Tile-based game
This article is about the four-player tile-based game. For the tile-matching solitaire game, see Mahjong solitaire. For other uses, see Mahjong (disambiguation).
Mahjong[1] (English pronunciation:mah-JONG) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is played by four players (with some three-player variations found in parts of China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia). The game and its regional variants are widely played throughout East and Southeast Asia and have also become popular in Western countries. The game has also been adapted into a widespread online entertainment.[2][3][4][5] Similar to the Western card game rummy, mahjong is a game of skill, strategy, and luck. To distinguish it from mahjong solitaire, it is sometimes referred to as mahjong rummy.
The game is played with a set of 144 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols, although many regional variations may omit some tiles or add unique ones. In most variations, each player begins by receiving 13 tiles. In turn, players draw and discard tiles until they complete a legal hand using the 14th drawn tile to form four melds (or sets) and a pair (eye). A player can also win with a small class of special hands. While many variations of mahjong exist, most variations have some basic rules in common including how a piece is drawn and discarded, the use of suits (numbered tiles) and honors (winds and dragons), the basic kinds of melds allowed, how to deal the tiles and the order of play. Beyond these basic common rules, numerous regional variations exist which may have notably different criteria for legal melds and winning hands, radically different scoring systems and even elaborate extra rules. A group of players may introduce their own house rules which can notably change the feel of play.
The game was originally called 麻雀 (pinyin: máquè; Jyutping: maa4 zoek3–2)—meaning sparrow—which is still used in several Chinese languages, mostly in the south, such as Cantonese and Hokkien. It is said that the clacking of tiles during shuffling resembles the chattering of sparrows. It has also been suggested that the name came from an evolution of an earlier card game called Madiao from which mahjong tiles were adapted.[6] In Chinese, 麻雀戰 (麻雀战; máquè zhàn) denotes a form of guerilla warfare tactics colloquially called 'sparrow warfare (tactics)'. Other languages, such as Sichuanese, Shanghainese and Standard Mandarin, now call the game 麻將 (májiàng), which is a nasalerhua form of the original name. Its name is similar in other languages, except in Thai, where it is called ไพ่นกกระจอก (phai nok krachok), a calque meaning "sparrow cards".[7]
There are many highly varied versions of mahjong both in rules and tiles used. "Old Hong Kong mahjong" uses the same basic features and rules as the majority of the different variations of the game. This form of mahjong uses all of the tiles of the most commonly available sets, includes no exotic complex rules, and has a relatively small set of scoring sets/hands with a simple scoring system. For these reasons Hong Kong mahjong is a suitable variation for the introduction of game rules and play and is the focus of this article.
Main article: Mahjong tiles
Old Hong Kong mahjong is played with a standard set of 144 mahjong tiles (though cards may be used). Sets often include counters (to keep score), dice (to decide how to deal), and a marker to show who the dealer is and which round is being played. Some sets include racks to hold the tiles, especially if they are larger or smaller than standard tiles or have an odd shape. Mahjong sets originating from the United States, Japan or Southeast Asia will likely have extra tiles or specialized markings.
The tiles are split into three categories: suited, honors, and bonus tiles.
| Set | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| Suited | Dots | 36 |
| Bamboo | 36 | |
| Characters | 36 | |
| Honors | Winds | 16 |
| Dragons | 12 | |
| Bonus | Flowers | 4 |
| Seasons | 4 | |
| Total | 144 | |
Suited tiles are divided into three suits and each are numbered from 1 to 9. The suits are bamboos, dots, and characters. There are four identical copies of each suited tile totaling 108 tiles.
The bamboo suit is also known as "sticks", "strings" or "bams" suit; the first tile usually has a bird (traditionally, a peacock or sparrow) instead of a single bamboo. The dots suit is also known as the "wheels", "circles", "coins", "stones", "marbles" or "balls" suit. The characters suit is also known as the "myriads", "cracks" or "numbers" suit since the top characters are numbers in the Chinese writing system, and the bottom characters (in traditional Chinese characters) are the Chinese character for "ten thousand".[8]
There are two different sets of honors tiles: winds and dragons. The winds are east, south, west, and north, beginning with east. The dragons are red, green, and white. The white dragon has a blue or black frame on the face of the piece or in some sets is entirely blank. These tiles have no numerical sequence like the suited tiles (for example the bamboo pieces number 1 to 9). Like the suited tiles, there are four identical copies of each honors tile, for a total of 28 honors tiles.
| Red | Green | White |
|---|---|---|
There are two sets of bonus tiles: flowers and seasons. The flower and season tiles play a unique role in the mechanics of the game. When drawn, the bonus tile is not added into a player's hand but are instead set aside and kept near the player's other tiles for scoring purposes should they win the hand, and an extra tile is drawn in replacement of the bonus tile.
