Beginner’s Guide to American Mah Jongg

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. 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.

  • In their place were "king" tiles for heaven, earth, man, and harmony and also for each of the 4 "winds" which may have acted as bonus tiles.
  • If a player does not call or claim the discarded tile, play moves to the right.
  • Naturally, different variations of Mahjong have different applied rules, but the basics remain consistent.
  • Simulators designed for each specific variation of Mahjong are available online.
  • There are multiple ways to set up a game of Mahjong Solitaire and customization is common for more experienced players.
  • However, the most common Mahjong layouts include the traditional ‘spider’ layout, as well as ‘pyramid’ and ‘square’ layouts.

There are four different seasons and four different flowers. The tile that has most recently been discarded can be called by any other player if the tile will complete a pung, kong, quint, sextet, or any other combination for an exposed hand. The East Wind player throws the dice and counts off the resulting number from the tile stack in front of them, from right to left, before breaking the wall. Moving counter-clockwise, each player takes four tiles and continues where the dealer left off, picking two tiles from the top and two from the bottom. It’s a good idea to have a mix of sets, sequences, honors, and bonus tiles to increase your chances of winning. If any player, at any point in the game, is found to have an incorrect number of tiles (i.e. less than 13 tiles), then the player is forfeited from the round and must reveal their hand.

MAHJONG SET-UP

The other players have an opportunity to seize the discarded tile; if no one takes it, the turn continues to the next player. A player cannot win by a discard if that player had already discarded that piece, where players’ discards are kept in neat rows in front of them. Players may declare ready, meaning that they need one tile to win, cannot change their hand and win extra points if they win.

Start by drawing the top tile, then the bottom tile if the wall is no longer two tiles high. You can play Mahjong as a beginner by playing with just https://mystakecasinos.com/ one more player. Keep the tiles face down and place them between the two of you. Your opponent can either pick up the new or discarded tile.

The dealer throws three dice in the square wall and sums up the total. Counting anti-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.

How to Play Mahjong Solitaire In Real-Life and Online

The goal of the game is to match your tiles with one of these combinations. Mahjong Solitaire is the single-player version of a traditional tile game originating in China. In the regular version, four players compete to collect sets of tiles and score points. Some variations give points for concealed hands, in which case no melds are made except by winning on a discard. Points (terminology of which differs from variation to variation) are obtained by matching the winning hand with different criteria scoring different values.

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. A group of players may introduce their own house rules which can notably change the feel of play. The discarded tile is thrown into the centre and, if desired, the player announces out loud what the piece is.

General rules & how to play

The game begins with the dealer who discards a tile face up in the center of the table. South is then the first to draw and discard a tile, followed by West and North. Pay attention to what your fellow players are discarding. This can provide valuable information about their hands. If a player discards a tile you need, you can call it and take it to complete your set.

Variations

We hope you enjoy your future games of this extremely fun and competitive game, Mahjong. This is where the wall is “breached” and the game begins. These walls are then pushed together in the middle of the table to represent a wall with their four corners touching.

The turn then moves to the player on their right who picks a tile from the wall, then discards a tile. Any player can decide to call a discard to make an exposure (see below). We’ll cover the various aspects in a little more details below.

When a player discards a tile, other players may steal the tile to complete a meld. Points are given for sets and hand composition and winning bonuses, doubled and redoubled for basic patterns. Japanese mahjong has a complex scoring system with several stages of scoring, rules and exceptions, evening out scores and bonus points at the end of a match. Korean mahjong has a simple scoring system where only winner scores without any form of doubling.

In general, all players draw 6 tiles each in turn order and repeat once. Now all players have 12 tiles, and following turn order, each player draws one tile, giving all players 13 tiles. A player starts their turn by drawing a tile from the wall that is currently in play. This tile is selected from the end of the wall closest to the center of the table and it is placed on the tilted side of their rack (visible to them only). The racking of a tile is the signal that the previously discarded tile can no longer be called.

Standard Chinese Mahjong

Flowers represent the four seasons, while Seasons are, well, just that – seasons! These tiles can earn you additional points if you collect matching sets or sequences of them. The ultimate goal in Mahjong is to achieve Mahjong, which means forming a complete hand with four sets (pongs, chows, and kongs) and a pair of identical tiles. When you achieve Mahjong, you declare it and win the round.

The most distinctive pieces in a mahjong set are undoubtedly the tiles. The game is oft compared to gin rummy, a card game which similarly relies on both luck and skill. While there is no way to guarantee a win in every game, one way to improve your skill is to practice. You can change the layout to Mahjong Solitaire, MyStake Casino with each setup offering its own unique challenges. You can choose from a turtle, fish, bird, gate, or triangle and see which layout you enjoy playing best. Players choose a tile from the Cardinal tiles to determine who will be the East Wind. After this you have the suits; Circles, Bamboos and Characters.

These are, in turn, divided into four sets of numbers 1 to 9 in each suit. Many sets also include eight bonus tiles with four flowers and four seasons, but these are not needed in the basic game. Mahjong is a popular Chinese game played with sets of tiles. Like many popular games, mahjong has many regional variations, from the Chinese prevailing wind system to American mahjong with special bingo-like scoring cards. Read on to learn how to play mahjong using the game’s basic rules and strategies, which are the same across most other variants.