This article is part one of a two-part series in which I discuss the rules and origins of Mahjong.
Rules
Mahjong is a traditional Chinese tile game played by four people at a square-shaped table. Many may find it hard to learn Mahjong and mastery comes with years of experience and thousands of hands played. Even the best can’t win every hand and strategy can only go so far when confronted by the luck of the draw.
On the surface, Mahjong is not complicated. The goal of the game is to accumulate a set of 14 tiles that together equal a “Mahjong”. The conventional winning hand is made up of 4 sets of either three of a kind or three tile straights and a separate pair of two. As you delve deeper, confusion soon sets in.
The Each hand starts with 144 shuffled tiles split among 4 groups of 36 each. There are 3 different primary suits and 4 secondary suits:
Each player starts off the game by drawing 4 tiles at a time until each person has 12. Next, each person will draw one additional tile. The first person who drew as determined by a rotation will draw two tiles and have 14 tiles total. He/she is responsible for starting the hand by dealing out the first tile.
There are two ways to acquire tiles. The obvious way is to draw a tile and the second way is to claim a tile another player deals. In order to claim a tile, you must have two or more other tiles already in your hand to pair with it to create a straight or three/four of a kind. Straights can only be claimed when the person directly to your left deals out the tile and a player calling three of a kind will supersede the straight.
Only the first person to complete a winning hand each round is awarded points. However, hands may end it a tie in which no points are awarded. Any win will net you at least one point with subsequent bonuses applied if the win was achieved with certain parameters. The points system can differ in different settings and can be very complicated. The following are some of the special mahjong hands that automatically net the maximum points possible:
Mahjong is not a simple game. This is only the tip of the iceberg. To truly master Mahjong is a feat only achieved through practice. So, why not try it! I may have just inspired the next Mahjong master!
Sources:
https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-play-mahjong-411827
https://www.mastersofgames.com/rules/mah-jong-rules.htm
This article taught me rules of Mahjong that I had no idea about before.
Wow, this is very interesting! I have seen many people playing this before and never knew that the goal of the game was to accumulate a set of tiles!
I saw my grandma playing Mahjong (called Majak in Korean) with her friends while I was in pre-K. Although traditionally played by four people, Korea and Japan made a variation that has three players. I remember my grandma saying how each game ended faster with simpler scorings whenever she played this version.
The clattering sound of Mahjong tiles invokes my childhood memories and those summer nights I spent in my grandparents’ house in a rural Korean village.
老实说我自己本身就不会打麻将，我之前有和朋友或者家人请教过很多次麻将的玩法，但最后都是不告而终，刚才我又很认真的读了你写的方法，真希望我可以记住，因为我身边的中国人都会打麻将，麻将在中国已经非常普遍，就像打扑克牌似的，每个人都会玩。