By Abraham Dybvig
Mah Jongg is a Chinese game of beauty, excitement,
intelligence, and tradition. Mah Jongg finds its’ origin in China, it’s roots
stretching back to around 500 BC. Mah Jongg as we know it today found it’s
beginnings in the mid 19th century. Mah Jongg popularity grew to
become the sixth largest export from Shanghai in the mid 20’s during America’s
Mah Jongg craze.
1920’s Flappers starting a
game of Mah Jongg
Mah Jongg popularity waned until the 90’s when it
began a recent surge. People of all cultures are now experiencing the challenge
and fun of this ancient and popular Chinese game.
You need a set of Mah Jongg Tiles, a special marker of some kind, a method of keeping score, and a pair of dice. You’ll also need a playing surface.
The Tiles will be four of the numbers One through Nine in three Suits (108 Tiles), four of each of the Winds (16 Tiles), and four of each of the Dragons (12 Tiles). These 136 Tiles make the basic Mah Jongg set. Most Mah Jongg Tile sets have eight special Tiles, One through Four of Flowers, and One through Four of Seasons, giving you a total of 144 Tiles in a Standard Mah Jongg set. We will go into detail about each of these tiles in a later chapter. These rules are written for the 144 Tile Mah Jongg set.
This is the Symbolic
Square of Mah Jongg. It shows all 144 Tiles arranged in a Symbolic Pattern.
The special marker is to
indicate which player will play “East.” Some Mah Jongg sets come with tile
stands, one of which is red. The red stand marks the East Player. Anything will do, as
long as it’s unique to the East Player.
A method of keeping score could be as simple as Pen and Paper, but often times a Mah Jongg set will come with some Scoring Sticks. We’ll go over how to use Scoring Sticks in a later chapter.
The pair of dice will be used to randomly choose the East Player for the first Hand, the Dealer, and where the deal will begin.
Watercolor Art of the Road to Heaven
Overview of Play
1. The Wall is built. This is similar to shuffling a deck of cards.
2. The dealer is chosen by throwing some dice.
3. The Wall is broken. This is like cutting a deck of cards.
4. The hands are dealt beginning with the East Player.
5. Each player draws a tile from the Wall, and chooses a tile to discard.
6. Players call out Chow, Pung, or Kong if another player discards a tile they need.
7. When a Player has Mah Jongg the points are tallied and everyone settles.
8. A Game consists of four Rounds. A “Round” is four Hands.
Determining who plays “East”
Everyone should sit down at the table. Each player will roll a die. The highest number will be the East Player for the first hand. If there are any ties for East, then re-roll the tie to choose the East Player. Once the East Player is chosen, everyone else will know what their Wind is. The seat to the Right of the East Player is the South Player. Across from the East is the West, and to the Left of the East Player is the North.
Being the East Wind has some special significance that is covered in later chapters. This only occurs before the first hand. Once this is done, you can start the hand.
The significance of the seating of the Winds indicates how we see the
compass as though we were looking up to Heaven. It suggests viewing the world
from a Heavenly perspective.
The Wind of the Round
Each time the East Wind has moved around the table, a Round is completed. The next wind, in order of East, South, West, North, becomes the Wind of the Round. Once all four Winds have been Wind of the Round and the East Player has changed four times for each Round the game is ended.
I have a special
die that has the Four Winds etched into it. The East Player is handed this die
to indicate who the East Player is. The Wind of the Round is shown face up on
the die in front of the East Player.
Step One, Building the Wall
All the Tiles are placed on the table face down. The Tiles are mixed by stirring them around on the table. Then each player takes one quarter of the Tiles and creates their section of the Wall. Place one tile on top of another and line these pairs up in a row of eighteen Tile pairs.
Each player arranges their section with the other players’ segments to create the complete Wall.
The wall is finished. Building the Wall only takes a couple of minutes once you get the hang of it. Now it’s time to break the Wall.
Building the
Wall represents the Walls around the ancient cities of China.
Step Two, Breaking the Wall
The
East Player rolls both dice. He begins counting, with himself as the
number One, the result in a counter-clockwise direction. That player will
be the Dealer. Remember the result of the dice since it will be used in the
next step. The East Player should now pass the dice to the Dealer, or keep the
dice if the result ended on him-self.
For instance, if
the dice shows “Ten,” then he would count around the table twice and end up on
the Player to his right, making the South Player the Dealer.
