Mahjong

Players

• 4
  
  

Equipment

• 144 Mahjong tiles (including suits, honors, and bonus tiles)

• 2 dice

• Score chips or paper
  
  

Objective

Form a winning hand of four sets (pungs/chows/kongs) and one pair, scoring enough points (fan) to declare Mahjong.

Tile Types

• Suits (dots/circles, bamboo/sticks, characters) → 1–9

• Honors → Winds (East, South, West, North) + Dragons (Red, Green, White)

• Bonus Tiles → Flowers & Seasons (used for bonus points only)

Mahjong Setup (Hong Kong Style)

1. Seating & Winds

• Each player sits on one side of the square table.

• The four seats are East, South, West, North.

• Everyone throws a die, the highest number is East.  East is the dealer for the first hand and stays the dealer until they lose a hand.

2. Building the Walls

• Each player takes 36 tiles (18 stacks of 2) and builds a wall in front of them.

• The four walls form a square "fortress" of 144 tiles.

3. Determining the Break in the Wall

1. East rolls two dice.

2. Count counter-clockwise around the players to determine which wall to break (1 = East, 2 = South, 3 = West, 4 = North, then repeat if higher than 4).

   • Example: East rolls a total of 7 → count 7 players counter-clockwise → ends on West → break West’s wall.

3. The player whose wall is chosen then rolls the dice again (or East rolls a second time, depending on house rules) to determine where in that wall the break occurs.
   
   

4. Breaking the Wall

• Starting from the dealer’s right-hand side of the chosen wall, count off the number shown on the dice.

• At that point, lift the wall open — the dealer begins drawing tiles from there.
  
  

5. Dealing the Tiles

• East (dealer) takes the first 4 tiles (2 stacks of 2).

• Then each player in turn (counter-clockwise) takes 4 tiles, until everyone has 12 tiles.

• Finally, each player takes 1 more tile → 13 tiles each.

• East takes 1 extra tile (to start with 14).
  
  

6. The Dead Wall (Kong Box)

• After dealing, 14 tiles from the back end of the wall are set aside as the “dead wall.”

• These tiles are reserved for replacement draws when a Kong is declared, or for flowers and seasons

• The remainder is the “live wall” for normal draws.
  
  

7. Starting the Game

• East discards first (since they have 14 tiles).

• Play proceeds counter-clockwise.

Gameplay

1. Turn Sequence

   • A turn consists of drawing one tile (from the wall or discard) and discarding one tile.

   • Play continues clockwise.

2. Making Sets

   • Pung = 3 identical tiles

   • Chow = 3 consecutive tiles in the same suit (e.g. 3–4–5 Bamboo)

   • Kong = 4 identical tiles (requires an extra tile draw)

   • Pair = 2 identical tiles

3. Claiming Discards

   • You may claim another player’s discard to complete:

     • A Pung/Kong (at any time, but must declare immediately), or

     • A Chow (only from the player on your left).

   • Claiming interrupts the turn order; you then discard.

4. Winning Hand (Mahjong)

   • Standard hand = 4 sets + 1 pair (14 tiles total).

   • Minimum 1 fan (scoring point) required to go out.

   • Winning player declares “Mahjong!” and reveals their hand.

Scores for Winning

Winning Bonuses

• Self Pick (zimo) → +1

• Out on Last Tile → +1

• Out on Last Discard → +1

• Robbing a Kong → +1

• Out on a Supplement Tile (flower/season replacement) → +1
  
  

Pungs and Chows

• 4 Chows → +1

• 4 Pungs → +3
  
  

Purity

• Semi-Pure (one suit + honors) → +3

• Pure (all one suit) → +6

• Winds & Dragons only → max
  
  

Dragons

• 1 Dragon Pung → +1

• 2 Dragon Pungs → +2

• 3 Little Dragons (two Pungs + a Pair) → +4

• 3 Big Dragons (all 3 Pungs/Kongs) → max
  
  

Winds

• Pung/Kong of Player’s Own Wind → +1

• Pung/Kong of Wind of the Round → +1

• 4 Winds (including a pair) → max
  
  

Flowers & Seasons

• Flower/Season of Player’s Own Wind → +1

• No Flowers or Seasons → +1

• All Flowers or All Seasons → +2
  
  

Special Hands

• 7 Pairs (no quads) → +4

• Hidden Treasure → Four concealed Pungs + any Pair, all self-drawn → max

• All Honors → Dragons and Winds only → max

• All Terminals → Pungs/Kongs and a Pair, 1s and 9s only → max

• Nine Gates → 1112345678999 + any tile in same suit (concealed, no Kongs) → max

• Thirteen Orphans → One of each Dragon, Wind, 1 & 9 of each suit, + any duplicate → max

• All Kongs → Four Kongs + any Pair → max

• Jade Dragon → Pung/Kong of Green Dragon + rest of hand in Bamboo → max

• Pearl Dragon → Pung/Kong of White Dragon + rest of hand in Circles → max

• Ruby Dragon → Pung/Kong of Red Dragon + rest of hand in Characters → max

• Heavenly Hand → East wins immediately with dealt tiles (after flower replacement) → max

• Earthly Hand → Non-dealer wins immediately on East’s first discard (after flower replacement) → max
  
  

9-Piece Penalty

• If you throw a tile giving a player 3 sets in one suit and they go out with a pure hand, you pay for everyone.

• If you throw a tile giving a player 12 tiles in one suit and they self-draw the winning tile for a pure hand, you pay for everyone.
  
  

Claim Priority

• Win has priority over Pung, Kong, or Chow.

• Pung/Kong has priority over Chow.

• If two players claim a tile to win, priority goes to the first player to the left of the discarder.

Payments:

• Each non-winner pays the winner based on total fan.

• If the winning tile is self-drawn, all players pay double.
  
  

Variations & House Rules

• Minimum Fan: Some groups require 2 fan to declare Mahjong (to prevent “cheap hands”).

• Multiple Winners: If two players can go out on the same discard, priority goes to the closest player in turn order (to the discarder’s left).

• Kongs: Some groups score extra bonuses for concealed vs. exposed Kongs.
  
  

End of the Round

• Play continues until the wall is nearly empty (14 tiles remain).

• If no one declares Mahjong → the hand is a draw.

• Deal passes East → South → West → North.

Bonus Rules for BeerJong

I've actually never played this, but somehow came up with this.  I cannot guarantee this would go very well at all so, as the boss often says, "make good decisions".

• Flowers/Seasons – Draw a bonus tile of your seat number and everyone else drinks, draw someone else’s flower and just they drink.  Excludes initial deal.

• Winds – Pung, Kung or Chow your wind and everyone else drinks, someone elses wind and just they drink.

• Pungs – Pung at any time and everyone else drinks.

• Kongs – Kong at any time and everyone else has two drinks.

• Finish vessel if you incur the 9 piece penalty.

• Finish vessel if someone wins by robbing your kong.

• Finish vessel if someone wins with a maximum hand.