How to play mahjong
A guide on playing Cantonese and Japanese mahjong Mahjong and Strategic Games Society University of Exeter
Joshua Ma August 2020 Copyright ©2020 Joshua Ma. This guide can be copied, distributed, and/or modified under Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence. More information can be found on here. Cover photo ©tomohiro0326 on photoAC, downloaded from this link This guide was typed and compiled with XƎLATEX (on Overleaf) with aid from various online resources, which are listed towards the end in ‘reference and resources’. There is no intention to violate copyright or licensing, but please contact the author if there is any issue in copyright (or just error or suggestion in general). About this guide This guide is written as a tutorial material for society activities in University of Exeter Mahjong and Strategic Games Society. This guide shall be used with other material, in-person taught through and game play during society sessions and events. This guide can be download from the society website linked below. The original source code can be viewed on here. About the society Mahjong and Strategic Games Society is a University of Exeter Students’ Guild affiliated society. It was founded in May 2019 with activities started since 2019/20 academic year, aiming to promote cultural exchange in the form of mahjong and other strategic games. Website www.exeterguild.org/societies/38425/ Instagram www.instagram.com/exeteruni_mahjongsoc/ Facebook page www.facebook.com/exeterunimahjong/ Facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/663539370736221/ Email [email protected]
About the author Joshua Ma, BSc Mathematics student 2018-2021. Founding president (2019/20) and treasurer (2020/21) of the society. His email is [email protected] Contents
Preface 4
I Basics 5
1 From zero to play a game 6 1.1 Mahjong tiles ...... 6 1.2 Game setup ...... 7 1.3 Playing the game ...... 9 1.4 Winning the game ...... 11
2 Preparation to score 13 2.1 Wind and round ...... 13 2.2 Concealed hand ...... 14 2.3 Self-draw ...... 15 2.4 N-sided wait ...... 15 2.5 Moving onwards: Which style to play? ...... 16
II Cantonese style 17
3 Rules 18 3.1 Minimum winning requirement ...... 18 3.2 Bonus tiles ...... 18 3.3 Winds ...... 19 3.4 Dragons ...... 19 3.5 Self-pick ...... 19 3.6 Common combinations ...... 19 3.7 Scoring ...... 20 3.8 Multiple wins ...... 20 3.9 Liability to pay ...... 20
4 List of combinations 22 4.1 One faan combinations ...... 22 4.2 Two faan combinations ...... 23 4.3 Three faan combinations ...... 23 4.4 Five faan combinations ...... 24 4.5 Seven faan combinations ...... 24 4.6 Eight faan combinations ...... 24 4.7 Ten faan combinations ...... 24 4.8 Combined examples ...... 26 4.9 Summary table ...... 27
2 III Japanese style 28
5 Rules 29 5.1 Terminology ...... 29 5.2 Minimum winning requirement ...... 29 5.3 Discarding tiles ...... 29 5.4 Calling/Melding tiles ...... 29 5.5 Dead wall ...... 30 5.6 Dora ...... 31 5.7 Kan ...... 31 5.8 Riichi ...... 32 5.9 Furiten ...... 34 5.10 Honba ...... 34 5.11 Draw ...... 35 5.12 Aborted hand ...... 35 5.13 Multiple wins ...... 36
6 Combinations 37 6.1 One han yaku ...... 37 6.2 Two han yaku ...... 39 6.3 Three han yaku ...... 41 6.4 Six han yaku ...... 42 6.5 Thirteen han yaku (Yakuman) ...... 42 6.6 Nagashi Mangan ...... 44 6.7 Summary table ...... 46
7 Scoring 47 7.1 Point sticks ...... 47 7.2 Han ...... 47 7.3 Fu ...... 47 7.4 Point calculation ...... 49 7.5 Liability to pay (‘Pao’) ...... 49 7.6 Point tables ...... 50 7.7 Scoring examples ...... 51
Appendices 53
A Suggested manners 54
B Tournament rules 58
C References and additional resources 63
3 Preface
Thank you for your interest in mahjong and the society. By picking up this guide you are one step closer to this fantastic game played by millions of people all around the world. In the first academic year (2019/20) some sort of tutorial for Cantonese style was offered. Aiming for greater inclusivity and clearer tutorial material this new complete guide was initiated and written over summer 2020 for our members. This guide will bring you through the (most played) rules of mahjong in Japanese style (as known as Riichi) and Cantonese style. This guide has a slightly different order compared to what can be find on the web or how other people were taught to play and also some contents are omitted and simplified deliberately, while necessary content is still included to guideyou through them so that the first chapter alone can get you start playing straight away with aset of simplified rule. This should make the game easier to handle at the start. Also, thismakesa same start for both styles then you can choose your specialism. Personal preference and experience to teach how to play caused some slight difference from other guides or what other people may say. Do check out other online resources and game for improving your skill and clearing ambiguity. I would also like to say a big thank you to the committee members who helped (and will be helping) me in operating the society in these two years and writing up this guide (and big thank you to many wonderful online resources). There are lots of other styles and localised rules played around the world too, so this guide is not an exhaustive list of rules to be quoted. It may be overwhelming with a long list of new rules but remember the most important thing: Have fun! Joshua Ma President (2019/20), Treasurer (2020/21) Exeter, August 2020
4 Part I
Basics
5 Chapter 1 From zero to play a game
Mahjong is a game of skill, strategy, and calculation and involves a degree of chance. It is usually played by four players. In turn players draw and discard tiles until they complete a legal hand to win.