The Dealer throws the dice to find where the Wall will be Broken. The Dealer adds the total of the dice to the total thrown by the East Player and counts that many Tiles from the left of his side toward the right. If the number is larger than eighteen then he will count around the corner until the total is reached.
The Dealer takes those two tiles and places them on the Wall to the left of the opening. These are called the Lose Tiles. Lose Tiles are explained in a later chapter. The fourteen Tiles to the left of the Break, including the Lose Tiles, are separated from the Wall. These fourteen Tiles are called the Kong Box. Players will not draw from the Kong Box unless they are replacing a tile used in a Kong or when a Flower or Season is played. The Kong Box is no longer considered part of the Wall, and Players will not draw from it as if it were.
In our previous
example the East Player rolled a Ten. Since the South Player is the Dealer, he
rolls the Dice and this time they show a Five. The Dealer adds the two totals
together and comes up with fifteen. He takes the fifteenth pair of Tiles from
his left and places them on the Wall to the left of the Break.
This is the
complete Wall and Kong Box. It resembles the walls of ancient Chinese cities.
Now the Dealer takes two pairs of Tiles (four total) from the right of the Break and hands them to the East Player. He takes the next two pairs and hands them to the South Player. The Dealer will continue this counter-clockwise until each Player has twelve Tiles. Then the Dealer hands each Player one more tile, starting with the East and finishing with the North Player. Each Player should have thirteen Tiles.
Honors are given
to the Four Winds in order of East, South, West, and North.
Every Player stands their tiles up and arranges them so that the tiles are presented in an orderly fashion. Everyone will want to be able to quickly plan how to play their hand.
The Tiles to the
Left of the Kong Box are the end of the Wall. The side of the Wall that Players
use to draw from is out of view.
Once the deal is complete the East Player may begin the Hand by drawing the Tile to the right of the Break.
Step Three, laying down
Flowers and Seasons
Each
player, starting with the East Player, reveals any Flowers or Seasons they were
dealt. They replace these tiles with ones from the Lose Tiles and Kong Box. The
Flower and Season numbered One correspond to the East Wind. Two goes with the
South Wind, Three belongs to the West Wind, and Four is the North Wind’s Flower
and Season.
Flowers and
Seasons are random bonuses. They represent visitation of the Eight Guardians of
Taoism. Each Wind has a Flower and a Season associated with it. Some Mah Jongg
sets and play stiles don’t include them.
Step Four, Drawing and
Discarding Tiles
This is the heart of Mah Jongg. Most of the time will be spent Taking and Discarding Tiles.
If you don’t need a Tile that was last Discarded to complete a Chow, Pung, or Kong, you will take a Tile from the Wall counter-clockwise from the Break. Remember that the Tiles in the Kong Box are not considered part of the Wall and cannot be drawn this way.
Since no one has discarded any tiles the East Player takes the first Tile from the Wall.
Being the East
Player means you get to go first. This also means that the East Player has the
first chance at getting Mah Jongg.
The object of the game is to build a hand that has four sets of three of a kind, called Pung, four runs of three, called Chow, or some combination of Chow and Pung plus an extra Pair of Tiles. This is called a Mah Jongg and takes all fourteen Tiles to achieve.
You get extra
points for being the Player with Mah Jongg. Examine your hand to try and find
the best way to get there. The Best way to Mah Jongg isn’t always the quickest
way, and this is often a lesson taught in Chinese methodology.
Discard a Tile if you don’t have Mah Jongg. Place the unwanted tile face up near the inside of your side of the Wall. The other Players will have a chance to use the discarded Tile for Chow, Pung, Kong, or Mah Jongg.
Play is passed to the Right of the Player that discards, even if he discards
out of order. It’s possible and normal for Players to miss their turns because
of this. If no one uses the discarded Tile right away it isn’t used in that
hand later. It’s considered good table etiquette to clearly state what your
discarded Tile is.
Keep an eye on what is discarded by other Players. You may want to make use of them. Also, what a Player discards helps you to determine what they might be collecting. Knowing this may help you plan your hand better.
Step
4a, Chow
A Chow is a run of three Tiles in the same Suit.
When the Player to the left of you discards a tile you could use to complete a Chow you may call out “Chow!” and take that Tile. Lay the Chow out in front of your other Tiles.
It’s still possible that you won’t get the Tile to complete a Chow after calling it out. If another Player can use the same Tile for something better, they get Precedence. Precedence is explained in a later chapter. A Chow drawn from the Wall doesn’t need to be laid down, and is not subject to Precedence.
