(You may require the ability to view Japanese character sets to view a small portion of this guide.)

How to play Mahjong for beginners

V1.01: Updated links to go to Wikipedia; old site linked no longer exists.


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Table of Contents
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1. Introduction [INT]
2. Terminology [TRM]
3. Basic rules [ROG]
4. Scoring [PTS]
5. Credits [THX]


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Introduction [INT]
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Hello everyone, sonikku here with possibly my weirdest guide yet. You've
probably seen these Mahjong games all over the place, but have no idea how to
play them, and the fact that everything's in moonspeak probably isn't helping.
Thankfully, I'm here to help with that.

This guide is not intended for one specific game on the RGR. Rather, it is
intended to cover all of the Mahjong games on the RGR, and thus this guide
will be written to cover both two-player and four-player Mahjong games, so no
matter what game you're playing, you should be able to use this guide for it.
However, this mainly covers the rules for Japanese Mahjong, so if you wind up
playing with Chinese rules, some things may be different than what I explain
here.


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Terminology [TRM]
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This section covers the basic terminology used in Mahjong games. Screenshots
will be used to show what the term looks like in moon runes. In screenshots
where multiple terms are listed, the highlighted one is the relevant one.



Pon (Pung) is used when you have three of a kind of something. While
it is possible to self-pick a Pon (or any other type of move), you would not
actually say Pon unless your opponent discarded the tile you need to
make a Pon. You can only call this before drawing a tile, and just because
you can call it does not mean you should; you may be left unable to play the
hand as a result. This applies to any other call out which exposes a portion
of your hand. In four player Mahjong, Pon has medium priority when multiple
players want a discarded tile. In any case, claiming a discarded tile shifts
turn order to you; you must discard a tile immediately, then play passes to
the player on the right.



Chii (Chou) is used when you have three in a row of something. While the
screenshot above is a little difficult to show it (since the suit for the
discard is of the kanji numbers), my opponent discarded a numerical 4, and in
my hand is a numerical 3 and numerical 5. I wouldn't need to call Chii in this
situation because I already have that tile in my hand. In four player Mahjong,
Chii has the lowest priority when multiple players want a discarded tile.



Kon (Kong) is used when you have four of a kind of something. This can
be called whether you self-picked the tile that would give you the Kon or your
opponent discarded it. Unlike calling Pon or Chii, calling Kon allows you to
draw an additional tile. You can make a Kon on an already exposed Pon, but
only if you self-pick the Kon; for some reason I don't understand myself, you
cannot call Kon on an exposed Pon through an opponent's discard. In four
player Mahjong, Kon has the same priority as Pon. You also immediately draw a
new tile and discard, as the turn order has shifted to you.



Riichi (English: Reach) is used when you are precisely one tile away
from having a winning hand and your hand is still concealed at the time of
declaration. You effectively make a bet of 1,000 points that says you will
finish out the hand. This is enough to make a hand if you win by Ron.
However, if you fail, that 1,000 points goes into a pot that the next player
to successfully form a hand takes. However, calling Riichi locks your
hand, effectively forcing you to discard the tile you drew until either
you self-pick the winning tile or your opponent discards it. In the case of
the latter, the discarded tile must not be forbidden (see furiten, below) or
you cannot claim their tile as the winning one. The reason your hand is locked
is because you must be able to demonstrate that you really were one tile away
from winning the hand if you are unable to make your hand. A player in a state
of Riichi has a bar with one red dot placed above their hand, as shown above,
and the tile which was discarded when Riichi was declared is marked in some
way, usually by turning the tile sideways.



Ron is used when your opponent has discarded the tile you need to
complete your hand, regardless of whether it makes a Pon, Chii, or Kon. In the
above example, my opponent discarded a numerical 9, which finishes my hand.
Calling Ron ends the hand and tallies up the score. If the game does not allow
you to call Ron when you clearly have a hand, either that tile is furiten (see
below), or you do not have a yaku (see scoring). In four player Mahjong, Ron
has the highest priority over anything else. Additionally, only the player who
discarded the tile that ended the hand has to pay the winning player. If the
dealer pays out, he pays double what the hand is worth, while if the dealer
wins, the loser pays 1.5x what the hand is worth.



Tsumo is used when you self-pick the tile you need to complete your
hand. Calling Tsumo ends the hand and tallies up your score. If the game does
not allow you to call Tsumo when you clearly have a hand, you do not have a
yaku (see scoring). In four player Mahjong, Tsumo causes all of your opponents
to pay you. The dealer pays double to the winner, while if the dealer wins,
s/he takes 1.5x what the hand is normally worth from all players.

Furiten (no screenshot) is a term used to denote a forbidden action.
Common examples of forbidden actions are trying to claim a Ron on a tile you
previously discarded. This is more a rule of honor than anything; if you lay
down a bamboo 3, other players can generally assume it is safe to discard any
bamboo 3 they draw, as you demonstrated to them you do not need it. Normally,
attempting to do something that is furiten incurs a chombo penalty; you'd pay
the opponent 1,500 points for your illegal action, but the games on the RGR
are generally nice enough to just say you can't do that.

Tenpai (no sreenshot) is a term used to denote a hand that is one tile
away from making a hand, but was, for one reason or another, unable to make a
hand. Any player in Tenpai wins 1,000 points from players who are not in a
state of Tenpai. If all or no players are in a state of Tenpai, no points are
paid out.


