Three player mahjong rules and strategy of mahjong games. Mahjong rules and how to play mahjong your goal is to remove every tile by matching pairs of identical tiles. Based originally on paper cards, the tiles are now solid, chunky pieces with an image or character on one side similar in a sense to a domino and a thick backing of bamboo or, more usually these days, plastic on the other. This video explain about basic rule to play mahjong. Mahjong, a chinese game of cunning, strategy and chance that is played around the word, typically requires four players. When you click on the chinese option in the mahjongg game setup dialog box, you will see the following dialog box which gives you different options for the chinese mahjongg game. How to play and features you can play a fullfledged four person mahjong that you can enjoy from beginners to advanced players. East starts the game by discarding a tile faces up in the center of the table. There are many versions of mahjong, but the main 4 are chinese hong kong american japanese. Mahjong, mahjong or mahjongg is a chinese game that dates back more than 2,000 years. Mahjongg is to make the tiles match up with a hand on a mahjongg. The goal in hong kong mahjong for every hand, the goal is to become the first player to get a hand composed of any combination of four sets see below and a pair. Page 1 of 6 terminology chee or chow a meld of 3 tiles in sequence of the same suit pung or pong a meld of 3 identical tiles of the same suit kong a meld of 4 identical tiles and must be exposed if formed from a discarded tile.
The three player mahjong game requires reducing the number of tiles and dice in play. Mahjong pronounced with a soft j and variously known as mahjongg or mahjong is a charming chinese game played with engraved tiles. Play continues to the right, in turn, until one player declares a mah jongg or until all the. Mahjong or mah jongg is a four player game which employs both skill and luck. The player who drew east selects a seat and sits down. Although normally played with four players, mahjong can be played by two people with only a slight variation to the rules. A u3a beginners guide to mahjong u3a site builder home page.
This book is based on the british mahjong association rules. This creates opportunities to get rid of tiles that the players do not want by passing them to other players during the charleston. The rules of mah jong or mah jongg masters traditional games. These rules will focus on the most basic rules of mahjong, which are the same across most other variants. American mahjong also sometimes spelled mah jongg or called maajh is unique from asian mahjong in several ways. Although the game is hard to master, its fairly easy to learn the basics. A variation of mahjong, however, allows three players to compete in the game.
The game of mahjong has many variants this version is sometimes referred to as the chinese classical or sometimes the hong kongcantonese version. Similarly, if a hand is printed in two colors, the tiles are to be selected from two different suits. In a 6player game, the two and three of diamonds and the three and four of clubs are removed. Directions for twoplayer mahjong tiles game, fun games. So therefore for those who are interested i have posted my list of hands from my book 101 illustrated mah jong hands. Mahjong is a four player game of skill, originating in china.
Ma 2 tiles a pair seak gamemah jong end of game feng similar to the term, tricks in cards. It was brought to the united states in the 1920s when joesph park babcock published rules of mahjongg. A guide to mahjong chinese official international rules 3. The game is now ready and new tiles will be taken from the wall where the drawing of initial hand ended. It is important to remember that there are many different kinds of mahjongg.
Mahjong chinese classical or hong kongcantonese rules. Instead, it is a complete set of written rules of the worlds most popular cantonese mahjong, including modifications widely played throughout the 1990s and beyond. The bmja british mahjong association rule book that these instructions are based on uses 19. As each tile is discarded, the player must announce the name of the tile she is discarding so that all players are aware of the discard e. In a 5player game, the two of diamonds and two of clubs are removed. Beginners will learn their roles in the game, how game play. A brief history of wonderful, mystical, romantic mah jongg. Tom just helped clean up the english, dressed up the article with images, stuff like that. You can only match a tile when there is a space on one side of the tile, so look to make matches with tiles at the top of. In a 3 player game, the 2 of diamonds is removed, and each player gets 17 cards. That means in threeplayer mahjong a player cannot complete a run of three tiles by claiming a tile from the person to his left. The rules that follow are known as modern american rules. Concentrate on the free tiles most of the 144 tiles in a mahjong game are blocked anyway, so dont worry about them.
There are currently two leagues which publish a mahjongg card. Mahjong is a game of both skill and luck that originated in china many centuries ago and was brought to the west in the 1920s with the publication of joseph park babcocks rules of mahjongg. Mahjong is a game for 3 or 4 players usually played by 4 separate individuals. American mahjong utilizes racks, jokers, hands and rules score cards and has. The strategy the fun of this game is to build up your hand fast to win and can be consider as speed mahjongg game. Allocate the seats by placing the east, south and west wind tiles face down, shuffling them and having each player choose one tile. The object of modern american sometimes called jewish mahjongg is to make the tiles match up with a hand on a mahjongg card. The ancient game takes patience to learn and requires a bit of strategy to play. How to play american mahjong yellow mountain imports.