A Chow isn’t
worth any points. You may want to try to get Pungs and Kongs to get a better
score. Remember, you can only use a discard to complete a Chow if the Player to
your left discarded it. Otherwise you’ll need to take it from the Wall.
After laying down your Chow, you will need to choose a Tile to discard and pass play to your right.
Step 4b, Pung
A Pung is a three of a kind of identical Tiles in the same Suit.
When any player discards a Tile you need to complete a Pung, you may call out “Pung!” and take that tile. Lay your Pung face up in front of your other Tiles. A Pung achieved in this manner is called an “Exposed Pung.”
Don’t lay down a Pung that is completed from Tiles taken from the Wall or Kong Box. Keep this Pung Hidden in your hand since it is worth more points this way. Exposed and Hidden Pungs are explained in more detail in a later chapter.
Now you must choose a Tile to discard and pass play to your right.
Certain Pungs
are worth more than others. Ones and Nines are worth more than Two through
Eight. The Dragons are worth the most.
Step
4c, Kong
A Kong is a four of a kind in the same Suit. A Kong can only be achieved by having a “Hidden Pung.”
If any player discards a Tile that you need to complete a Kong, you should call out “Kong!” and take that Tile. Lay these four Tiles face up in front of your other Tiles. A Kong completed this way is called an “Exposed Kong.”
If you take a Tile from the Wall to complete a Kong lay them down with the two outer tiles face up and the middle Tiles face down. This indicates that the Kong is actually a “Hidden Kong” and is worth more points.
This is a Hidden
Kong. Even though it was laid on the table it’s still considered Hidden.
It’s possible to have a Kong right from the beginning without drawing any tiles. If this is the case, simply lay them down as a Hidden Kong and draw your replacement tile from the Loose Tiles on the Kong Box.
An advertisement from a
1920’s Catalogue
Sometimes you draw a matching tile to an Exposed Pung from the Wall.
In this case you lay the Tile face down next to the Pung to indicate it has become an Exposed Kong.
A Kong has a special rule attached to them. Since you used four Tiles to complete the Kong you will always need to get an extra Tile to replace it. This is where the Loose Tiles come in handy. Choose one of the Loose Tiles to place in your hand.
It’s possible to take a Loose Tile and finish a Chow, Pung or even another Kong! Any Chow or Pung completed from Loose Tiles are considered to have been drawn from the Wall unless this allows you to go Mah Jongg. If you get Mah Jongg from a Loose Tile, you get some extra points! However, it’s relatively uncommon for this to happen.
Once you have resolved the Kong, you need to choose a Tile to discard and pass play to the right.
You lay down
your Hidden Kongs to show the need to take a Loose Tile. They are still
considered Hidden, but you have proven the need for a Loose Tile.
It’s always
worth it to get Kongs. The more points you get, the more other players will
have to pay you at the end of the Hand.
Step 4d, Mah Jongg
Mah
Jongg is the name of the game, and going Mah Jongg is the goal of each Hand.
Everyone will be spending most of their time working toward this goal.
A Mah Jongg is achieved by getting a matching Pair of Tiles plus four Chows, four Pungs, four Kongs, or a combination of Chows, Pungs, and Kongs. It takes fourteen tiles to get Mah Jongg. Flowers, Seasons, and the Fourth Tile in a Kong don’t count toward the fourteen Tiles needed for Mah Jongg. It’s possible, but extremely rare, for a Player to get Mah Jongg with as many as twenty-six tiles!
If any player discards any tile that you can use for Mah Jongg you should call out “Mah Jongg” and take that tile. Going Mah Jongg is the only reason you are allowed to complete a Chow from the discard of a player other than the one to your left.
You can also go Mah Jongg by taking a Tile from the Wall. You get two extra points for doing this. The specifics of Scoring are explained in a later chapter.
Once you have Mah Jongg you will lay all your tiles on the table and everyone will begin counting their points. The Player who has Mah Jongg is declared the Winner of the Hand.
Since your Exposed Pung are already laying face up you will want to differentiate your Hidden Pungs from your Exposed Pungs. Lay your Hidden Pungs on the table with one of the three Tiles face up, and the other two face down.
A Hidden Pung of
Seven Bamboo is illustrated above.
Hidden Pungs and
Kongs are worth more than Exposed ones since they are harder to accomplish.
Ultimately you want to get Mah Jongg since it earns you more Points. We’ll take
a closer look at how this Hand scored in the next step.
Step 4e, Precedents
Precedents refer to who gets a Tile from a discard if more than one Player can use it. If more than one Player wants a discard, then the Player who will score the most Points with that Tile is given the Tile.