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Basic rules [ROG]
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The basic rules of Mahjong are as follows:

- You and your opponent have some number of points (usually 25,000) to start.
- Everybody draws 13 tiles, which then get organized by suit and number.
- The dealer draws a new tile, then discards one.
- Other players may call Ron, Kon, Pon, or Chii on the discarded tile to make
the resulting set with their tiles.
- If no player calls the tile, play passes to the right. If a player calls the
tile, play passes to them and they discard.
- Repeat until the discard limit has been reached or a player makes a hand.
(I don't know the hard number of discards, but in the two player games, it
seems to be just two rows of tiles in the discard area.)

But just what is a hand, you must be asking me. A normal hand in Mahjong
consist of any combination of four Kons, Pons, and Chiis, and one pair. If the
hand is concealed (all of these combinations were self picked), you can play
the hand. Otherwise, you may need some other special combination of tiles to
play it. This can range from simply having a Pon of winds or dragons (the
tiles with no numerical value associated with it) to having everything in one
suit, among many other things I don't fully know myself. If you cannot win the
hand by any other means, staying within 1 tile of making a hand and hoping the
opponent doesn't make a hand is also a viable option.

The following are the numbers of the Kanji tiles, in case you need them to
make a Chii.

一 1
二 2
三 3
四 4
五 5
六 6
七 7
八 8
九 9

Also, the tile that looks like a bird (to me, anyway) is the bamboo 1. It is
not a special tile.


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Scoring [PTS]
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The scoring system is something I don't fully understand myself. However, from
what knowledge I was able to glean from experience, you need at least one yaku
to gain any points at all. Keeping your hand concealed is always a yaku.

There are many, many different ways to earn yaku, and I don't fully know them
myself. So the best way I can explain the scoring is to link up another source
somewhere that does know what they're talking about better than I do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Mahjong_yaku Here is a list of yaku, or possible hands, and their worth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Mahjong_scoring_rules Here is how scoring is calculated in Mahjong.


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Credits [THX]
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Davideo7, for maintaining this site for so long.
Twitch user Morricane, for helping me understand a little more about Mahjong.

OH MY GOSH!!!!! I can't tell you how helpful this is!!!!!! tRIUNE and I have many times wished we knew how to play so that we could more correctly mark some of these MAME games.  There are just sooooo many of them!  Wow, wow, wow!

Thank you like... 5 trillion and a half times!!!!

(Wow.. I'm going to have to read it a few times. It seems so complicated. haha)

sonikku :

Good work sonikku, keep it up.

I wouldn't mind seeing ya around the boards more either. :3

sonikku :   Wow. Very informative. I am sorry to say that nothing you said started to make sense until I clicked on all the links.

I have only ever played solitary Mahjong for beginners on the computer; the one where you just uncover all the tiles by matching pairs of them. These Japanese rules where you keep score are very complicated. Particularly the scoring seems difficult to figure out. I guess I didn't look closely enough to figure out what the exact point value of each Fu and Han rates as. It's a good thing you play by computer and the game itself calculates the score. In feudal Japan, it would have been a nightmare to figure out the score and fights would probably have broken out over the outcome. No wonder the Empire of Japan turned out so violent throughout its regime. Yeah. Japan is a much better country now.

The game of Mahjong has outlasted empires. Do you have any idea in which dynasty it was first played? All I know is that it has been around for a very long time. Like maybe, they were playing with these same rules when Rome hadn't been sacked yet. I had no idea or maybe a dim idea that it had ever been played as a multiple player game. Personally, I think I prefer Hearts because it is much easier to count up the points.


Postman3

Postman3 : Considering the names of a good number of the callouts are in Katakana, I don't believe the Japanese were the first to play it. I want to say the Chinese were the first to play it, and it became a carryover to Japanese culture, but this is an unfounded guess and may be wrong.

Oh so I see. The Chinese are pioneers of many games. Mahjong may be one of theirs originally. They also were the first to play checkers(their version), chess and I think even backgammon. China itself is a very interesting country with an ancient and rich cultural background. Perhaps all oriental blood originates from what was once Cathay before people fled to live elsewhere. Not every regime was friendly to everyone.

It makes perfect sense that the game would be originally Chinese. It also bears to reason that the Japanese would want to have their own unique rules made up to confound visiting foreigners, if it wasn't just simple misinterpretation. Japan ranks pretty low on friendliness to outsiders so perhaps the former is more likely. Don't get me wrong, Japanese people who are wealthy and themselves travel to our countries are perfectly amicable to inhabitants of foreign lands, but if you ever go to Japan you'll come back with stories to tell about how most people stare rudely and point at you and children run about harassing the rare Gaijin unlucky enough to be there. I've heard and read terrible things.

Are there any Chinese versions of Mahjong on Vizzed? I don't know if China is currently very big on video game production but maybe there are some Chinese games. Maybe if their were, a comparison thread could be made to show the differences and similarities between Japanese Mahjong and Chinese Mahjong. I'm not suggesting you do it, but somebody could.

From your initial post of this thread, I surmise that Japanese Mahjong games have popped up in vast digital fields. China has one of the largest population bases in the world though so it would come as a definite shock if they fell behind in any industry, even electronics and video games. I don't know if it is "keeping up with the Chan's" over there but national pride is supposed to be very big.

  P3