1.1 Mahjong tiles
Figure 1.1: Mahjong tiles [8]
(a) Cantonese style [2] (b) Japanese style [5]
Figure 1.2: Mahjong set in different styles
6 This will be how tiles look like in this guide:[10]
Suits 1-9
Dots/Circles yuiop[]as Bamboos/Sticks dfghjkl;' Characters 90-=qwert
Honours
Wind 1 2 3 4 Back of tile East South West North (or denote ’any tile’) 8
Dragon 7 6 5 Red Green White
• A mahjong set has 4 copies of each of the 34 tiles from above, for a total of 136 tiles. • There will be some variation depends on which styles you play, which are discussed later – For Cantonese styles ‘bonus tiles’ are used. – For Japanese style sometimes ‘red fives’ are used. – There are also other styles using other tiles, like joker in American mahjong. 1.2 Game setup
At the start of each game: • Face all the tiles down and shuffles tiles around the table • Each player builds in front of himself a wall of face-down tiles, 17 tiles long and 2 tiles high • All four walls are pushed together towards the middle to form a square shape • Determine the starting position of getting tiles (break) by: – A player rolls two dice * Each player will have a ‘seat wind’, where the dice-thrower will always be the East player, then counting anticlockwise are South, West and North * There will be a specific order for deciding the dice-thrower will be introduced later (as you may have guessed it just follows the order of seat wind), but for now just do it by any player. (more on this in section 2.1) – Counts that number of players anticlockwise, starting with himself/herself * 2/6/10 will be the player on the right of dice-thrower (south player) * 3/7/11 will be the player opposite to dice-thrower (west player)
7 * 4/8/12 will be the player on the left of dice-thrower (north player) * 5/9 will be the dice-thrower himself/herself (east player) – The player thus determined breaks the wall in front of him, by counting from the right the same number of stacks as indicated by the dice – After the last counted stack the wall is broken by pushing the two wall sections apart • Each players gets 13 tiles by: (Figure 1.3) – Each player pick 4 tiles (2 stacks) * Tiles are taken clockwise, while the players’ turns proceed anticlockwise * Starting from the dice-thrower, then the next player takes the next 4 tiles and so on – Repeat 3 times until everyone gets 12 tiles – For the last tile: (Figure 1.4) * The dice-thrower continues by taking two tiles: the top tiles in the first and third stacks in the wall. * The following players then take one tile each in order * This corresponds to dice-thrower taking one tile, waiting for the other players to take one tile each, and then the dice-thrower takes his 14th tile * The dice-thrower now has a starting hand of 14 tiles, whereas the other players have 13 tiles each. The dice-thrower can discard one tile to start the game.
