one and a nine from each
suit, one of each Wind, one of each Dragon and a tile that makes a pair with
any of those 13 tiles. The other is the 'Calling Nine Tile Hand', which
consists of three ones, three nines, a run from two to eight in the same suit
and any other tile belonging to that suit. Scores are calculated for each
player after the hand. Play then proceeds to a new hand.
Getting
Started
Each player rolls the dice. Whoever rolls the highest total
becomes 'East Wind' and the other players take the winds corresponding to their
seats. The player to the right of 'East Wind' becomes 'South Wind', the player
opposite becomes 'West Wind' and the player to the left of 'West Wind' is
'North Wind'.
All the tiles except the Special Honours are now placed
on the playing area, face downward, and shuffled thoroughly. Each player then
takes 34 tiles and arranges them in a wall 17 tiles long and two tiles high.
The four walls are then pushed together to form a hollow square which is meant
to represent a Chinese city wall.
East Wind now throws the dice to
determine which section of the wall is to be breached. Treating the section in
front of East Wind as one count to the right, East Wind counts in a circle
around the four walls until the value of the throw is reached. The player whose
section of the wall is to be breached now rolls the dice to determine where
this will occur. Adding the number they have thrown to the number East Wind
threw, they now count this total along the wall from the right-hand end,
breaching the wall by removing the tile arrived at and the one beneath it. The
latter tile is then placed on the wall to the right of the breach and the
former is placed on the tile next but one to the right. These two tiles are
known as 'Loose Tiles'.
East Wind now takes the first four tiles to the
left of the breach in the wall, South Wind the next four, West Wind the next
four, and North Wind the next four, the process being repeated until each
player has 12 tiles. East Wind then takes the uppermost tiles of the next heap
and the next heap but one, South Wind takes the bottom tile of the end heap,
West Wind the top tile of the next heap, and North Wind the lower tile of the
same heap.
Each player should now have 13 tiles — except East
Wind, who should have 14. They should be arranged standing upright, faces
towards the player, sorted into the various suits and honours in whatever way
the player finds helpful.
Playing the Game
East Wind now
commences by discarding one of their tiles and calling out the tile's name:
'East Wind', 'Seven Characters', etc. The play passes to the right, the next
player having the option to either pick up the tile just discarded, if they can
use it, to make a 'Chow' or to take the next tile from the wall.
The
'Pung'
If any player has two tiles that are identical to a
just-discarded tile they may take it, calling out 'Pung'. They must then lay
down the three identical tiles face up in front of them. The player who Punged
must then discard a tile. Play continues to their right.
The 'Chow'
If the player whose turn is next can combine a discarded tile with two
tiles in their hand to make a 'run' of three consecutive numbers in the same
suit, they may take the discarded tile, call out 'Chow', and lay down the three
tiles face up in front of them. They then discard a tile and play continues to
their right, as above.
The 'Kong'
In the event of a player
having three tiles identical to one that another player discards, they may take
the discarded tile, calling out 'Kong' and laying the four identical tiles face
up in front of them. Before play continues, the player who Konged takes the
Loose Tile closest to the breach in the wall. This is an exception to the rule
about the hand normally containing 13 tiles. If both the Loose Tiles are drawn,
the pair of tiles next to the breach in the wall are placed on the wall in the
same way as the original Loose Tiles. Once this is done, they discard a tile
and play continues to their right.
Concealed Pungs and Chows
If a player has a Pung or Chow in their original hand or draws a piece from
the wall that allows them to complete a Pung or Chow, this is kept in their
hand and counts as a concealed Pung or Chow.
Turning a Pung into a
Kong
If a player has an exposed Pung and draws the fourth identical
tile from the wall, this may be added to the other three to make an exposed
Kong. The player must draw a Loose Tile and discard a tile as usual. It is not
permissable to take a discarded tile to turn an exposed Pung into a Kong.
In the event that a player is initially dealt a Kong or draws a piece
from the wall that turns a concealed Pung into a Kong, it becomes a concealed
Kong. It is up to the player when they place their concealed Kong on the table,
but they cannot declare Mahjong until they have done so. The Kong will only
score the same as a Pung if someone else declares Mahjong before they have done
so. The player may place the Kong on the table whenever it is their turn and
draw a Loose Tile. It should be marked as a concealed Kong by only turning over
the first and fourth tiles.
Precedence
If two players want
the same discarded tile, one for a Pung or Kong, the other for a Chow, the
player calling Pung or Kong has precedence and may take the
tile.
Declaring 'Mahjong'
As explained above, once a player
completes their hand they call out 'Mahjong!' and all the players must expose
their hands for scoring. When putting down a concealed Pung, the middle tile
should be turned over to indicate that it is concealed.