In addition, unlike the suited and honors tiles, there is only one of each bonus tile, so there are a total of four flower and four season tiles in the set. The tiles have a different artistic rendering of a specific type of flower or season.
It is not necessary to know the names or the Chinese characters of each bonus tile, only the number, as this is associated with a specific direction, and the player receives bonus points when the bonus tile matches the seat direction. There is no relation between the bonus tile "bamboo" flower and the bamboo suit of suited tiles (e.g. 4 bamboo). In traditional Chinese culture, the Four Gentlemen are the plum (winter), orchid (spring), bamboo (summer), and chrysanthemum (autumn) which are regarded as the representative plants of those seasons, but people regard it as plum blossom (spring), orchid (summer), chrysanthemum (autumn) and bamboo (winter) now.
Before the game can begin, players need to be assigned one of the wind positions at the table - those being (in counterclockwise order) East, South, West, and North. East will also be the first dealer. Play proceeds in this counterclockwise order.
There are a variety of ways to determine positions. For example, one way is to have each player roll dice and assign East to the player that rolls the highest, South to the second-highest, and so on. Another way is to shuffle the 4 wind tiles face down and have each player choose one, determining their position.
A match consists of four rounds, each representing a "prevailing wind", starting with East. Once the first round is completed, a second round begins with South as the prevailing wind, and so on. Wind position is significant in that it affects the scoring of the game. A mahjong set with winds in play will usually include a separate prevailing wind marker (typically a die marked with the wind characters in a holder).
In each round at least four hands are played, with each player taking the position of dealer. In the first hand of each round, Player 1 (winner of the dice toss) is East and therefore dealer. In the second hand, Player 2 takes the East position, shifting the seat winds amongst the players counter-clockwise (though players do not physically move their chairs). This continues until all four players have been East (dealer). A marker is used to mark which player is East and often the round number. (In sets with racks, a rack may be marked differently to denote the dealer.)
Whenever a player in the East position (dealer) wins a hand, or if there is no winner (a draw or "goulash hand"), an extra hand is played with the same seating positions and prevailing wind as in the previous hand. This means that a match may potentially have no limit to the number of hands played (though some players will set a limit of three consecutive hands allowed with the same seat positions and prevailing wind).
Example of games:
| Round | Hand number | Prevailing wind | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | East | East (dealer) | South | West | North | |
| 2 | North | East (dealer) | South | West | |||
| 3 | West | North | East (dealer) | South | |||
| 4 | South | West | North | East (dealer) | |||
| 2 | 5 | South | East (dealer) | South | West | North | |
| 6 | North | East (dealer) | South | West | |||
| 7 | West | North | East (dealer) | South | No one wins (goulash) | ||
| Extra hand | West | North | East (dealer) | South | Repeat of seat positions | ||
| 8 | South | West | North | East (dealer) | |||
| 3 | 9 | West | East (dealer) | South | West | North | |
| 10 | North | East (dealer) | South | West | |||
| 11 | West | North | East (dealer) | South | |||
| 12 | South | West | North | East (dealer) | |||
| 4 | 13 | North | East (dealer) | South | West | North | |
| 14 | North | East (dealer) | South | West | East wins hand | ||
| Extra hand | North | East (dealer) | South | West | Repeat of seat positions | ||
| 15 | West | North | East (dealer) | South | |||
| 16 | South | West | North | East (dealer) |
All tiles are placed face down on the table and are shuffled. By convention all players should participate in shuffling using both hands moving the pieces around the table rigorously and loudly for a lengthy period. Tiles may get flipped up during this process and players should flip them facing down as soon as possible to avoid identifying the location of the revealed tiles.
Each player then stacks a row of 18 tiles, two tiles high in front of them (for a total of 36 tiles). Players then push each side of their stack together to form a square wall.