Players’ turn in anti- clockwise direction
Tiles taken clockwise
(Dice-thrower)
Figure 1.3: Example of getting tiles (12 rolled)[7]
8 Figure 1.4: Getting the last tile (Note that this is in opposite direction from Figure 1.3)[4]
1.3 Playing the game
Players will draw one tile and discard one in turn (in anticlockwise direction). The objective of the game is to form a winning hand, which consists of 4 sets and a pair. (see the next section for more details)
1.3.1 Sets You can make one of the following sets (or meld/combo) from your hand: Name Type Examples
Chow/Sheung/Chi 3 in a row 90- kl; p[] Pong/Pung/Pon 3 of a kind hhh 111 Kong/Kan 4 of a kind tttt 3333 • Sets must be in the same suit: uio and jjj are but not u-h or ppj • Numbers cannot loop back in a chow: 891 and 912 are not possible. • Honours tiles can only form a ‘pong’ or ‘kong’, but not a ‘chow’ If you have three tiles on your hand that can form a set, you will not show it (if it helps you can cover them up and/or put them aside, but you may draw more tiles later help to develop your hand and change the structure of some sets).
1.3.2 Calling tiles If you have two tiles and a third one missing you can form the set by steal that third tile from tile discarded another player (making a call/melding). • You can only call an tile at the moment when it is discarded to the table and before the next player have drawn a tile. • Once a call is made that set is fixed. You cannot swap tiles from it in that game.
Calling for a chow • To form a ‘chow’ you can only get from your previous player (player on your left). • You will say ‘chow’, ‘sheung’ (Cantonese) or ‘Chi’ (Japanese) when you take the tile.
9 • You will take that tile and discard one tile from your hand – This is because you have taken a tile from the table so that you will not draw again • Then the next player carry on.
Calling for a pong • To form a ‘pong’ you can get from any of the player. • You will need to say ‘pong’ (Cantonese) or ‘pon’ (Japanese) to take the tile. – You will need to interrupt before the next players’ turn • You will take that tile and discard one tile from your hand – This is because you have taken a tile from the table so that you will not draw again • Then the next player carry on (so it may skip players’ turn) • Calling ‘pong’ takes priority over ‘chow’
Calling for a kong You can just see a set of ‘kong’ as an upgraded version of ‘pong’. There are 3 ways to form a ‘kong’ • Melded kong: three on your hand and call the fourth copy from someone’s discard • Extending melded pong to kong: you already called a ‘pong’ before and you draw the fourth copy • Concealed kong: you have all four of the same tile im your hand and you choose to open it up onto the table The way to call is similar to a ‘pong’: • To form a ‘pong’ you can get from any of the player. • You will need to say ‘kong’ (Cantonese) or ‘kan’ (Japanese) to take the tile. – You will need to interrupt before the next players’ turn • You will take that tile • The additional step for kong: Draw a replacement tile from the other side of the wall (that is other side that you do not normally draw from) – This is because when calling ‘chow’ or ‘pong’ it will takes two tiles from your hand (and the third one from the table) to form a opened set but in this case it takes three tiles. • Discard one tile from your hand • Then the next player carry on (so it may skip players’ turn) • Calling ‘kong’ takes priority over ‘chow’
1.3.3 Swap calling/Call exchange If you call for a chow/pong you cannot put down immediately the same tile or the ‘other end’ go with the two tiles you have. Also, if you choose to not to call for a pong/kong/win on the first available tile then you cannot doso in the same turn.
10 Example: If you have io and call a chow on u then you cannot discard u or p imme- diately. This restriction is removed in your next discard. 1.4 Winning the game
1.4.1 Winning hand The objective of the game is to form a winning hand. This consists of 4 sets and a pair.
Examples of winning hand
|444{z } |kl;{z } |90-{z } |fgh{z } |aa{z } 1st set 2nd set 3rd set 4th set a pair
|l;'{z } |yui{z } |op[{z } |[]a{z } |77{z } 1st set 2nd set 3rd set 4th set a pair
|0-={z } |rrr{z } |gggg{z } |555{z } |jj{z } 1st set 2nd set 3rd set 4th set a pair
1.4.2 Ready hand In any game you are starting off with 13 tiles. During the game you will draw and discard tiles, but you remain to have a total of 13 tiles from within your hand and melded sets (or more with kongs, but they are considered as a set in the context of ready hand). The step before winning is to try to form a ‘ready hand’, where you are one tile off from winning. Once you have a ready hand, you will ‘wait’ for the last tile to win.
