Mahjong Rules & Basics On How To Play Mahjong

In a way Mahjong has similar rules to Gin Rummy in that the objective is to complete hand. In Gin Rummy, the hand is also called a meld.

The classic game of Mahjong is one of the earliest Rummy games according to available knowledge and was evolved from a centuries old game of Mah Tiae. It was first presented in the form of paper cards but later became tiles and has changed over generations but remains one of the most popular games in China with many millions of players. It remains a popular wagering game across China, Japan, Taiwan and wider Asia.

In Mahjong, a winning hand is composed of four sets of three (or four) tiles in a suit plus a similar pair of any suit.

Given that Mahjong is in many ways a gambling game, players must decide ahead of time on the maximum amount to be paid per round. Another thing that has to be decided is to assign one player to be East. The East player usually deals first.

Note that there are no fixed rules for Mahjong. Each country normally has its own set of rules, and regions within a country will also have variations of the game. There is, however, a set of common “denominators” that characterize Mahjong and how it is played.

In Gin Rummy, you play with a deck of 52 cards. In Mahjong, instead of cards, you have tiles. An entire set of Mahjong has 148 tiles and they are divided into suits (shapes) that has 136 tiles that can be played. The number of tiles in a Mahjong game also varies, depending on the country where it is played.

All Bamboo, Number and Circle tiles have 9 numbers (from 1 to 9). Each number has 4 tiles.

Players begin by shuffling the tiles on the table. After shuffling, they build a square (some call it “building the wall”) using the tiles. Each side of the square must have 17 or 18 tiles (18 tiles if you have flower and seasons tiles).

The player who was assigned to be East rolls the dice and then picks a player by counting counter-clockwise. This player in turn rolls the dice again and begins counting his/her tiles. Players pick up 12 tiles each. After each player has collected 12 tiles, they take one more tile to have 13. The East takes an additional tile (to make 14) and the purpose of this extra tile is for him to formally begin the round by discarding one tile.

Again we see a similarity of this discarding exercise in Gin Rummy. The first player in Rummy begins the game by throwing one card he does not need into the discard pile.

When the East player discards a tile, the player to his right picks up a tile from the point in which the wall was left off. He has to decide whether or not to keep the tile. If he wishes to keep the tile that he took from the wall, he must discard another tile from his hand, always ensuring that he maintains 13 tiles.

As in Gin Rummy rules, a player does not always have to draw a tile from the wall (the equivalent of the stock pile in Rummy). He can pick up a tile from the discarded tiles (the equivalent of the discard pile in Rummy).

If a player wishes to pick up a discarded tile, he must announce his intention by saying the words “chow”, “pung” or “kong.”

“chow” this means three tiles in sequence of the same suit (example: 7, 8, 9 in the circle suit).

The discarded pile, he must set them aside at the table’s right corner. There are two reasons for this: to remove it from his/her hands, and to prove that a sequence was attained. After the player sets his sequence tiles aside, he then throws another tile into the discard pile. The player to his right now takes his turn to play.

One of the rules is that when two players say “pung” and “chow” at the same time, the one who said “pung” takes precedence.

When a player has reached a combination of 4 triplets, quadruplets or sequences, he wins.

The end of a game is signalled when a player declares Mahjong or when there aren’t any unused tiles left. In this case, no one wins.

Note that a Mahjong round contains many games. In each round, a banker (the East) is picked by rolling the dice or by assigning someone. A round is said to be complete when the role of the banker (the East) has been assumed by all four players.

A winning player automatically receives 20 points. The other players need to add up their tiles. They should also count the tiles they put aside. The money is then paid to the winner and the amount should be the difference between their scores and the winner's score. Because of the numerous variations of Mahjong, the scoring method varies. Note that there is a Japanese, Singaporean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Sichuan, Malaysian and American version of Mahjong.

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