The order of Precedents from highest to lowest is:
1. Mah Jongg with Pung
2. Mah Jongg with Chow
3. Kong
4. Pung
5. Chow
The Player with the higher Precedents gets the Tile regardless of if they asked for it first or not.
The Highest
Precedent is Mah Jongg with a Special Hand. Special Hands aren’t covered in
these rules so they are not included in the list.
Step 6a, Figuring your Basic
Points
Calculating your Points seems complicated at first, but you’ll get the hang of it after doing it only a couple of times.
The first thing everyone needs to do is determine what their Hand has Scored. Review the Scoring Sheet on the Back of this Book for your Exposed, Hidden, and Special Points. Add all these values together to get your Basic Score.
Exposed Pungs and Kongs are the ones that have been laid face up on the Table. They become Exposed because we need to take a tile from another Player’s discard.
Hidden Pungs and Kongs are the ones that remain standing in our Hand. Hidden Pungs and Kongs are worth more points than Exposed ones.
Lets take a
closer look at that Hand. In the above example we see that the Player had an
Exposed Pung of White Dragons worth 4 Points, a Pair of Dragons worth 2 Points,
a Season worth 4 Points, an Exposed Kong of Terminals worth 16 Points, and a
Hidden Pung of the Simples worth 4 Points. We don’t add any points for the Chow
since it’s worth 0 Points. He also got Mah Jongg for 20 extra Points. His Basic
Score is 50. Not bad, but we aren’t done yet…
Step 6b, Doubles and your Points in Hand
Next each Player looks at the Scoring Sheet to figure out how many Doubles they have earned. Multiply your Basic Score by two for every Double you have earned. This is how many Points in Hand you have.
In our example
above we have a Basic Score of 50. We see from the Scoring Sheet that we get
One Double for the Pung of Dragons. Our Basic Score of 50 is multiplied by two
for each Double we have for a Point Total of 100 Points. That’s much better! If
he was the North Player we would have a second Double for our Flower and would
have 200 Points!
Step 6c, Paying each other
Each
Player pays the Winner of the Hand the total of the Winner’s Points in Hand. If
the Winner of the Hand was the East Wind, all Players pay him double!
The East Player always pays Double to the Winner of the Hand and to any other Players that scored more Points in Hand. Conversely, the East Player is always paid double from other Players that scored fewer Points in Hand.
It’s really
handy to be the East Player. You have an opportunity to get lots of extra
Points each time you are the East player. Each Player will be the East Player
at least four times.
The other Players pay each other the difference in their Points. The Player with the fewer Points in Hand pays the others with higher Points in Hand the difference of their respective Points in Hand.
Andy got Mah
Jongg with 32 Points. Brett had 16 Points, Players Chuck (who was the East
Player) and Dave had 8 Points each. Players Brett and Dave each pay Andy 32
Points for going Mah Jongg. Chuck pays Andy 64 Points for going Mah Jongg.
(Chuck pays Andy double because Chuck is the East Player.) Brett gets 16 Points
from Chuck and 8 Points from Dave. Lastly, Chuck gets 0 points from Dave. If
everyone had started with 1000 Points, Andy would now have 1128 Points Total,
Brett would have 992 Points, Chuck would have 920, and Dave would have 960
Points.
Using Scoring Counters might help you to tabulate your Points in Hand. Many Mah Jongg Tile Sets come with a set of Scoring Counters. You can use spare change or poker chips to help keep score too. Scratch paper and a pencil works in lieu of these. Once the Points are settled and everyone is paid, it’s time to prepare for the next Hand. But first we have to change the winds.
Step Six, Changing the Winds
If the East Player was declared the Winner of the Hand by going Mah Jongg, then he remains the East Player until a different Player gets Mah Jongg. Otherwise the Player who was the South Player becomes the East Player. All other Winds shift one seat counter-clockwise as well.
The Wind of the Round (also known as the Prevailing Wind) remains the same
until the East Wind has rotated once through all the Players. Once the first
Player to be the East Player becomes East Player again, the Prevailing Wind is
changed in order of East to South, South to West, and West to North.
A game of Mah Jongg is complete when the East Player has been rotated completely through the Round of the North Wind, the Prevailing Wind of the last round. This will take at least sixteen Hands to finish.
For a Shorter
Game of Mah Jongg you can just play one Round. Each Player gets to be the East
Player at least once. Enjoy your game of Mah Jongg!
The Three Great
Dragons