Regular players usually place their stacks in a slightly diagonal position (about 20 to 30 degrees counter-clockwise); the right end of their stack is pushed slightly further in to the centre of the table to meet almost the middle of the stack of the player on the right. This creates a smaller square wall the length of about half of each stack, with walls extended away from each corner of the square. The diagonally positioned stacks and a smaller square creates a bigger space for players' tiles and also makes an ergonomic position for drawing tiles from the stack.
The dealer throws three dice in the square wall and sums up the total. Counting counter-clockwise so that the dealer is 1 (or 5, 9, 13, 17), so that south (player to the right) is 2 (or 6, 10, 14, 18), etc., a player's quarter of the wall is chosen. Some house rules may use only two dice but have double throws to increase randomness. In the case of double throws, the player of the chosen wall makes the second throw.
Using the same total on the dice (or the total of the two throws), the player whose wall is chosen then counts the stacks of tiles from right to left. (For double throws, the count may extend to the left side player's stack.) This determines the location where the 'deck' of tiles is cut. Starting from the left of the stacks counted, the dealer draws four tiles for their hand. Proceeding in counter-clockwise order, players take turns drawing blocks of four tiles (so that the stacks decrease clockwise) until each player (including the dealer) has 12 tiles. Each player then draws one last tile to make a 13-tile hand. The tile to be drawn is always the topmost tile left of the cut.
Dealing does not have to be strictly this way and may be done quite differently based on house rules. Tiles may flip over when being dealt and players should agree in advance on how to deal with the problem. Solutions include having the dealer penalised points, shuffling the turned over piece back into the wall somehow, allowing the player to whom the tiles were dealt to take the piece or not (meaning the dealer must take it as their 14th piece), or other house rules.
Each player now sets aside any flowers or seasons they may have drawn and takes turns to draw replacement tiles from the wall in the counter-clockwise direction from the dealer. If a player gets any flowers or seasons tiles in the replacement draw, the players must wait for the next turn to draw replacement tiles.
The dealer draws a piece from the wall in clockwise direction, adding it to their hand. Typically, this draw is performed during the initial deal to speed up play. If this does not complete a legal hand, the dealer then discards a piece (throwing it into the middle of the wall with no particular order in mind).
Each player in turn, in counter-clockwise direction, draws a tile from the wall; as long as the tile drawn is not one of the bonus tiles, the player proceeds to discard a tile (either the tile just drawn, or a tile in the hand) to maintain a hand of 13. The discarded tile is thrown into the centre and, if desired, the player announces out loud what the piece is. The other players have an opportunity to seize the discarded tile; if no one takes it, the turn continues to the next player. Play continues this way until one player has a legal winning hand and calls out the win (each region does this call differently—no Asian version uses the word "mahjong" to signal a win) while revealing their hand.
There are four different ways that regular order of play can be interrupted:
During play, each player's hand should always be 13 tiles (meaning in each turn a tile must be picked up and another discarded). The count of 13 tiles do not include any bonus tiles (flowers and seasons), which are set to the side, nor does it include the fourth added piece of a kong. If a player is seen to have fewer or more than 13 tiles in their hand outside of their turn they are penalised.
A winning hand consists of 14 tiles. Since players always have 13 tiles in their hand during play, they must win by either drawing a piece from the wall that completes a 14-tile hand ("winning from the wall") or claiming a discard from another player which completes a 14-tile hand ("winning by discard"). The winning hand is made of four melds (a specific pattern of three pieces) and the eyes (a pair of identical pieces). The exceptions to this rule are the special hands listed below.
Most players play with a table minimum, meaning a winning hand must score a minimum number of points (which can be seen in the scoring section). In Hong Kong mahjong the most common point set is three, but can be higher or lower depending on house rules.
Melds are groups of tiles within the player's hand, consisting of either a pong (three identical tiles), a kong (four identical tiles), a chow (three suited tiles in numerical sequence), or eyes (two identical tiles needed in a winning hand). Melds may be formed by drawing a tile from the wall, or by seizing another player's discard. There are rules governing which player has priority for a discard, and whether the meld should be exposed (displayed to all players) or remain concealed, depending on the manner in which the meld is formed.
Consider a kong the same as a pong with an additional tile to make a complete set of four. There are three ways to form a kong.
The meld must be in absolute numerical sequence and all in the same suit. Players cannot skip numbers or meld from the 8 or 9 to 1 or 2. Honors tiles cannot be used to make chows because they have no numerical value, and bonus tiles (flowers and seasons) also cannot be used to make a chow.