These rules can be found on the back of the card and in the rule book mahjongg made easy 20, which is sold by the league. The main mahjong article contains general terms, but only english and japanese terms are used here. Mahjong is a popular chinese game played with sets of tiles. This rule is a variant, and its typically only used in the american version. There are slight different between chinese mahjong, japanese mahjong, us mahjong and etc. Hong kong mahjong rules drawing tiles the game is now ready and new tiles will be taken from the wall where the drawing of initial hand ended. Hong kong mahjong rules associazione italiana mah jong.
In addition, either its left or right side needs to be open. East finishes with fourteen tiles while the other players have thirteen tiles each. A set can either be a pung, which is three identical tiles, or a chow, which is a run of three consecutive numbers in the same suit. Singapore mahjong rules the following describes the rules for singapore mahjong that are followed by the computer game at this web site in general these rules apply to the singapore style of mahjong. And now, with the gold standard edition, the classic play of american and chinese mah jongg can easily be enjoyed thanks to its beautiful cards. The goal of the game is to get a mahjong, which consists of getting all 14 of your tiles into four sets and one pair.
Almost similar to gin rummy, the object of mahjong is to build sets, as well as. Mahjongg is played with four players, and a fifth person may be a bettor. Pass tiles using the charleston rule in american mahjong. Mahjong is a tilebased game thats been played in asia for over 300 years and is gaining global popularity. All normal rules apply, however for some there is a broken wall of. Basically, the tile needs to be able to slide out without anything blocking it. Beginners usually practice the game process without keeping score until they have mastered the concept of the game. Chee or chow a meld of 3 tiles in sequence of the same suit. One of the main differences between the american style mahjong and the other mahjong styles is the charleston sequences before the game play. If a hand is printed entirely in one color, it means that all tiles in that hand are to be from one suit. View imj rules online international mahjong rules version 05. This is good practice for beginners although not quite such a good game as the more typical version with 4 players. The charleston is basically series of tile exchanges among the players. The rules set forth by the national mah jongg league provide the basis for all games played with the national mah jongg league card.
Although the game play in general is similar in all of the versions of mahjong, the game pieces and scoring, however, slightly differ depending on the regional variations. As an optional rule, riichi mahjong can also be played with one five from each suit being replaced with a red five tile. While the basic rules to the game are retained, the variation features a unique set of rules such as richi and the use of dora. In practice there are always variations to rules and. Threeplayer mahjong is a variation of mahjong for three players rather than the more common. You can play with mahjong at any moment in the striking muscle corresponding to. Unfortunately these do not have any illustrations but all the info is there. If a player claims a discarded tile for an exposure, and. Traditionally, the tiles have been made from ivory or bone dovetailed into bamboo. There is a scoring system for mahjong, but newcomers simply place a mark on a piece of paper next to the name of the person with the winning hand. Three player mahjong is probably as old as mahjong itself, though it is speculated that mahjong originated as a game for only two players. Riichi mahjong does not use the flower or season tiles found in chinese sets, nor the joker tiles used in american mah jongg. While the materials and mechanisms are the same, the rule changes, dynamics and scoring systems, as well as the social atmosphere and challenges to playing, create two different worlds of tile throwing.
American style mahjong rules mahjong is a chinese game of skill, which involves four players. Chapter three the general rules for the competition of chinese mahjong 3. Like many popular games, mahjong has many regional variations, from the chinese prevailing wind system to american mahjong with special bingolike scoring cards. Three player variations japanese three player mahjong. In chinese mahjongg, the flowers and seasons are optionally used to give a player extra points. All you do is take 3 tiles from your hand that you want to discard and pass them to the right, called the first pass. There are numerous possible house rules meaning three player mahjong can be as. Koreanjapanese three player mahjong, played in east asia is an amalgamation of old korean mahjong rules which traditionally omitted the bamboo suit and did not allow melded chows and had a very simple scoring system with some elements of. Below are the rules to american mahjong, which differs slightly from its asian predecessor. The most distinctive pieces in a mahjong set are undoubtedly the tiles.
The korean and japanese versions of mahjong are probably the best ways to play with three players. Free mahjong application that you can play anytime, anywhere from beginner to advanced. The other three players, in counterclockwise order, pick a tile from the same. Mahjong, the classic chinese tile game, dates back to the tai ping rebellion of 18511864 and was popularized in the west in 1920 with the publication of the book rules for mahjongg. Mahjong rules and how to play mahjong kristanix games. Pdf version of my book, mahjong, british rules this is now available worldwide from my gumroad store.