Play Majong Games the Right Way

How to play Mah Jong

Majong beginning, the four players sitting on the sides of a square table, the four winds, north, south, east and west. The cards are then placed down and mingle. Each player gets 36 of them, respectively, puts them in two rows of 18 pieces, stacking the lines of the other. The stores are on the table and then joined together to form a square.

East starts the game of Mah Jongrolling the two dice. He counts himself as first and proceeds to his right till he reaches the number displayed on the two dice. Seven tiles are selected by each player from right to left, from the chosen wall of the player. This is known as the 'flower pile' and reserved for exchanging with flower tiles later in the Majong game. At this point, a decision on drawing is taken, which normally begins from the rightmost part of the wall and continues to the left till the needed number is taken. The east begins by taking 2 stacks of 2 tiles, totaling 4 tiles, followed by south, west and north by taking the same number of tiles. The process continues until all players have taken 3 stacks of 2 tiles each totaling 12 altogether. One more tile is then taken so that each player has a total of 13 tiles in his hand.

On receiving all 13 tiles, every player arranges them in order. Flower tiles that a player gets are 'retired' or kept aside to the right of the table, face up. A tile is then taken from the flower pile in place of the retired tile. The flower tiles get additional points. The east player begins the round by taking one more tile from the wall and discarding one of his tiles.

How to Play a Majong Hand

After discarding a tile by the east player, the player on his right (south) takes a tile from the wall. The player can keep the tile or discard it, which is dependent on the hands in his possession. If he decides to keep the tile, he needs to discard one from his hand. The Majong play continues this way with each player picking up and discarding tiles.

The players need not pull out the tiles from the wall at all times. If a player can complete a sequence or a set with a discarded tile, he can take it rather than pulling out from the wall. The Majong player who picks up a discarded tile must declare his intent by stating 'chow', 'pung', or 'kong', as the case may be. A series of 3 tiles in an identical suit is a 'chow'. A 'pung'is three matching tiles in an identical suit and a 'kong' is for similar tiles of the same suit. For instance, if a player has two, number 7 tiles of the circle suit and a number 7 tile of the same suit is discarded, he can declare 'pung' to complete his series. On completion of a sequence using a discarded tile, the sequence needs to be 'retired' and kept aside at the right of the table.

Winning Majong

A player wins on his completing a combination of 4 triplets, four of a kind or sequences. The 'retired' tiles also ads up in the final combination. Additionally, he should have a pair of the same tiles, also known as the 'eyes'.