Examples of ready hand
|444{z } |kl;{z } |90-fgha{z } |a{z } Melded pong Melded chow tiles in hand last tile | {z } (’wait’ to win) your ready hand
|444kl;90-fhaa{z } |g{z } tiles in hand/ready hand last tile (’wait’ to win) None of the tile are shown openly. You do not need to show your tiles if they can form a set within your hand (but you can cover them up and/or put them aside if it helps)
11 |444{z } |kl;{z } |90-{z } |fgh{z } |a{z } |a{z } Melded pong Melded chow Melded chow Melded chow tile in hand last tile | {z } (’wait’ to win) your ready hand It is totally legit to have 4 melded sets and just have one tile left in your closed hand.
|4444{z } |kl;90fghaa{z } |-{z } Melded kong tiles in hand last tile | {z } (’wait’ to win) your ready hand An extra tile is in the melded kong (thus to the whole hand), but this is not affecting the structure of a waiting hand of which the last tile is being ‘waited’ to win
When winning, you can win by: • Drawing the last tile yourself (Self-draw/self-pick); or • Discard from any other player (Win on a discard) – This always takes priority over melding tiles – You can win from you opposite or next player even if that last tile is completing a ‘chow’ Declare ‘Mahjong!’ when winning. Then you can start a new game again.
12 Chapter 2 Preparation to score
The purpose of mahjong is trying to get a winning combination. You have learnt how to win a game with any arbitrary combinations (respecting the 4 sets with a pair rule). However, different combinations will give you different scores depends on how difficult youcanform them, which is the key element of mahjong. This short chapter will get you prepared to some more concept and terminology (applicable to both styles, but was not necessary to be included in the above chapter section to get you started) and get ready to do points in either style. The style-specific parts will be mainly how to calculate the points and related rules to go with that. 2.1 Wind and round
The four compass directions are used in mahjong games. In any game there will be two winds: The seat wind and the prevailing wind.
2.1.1 Seat wind • The ‘dealer’ is the player who threw the dice at the start of each game. • He/she will be the east player and then the south, west, north players, in that order. (Note that this is not the same as a compass) • Your ‘next player’ is the player on your right and your ‘previous player’ is the player on your left. – Players’ turns are in anticlockwise direction – So if you are the West player, your next one is North and your previous one is South • If the dealer wins the game, the dealer repeats in the next game. Otherwise (someone else win/no one win) pass the dice to the next player. For example if the player on your right is the dealer, then you will be the north player, as shown in Figure 2.1
13 South player
East player West player (Dealer/Dice-thrower)
North player
Figure 2.1: Example of seat wind[1]
2.1.2 Prevailing wind • Each game will have a prevailing wind. Always start with East as the prevailing wind for the first game. • The dealer will pass to the next player after a game (unless the dealer himself/herself wins the game), so a round is where each of the player has become the dealer and back to the original starting dealer. • Each prevailing wind denotes a round (last for at least 4 games) with each player being the dealer at least once. The prevailing wind is shown by the wind indicator, which will be placed near the starting dealer
Figure 2.2: Wind indicator
2.1.3 Round Normally when the game first started players will agree on how many rounds they will playfor (usually 1, 2 or 4) but you can also just play for as long as you want to stop (the presetting of rounds is recommended for completeness and fairness on scoring but it is not necessary for causal games.) 2.2 Concealed hand
A hand is considered as concealed when: • In Cantonese style: without any tiles being displayed/opened on the table. (All 13 tiles are on your hand)
14 • In Japanese style: have not taken any tiles from other players (A concealed kong in your hand will not open up your hand and still make your hand concealed) Some combinations will require a concealed hand for them. 2.3 Self-draw
Suppose you have a ready hand and waiting for the last one to win. You can win by either • Self-draw (‘tsumo’ in Japanese/‘zi mor’ in Cantonese): when you draw it; or • On a discard (‘ron’ in Japanese): when someone else discard the tile The methods of winning will determine how many points you earn and whom to pay the points. It is also good practice to keep the winning tile separated from the rest of the tile in your ready hand, especially when playing Japanese style as which last tile you are winning from will affect your score. When you win you can say those Cantonese/Japanese words accordingly instead of ‘Mahjong’. (or ‘sik’/‘sik wu’ in Cantonese if you just want to say you win) 2.4 N-sided wait
Suppose you have a ready hand. Then it can be separated as the following:
|888{z } |888{z } |888{z } |8888{z } A set A set A set Some combination of 4 tiles such as
|kl;{z } |444{z } |90-{z } |fgha{z } A set A set A set Some combination of 4 tiles Those 4 tiles with the last tile together will form a set and a pair in your hand. Now have a think of that ’some combination of 4 tiles’. There can be a few different formation of it in a ready hand: Type Example Waiting to win
Two pairs uu77 u7
A pair + An unfinished chow missing either end 99hj gk
A pair + An unfinished chow missing the middle 11jl k
A pair + An unfinished missing one end 66yu i
A set + a single tile (to finish the pair) ===j j As you can see the top two are two-sided wait (can win by two kinds of tiles) and one-sided wait (can win by one kinds of tiles) for the next three.