A player can steal a discard to form a chow only from the player whose turn was immediately before theirs; however, a player forming a chow from a seized piece has the lowest priority for that tile. Any other player who needs that tile to make a pong, make a kong, or to win may seize that piece instead. Like the pong, the chow is either concealed (formed by drawing tiles) or exposed (formed by seizing the prior player's discard).The regular counter-clockwise order of turns may be interrupted for four events:
Whenever a player draws a flower or season, it is announced and then placed to the side (it is not considered a part of the 13-tile hand, but in the event that player wins, they may earn bonus points for them) and the last tile of the wall is drawn as a replacement tile so that the player has the 14 pieces needed before their discard. This may happen successively in a player's turn.
When a player discards a tile, other players may steal the tile to complete a meld. Stealing tiles has both advantages (quickly forming a winning hand and scoring extra points) and disadvantages (being forced to reveal part of one's hand to other players and not being able to change the meld once declared).
When a meld (pong, kong, or chow) is declared through a discard, the player must state the type of meld to be declared and expose the meld by placing the three (or four) tiles face up. The player must then discard a tile, and play continues to the right. If the player who melds a discard is not directly after the discarder (in order of play), one or two players will essentially miss their turn as play continues counter-clockwise from the player who declared the meld.
If multiple players call for a discarded tile, priority for the discard depends on the declared action of the player stealing the discard.
The act of winning a hand interrupts play to assess the validity of the hand won. Upon confirmation, the player is awarded the hand's value per the specific game's rule.
If at any point in the game a player can use another player's discard to complete a legal hand (and with the agreed minimum points), they declare a win and reveal their winning hand. This ends the hand, and scoring commences. If more than one player can use a discard to win the hand, multiple ways can handle the situation based on agreed table rules: The players might count the points they would win with the discard and the winner is the one with the higher score, the winner might simply be the player closest to the discarder in order of turn, or multiple players may be granted the win simultaneously.
Alternatively, a player may also win by drawing a tile that completes a legal hand. This is called "winning from the wall". In Hong Kong mahjong, winning from the wall doubles the number of base points each loser must pay.
Technically, the declaration for winning a hand may be done at any time. However, the player must have a complete and legal hand. Otherwise, the player is penalized. The penalty depends on table rules. The player may forfeit points to the other players. Another potential penalty is the player who called out the false win must play the rest of the hand with their tiles face up on the table so other players can see them (open hand). Some methods apply the penalty at the end of the entire game. Again, the table rules dictate the enforcement of the penalty.
A rarely occurring and high-scoring feature of Hong Kong mahjong is a move called robbing the kong. If a player declares a kong by adding a fourth piece to a melded pong but another player can use that piece to complete a hand, the completing player takes priority to win the hand and may steal that piece from the player who intended to declare the kong.
Below are two examples of winning hands. A winning hand must consist of four melds (pongs, kongs, or chows) and a pair (eyes) and must also score the agreed table minimum.
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. They are described in more detail below.
If the dealer wins the hand, they will remain the dealer and an extra hand is played in addition to the minimum 16 hands in a match.
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.
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.
Players may agree on table rules if the pace of the game is brisk or leisurely. For brisk games players may agree that a couple seconds after a discard are allowed for a "window of opportunity" before the next player picks up from the wall. Usually it is agreed once the next player has waited the duration of the "window of opportunity" and draws a tile from the wall, the previous discard is lost and cannot be claimed.
Main article: Hong Kong mahjong scoring rules
Old Hong Kong scoring is relatively simple. There is only one winner (or if there is a draw the hand is replayed). The winner must have a legal hand that meets the minimum faan points agreed to in advance (not including any bonus points). Only the winner scores, and the other players pay the winner various sums. After each hand ends, the winner counts their faan points.
A concealed meld is one that contains no tiles stolen from another player's discard. A concealed hand is one made up of only concealed melds. Many variations distinguish between a concealed hand (winning from the wall) and a semi concealed hand (the last tile is a stolen discard). In most mahjong variations having a concealed hand can be valuable in scoring. Hong Kong mahjong does not award concealed melds/hands as generously as others. Concealed hands only the case with a few limit hands or half-limit hands (thirteen orphans, heavenly gates, four concealed pongs) as well as a complete hand (seven pairs) and over several melds (three concealed pongs).