'Calling'
Whenever a player needs only one tile to complete their hand, they are
discribed as 'Calling' and may take that tile as soon as it is discarded. They
take precedence over anyother player who might want it. A player who is calling
may also take a tile that another player has drawn from the wall and has used
to convert an exposed Pung into an exposed Kong. This is known as 'snatching a
Kong'. A player who is Calling may not take a tile that another player draws
and uses to complete a concealed Kong, however. If two players are Calling at
the same time and want the same discarded tile, then the player whose turn
would come next takes the tile.
The 'Standing Hand'
If a
player is Calling after they have drawn and discarded for the first time in
that hand, they may declare a 'Standing Hand'. East Wind may declare a Standing
Hand if they are Calling after their first discard. Once a player has declared
a Standing Hand, they may not change any tiles already in their hand, but must
discard each tile they draw from the wall until they draw or take the tile they
need to declare Mahjong. A player who has declared a Standing Hand and succeeds
in declaring Mahjong receives a bonus to their score at the end of the
hand.
Invalid Hands
The last 14 tiles in the wall, including
Loose Tiles, may not be used. If no player has declared Mahjong when only these
remain, the hand is 'Invalid'. It is not scored and a fresh hand is started.
The same player remains East Wind.
If a player should discover that
their hand does not contain 13 tiles after discarding or 14 tiles before
discarding, their hand is invalid and they may not declare Mahjong. They must
continue to draw and discard as normal, paying the other players their scores
at the end of the hand. They cannot deduct their own score if they had too many
tiles, but should do so if they had too few tiles.
East Wind and the
Wind of the Round
If East Wind declares Mahjong they remain East Wind
in the following hands, until someone else declares Mahjong. After another
player succeeds in declaring, the player who was South Wind becomes East Wind,
etc. East Wind is the Wind of the Round until each player has held and lost
East Wind. As soon as a player who has previously held and lost East Wind holds
East Wind again, South Wind becomes Wind of the Round. Once each player has
held and lost East Wind for a second time, West Wind becomes Wind of the Round.
Finally North Wind will become Wind of the Round.
THE SCORES AND HOW TO CALCULATE THEM
A
Chow merely serves to complete a hand and has no scoring value.
| Pungs (3
of a kind) |
Exposed |
Concealed |
Kongs (3
of a kind) |
Exposed |
Concealed |
| 2,3,4,5,6,7 or 8 of any suit |
2 |
4 |
|
8 |
16 |
| 1 or 9
of any suit |
4 |
8 |
|
16 |
32 |
| Any Wind
or any Dragon |
4 |
8 |
|
16 |
32 |
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| For the
Pair completing the hand |
Score |
Seasons
and Flowers |
Score |
| Pair of
any Dragon |
2 |
For any
Season or any Flower |
4 |
| Pair of
Player's own Wind |
2 |
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| Pair of
Wind of the Round |
2 |
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| No other
pairs count anything. |
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| NOTE : The above scores apply to all hands winner and losers,
alike. |
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| DOUBLES |
| Applies
to all hands |
Score |
Applies
to winners hands |
Score |
| Pung or
Kong in Player's own Wind |
x2 |
Snatching a Kong to go Mahjong |
x2 |
| Pung or
Kong in Wind of the Round |
x2 |
Hand all
one suite except Winds and/or Dragons |
x2 |
| Pung or
Kong in any Dragon |
x2 |
Hand of
ones and nines with Winds and/or Dragons |
x2 |
| Player's
own Season or Flower |
x2 |
Hand
entirely of one suit |
x8 |
| Four
Seasons or Four Flower |
x8 |
Original
Hand |
x8 |
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All
Winds and Dragons |
x8 |
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| BONUS
SCORES |
| Applies
to winners hands only |
Score |
| For
winning (going Mah-Jongg) |
20 |
| Winning
piece drawn from the Wall |
2 |
| Winning
with only possible piece |
2 |
| Winning
a "Standing Hand" |
100 |
| For
having no Chows in hand |
10 |
| No
scoring value in hand |
10 |
| Winning
with last piece from the Wall |
10 |
| Winning
with a Loose Tile |
10 |
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| Where there are doubles in the winning hand the above bonuses (if
any) must be added before the score is doubled. |
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| The following ten hands are Limit Hands, and score the limit
irrespective of what their value may be: |
| A |
Hand of
all Winds and Dragons. |
| B |
Hand
having Pungs or Kongs of three Winds, pair of the other Wind and completed by
any Chow, Pung or Kong. |
| C |
An
original hand. |
| D |
Hand
winning with East Wind's first discard. |
| E |
Hand of
all ones and nines. |
| F |
Hand
having Pungs or Kongs of at least three Dragons. |
| G |
Hand of
concealed Pungs or Kongs. |
| H |
The
Thirteen odd Majors hand. |
| I |
The
Calling Nine Tile hand. |
| J |
East
Wind's, thirteenth consecutive Mah-Jong. |
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