15 There are also hands with more than two sided wait: Ready hand Wait 777ghjuiop[]a upa
=qwfffghjkl'' fj;'
111uuiioooppp yuio[ Up to 9-sided wait is possible with the normal 4 sets + a pair winning hand.
Some combinations require your ready hand to be in a certain sided wait. Also, this concept of N-sided wait is important for scoring in Japanese mahjong. Having more sided wait can improve your chance of winning too (but not always the case). 2.5 Moving onwards: Which style to play?
Once you are familiar with the rules you can choose to proceed to either the ‘Cantonese style’ section or the ‘Japanese style’ part: • You do not need to be an expert of what was above but the following parts do require some previous knowledge. • From 2019/20 academic year: – Roughly two-third of members knows how to play. Out of them about 80% Can- tonese style and the remainder knows Japanese style. (some know both) – Only Cantonese style was taught in this first year because it is easier during the start of the society – The expected number of player to learn/play Japanese style will be slightly less than that of the Cantonese style, but not massively different. • Cantonese style is played across Hong Kong and Guangdong (South of China). It is easier to learn and have less rules. • Japanese style is played in Japan, but also some people play in Korea and Vietnam (based on who have come to sessions 2019/20). It is also more popular in the Western world like Europe and the USA. It is more complicated and have a lot more rules. • If you intend to learn both, you can choose which to learn first. – If starting with the easier Cantonese style, you can get use to the flow of the game. – Starting with Japanese style allows you to learn both at once (since Cantonese style can be easily picked up as a simplified Japanese style). Also there are more online Japanese mahjong games available in English • There are lots of online resources and mahjong games available. Do check them out and enjoy the game!
16 Part II
Cantonese style
17 Chapter 3 Rules
3.1 Minimum winning requirement
Points are referred as ‘faan’. It is used to measure the quality of a hand. The conventional rule are: • You will need to get a minimum of 3 ‘faan’ to win a game. • The maximum ‘faan’ will be 10. There are also other rules like min 1 max 4. You can just go with the above rule or discuss a lower and upper limit within your table. 3.2 Bonus tiles
8 bonus tiles will be added into the game, making a total of 144 tiles.
Figure 3.1: Bonus tiles [8]
In Cantonese language and amongst players both kinds are referred as flowers In the set that we are using they just marked with numbers 1-4
Figure 3.2: Bonus tiles used in our mahjong set
When these bonus tiles are added, you will build a 18 tiles long wall. Also 3 dice will be used.
18 During the game when you get a bonus tile, you will put it aside onto the table. Then you will draw a replacement tile from the other side that you do not normally draw from (as if you have a kong). When they are found at the starting tiles, players take replacement tiles in turn, starting from dealer, then go to south and so on.
3.2.1 Points Same as seat wind, you will need to get the matching number to get points from bonus tiles. (so if you are the dealer your matching number is 1, south is 2 and so on) • 1 ‘faan’ for having no bonus tile • 1 ‘faan’ for having the matching numbers • 2 ‘faan’ for having a set of seasons or flowers (1-4 in the same colour in our set) • 3 ‘faan’ for having 7 bonus tiles • 10 ‘faan’ for having all 8 bonus tiles 3.3 Winds
If you have a pong/kong that is matching with your seat wind or the prevailing wind you will get a ‘faan’ from it. If the seat wind and the prevailing wind happen to be the same (such as a west prevailing wind and you are opposite to the dealer) then you will get two ‘faan’ from pong/kong of that but none from the other three. 3.4 Dragons
Pong/Kong of any dragons (red, green or white) will score you an extra ‘faan’ 3.5 Self-pick
Winning by self-pick will have extra one ‘faan’ 3.6 Common combinations
The following three standard combinations can ensure the three ‘faan’ requirement is met and most of the other combinations with higher ‘faan’ are just a variation (a more specific, rare combinations) from these standard ones. They are only most common combinations and building a 3 ‘faan’ qualifying hand should not be limited to just these cases, but they give you an easy start to go with.
3.6.1 All in triplets (3 ‘faan’) 4 pongs + a pair
Example of all in triplets ---jjjkkkooo66
3.6.2 Mixed one suit (3 ‘faan’) All tiles are in one type of suit and honours
19 Example of mixed one suit 555yuiyuipppaa
3.6.3 Self-pick + Common hand + No bonus/matching bonus Each of the following get you one ‘faan’, giving a total of three: • win by self-pick • 4 chows + a pair (or having a set of dragon/matching wind) • No bonus tiles/have a matching bonus tile This combination is much more unpopular compared to the other two because of its limited usage and restriction (like your hand may break if you draw a non-matching bonus), but this is still a qualifying hand for three ‘faan’. 3.7 Scoring
The following table is used to convert faan to score: Faan 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Score 2 4 8 16 24 32 48 64 96 128 Players can play with higher limits. There are also other converting scale other than this table. Winner receives their score from: • Winning by discard: The player who discard the tile out will pay the score to the winning player • Winning by self-draw: Half the score in the table and each player pay that amount of point to the winning player. 3.8 Multiple wins
When a discard leads to multiple players winning the game, the most common rule to be used will be only one player can win, where the winner is determined by whom is the next player up, starting from the player who discarded the tile (following the order counting anticlockwise) 3.9 Liability to pay
In some occasions a player will be responsible for paying all score to the winning player when winning by self-pick, as known as ‘bau’. Usually only first two conditions are used but you can discuss an agreed rule in your table.
3.9.1 Great dragons This is the combination of pong/kong of 3 dragons. When a player already has two of the dragon out on the table, a player will be responsible if he/she feeds into the pong/kong of the third dragon.
3.9.2 12 tiles on table: Chosen combinations When a player already has three sets out on the table, a player become responsible if he/she feeds into the fourth set of on table. This only covers the following combinations: All one suit,
20 Orphans, All honour tile, Great winds, All kongs. This will takeover the previous responsible player from great dragons (if any) so the previous one is not responsible anymore.
3.9.3 12 tiles on table: All combinations Same as above but covers all combinations
3.9.4 Melded kong A plyer will be responsible if he/she feeds into a melded kong and the winning player winning from the replacement tile of kong (win by kong)
21 Chapter 4 List of combinations
This is a list of all the ways to get faan. They can be accumulated (such as all in triplets (3), mixed one suit (3) and win by self-pick (1) will get you 7 faan in total) 4.1 One faan combinations
4.1.1 Self-pick Get the winning tile by drawing it from the wall.
4.1.2 Robbing kong When your winning tile is appeared when a player extending melded ‘pong’ to ‘kong’.
4.1.3 Win by last catch Winning tile is either the last tile from the wall or the last discard.(and one more ‘faan’ from self-pick if that’s the case)
4.1.4 Win by kong Winning by replacement tile of a kong. (and one more ‘faan’ from self-pick)
4.1.5 No bonus No bonus tiles are drawn
4.1.6 Matching bonus Bonus tile matching your seat
4.1.7 Prevailing wind Pong/Kong matches prevailing wind
Example(when in East round) 11188888888888
4.1.8 Seat wind Pong/Kong of wind matches you seat
Example(when opposite to dealer) 33388888888888
4.1.9 Dragons Pong/Kong of red, green or white
22 66688888888888
4.1.10 Mixed orphans Ones, Nines and honours only
Example 999sss11166677
4.1.11 Common hand 4 Chow + a pair
Example 90-iop]asfghll
4.2 Two faan combinations
4.2.1 Set of flowers Having 4 bonus tile from the same kind. (red or blue in our set) 4.3 Three faan combinations
4.3.1 Seven flowers Having 7 bonus tiles. You will need to decide if you want to win or carry on the game when you first draw the seventh bonus tile before you draw the replacement.
4.3.2 All in triplets 4 pong/kong + a pair
Example ---jjjkkkooo66
4.3.3 Mixed one suit All tiles are in one type of suit and honours
Example 555yuiyuipppaa
23 4.4 Five faan combinations
4.4.1 Small dragons Pong/kong of 2 dragons and a pair of the 3rd dragon (does not count ‘faan’ from the dragons again)
Example 55566677888888
4.5 Seven faan combinations
4.5.1 All one suit All tiles from one type of suit
Example 9000--=qwerttt
4.6 Eight faan combinations
4.6.1 Great dragons Pong/kong of 3 dragons (does not count ‘faan’ from the dragons again) 55566677788888
4.7 Ten faan combinations
There are some combinations count for over 10 faan (which are marked with the bracketed number, or L for your agreed limit) but for simplicity you can treat them as 10 faan.
4.7.1 Win by double-Kong Similar to ’Win by kong’, where the tile used to make the Kong was itself an extra tile from declaring a kong.
4.7.2 Eight flowers Having 8 bonus tiles
4.7.3 Nine Gates Contain 1112345678999 + any of 1-9 from the same suit(must be concealed: i.e. draw every tiles by yourself)
24 Example yyyuip[]aasss o You can win by both discard or self-pick (some variation may say you can only win by self-pick unless you got the 9-sided wait ready hand as follows:)
|yyyuiop[]asss{z } the 9-sided wait ready hand for Nine Gates
then win by any of them
4.7.4 Orphans Ones and Nines only
Example 999yyysssddd''
4.7.5 All honour tiles Honour tiles only
Example 77766611133322
4.7.6 Small winds Pong/kong of 3 winds and a pair of the 4th wind
Example 11122233444888
4.7.7 Great winds (13) Pong/kong of 4 winds 11122233344488
25 4.7.8 Thirteen orphans (13) One of each one, nine, wind, and dragon, and a 14th tile. Can rob from concealed kong
Example 9td'ys12346755
4.7.9 All kongs/‘18 men’ (13) 4 kongs + a pair
4.7.10 Self triplets (13) ‘All in triplets’ but have not melded (must be concealed: i.e. draw every tiles by yourself) Must win by self-pick (Some variation may permit a win by discard if you are on a one-sided wait)
4.7.11 Heavenly hand (L) Dealer wins with initial hand (any combinations)
4.7.12 Earthly hand (L) Non-dealer player wins on dealer’s first discard (any combinations) 4.8 Combined examples
This gives you an idea of how faan are add up together. Faan from other non-combination elements (like self-pick and bonus tiles) can be added accordingly.
Example yuiop[[]]aas11 Common hand (1) + Mixed one suit (3) = 4 faan
Example dddgggjjj777755 Mixed one suit (3) + All in triplets (3) + Red dragon (1) = 7 faan
26 4.9 Summary table
* = Must be concealed % = Must be win by self-pick Name Faan Summary Self-pick% 1 Get the winning tile by drawing it from the wall Robbbing kong 1 winning when a player extending melded ‘pong’ to ‘kong’ Win by last catch 1 win by last tile from the wall or the last discard Win by kong% 1 Winning by replacement tile of a kong No bonus 1 Matching bonus 1 Prevailing wind 1 Seat wind 1 Dragons 1 Mixed orphans 1 1,9, honours only Common hand 1 4chows + a pair Set of flowers 2 One set of bonus tile Seven flower 3 All in triplets 3 4 pong/kong + a pair Mixed one suit 3 All tiles from one type of suit + Honours Small dragons 5 Pong/kong of 2 dragons and a pair of the 3rd dragon All one suit 7 All tiles from one type of suit Great dragons 8 Pong/kong of 3 dragons Win by double-Kong% 10 Winning by tile from kong, where the tile used to make the Kong was an extra tile from kong. Eight flowers 10 Nine Gates* 10 Contain 1112345678999 + any of 1-9 Orphans 10 Ones and Nines only All honour tiles 10 Small winds 10 Pong/kong of 3 winds and a pair of the 4th wind Great winds 10 Pong/kong of 4 winds Thirteen orphans* 10 One of each one, nine, wind, and dragon+any one of them All kongs 10 4 kongs + a pair Self triplets*% 10 Concealed ‘All in triplets’ Heavenly hand* 10 Dealer wins with initial hand Earthly hand* 10 Non-dealer player wins on dealer’s first discard
27 Part III
Japanese style
28 Chapter 5 Rules
5.1 Terminology
The following (Japanese) names will be used in this part: ‘Tsumo’ Win by Self-pick ‘Ron’ Win by a discard Terminals Number 1 and 9 ‘Chi’ Chow (3 in a row) ‘Pon’ Pong (3 of a kind) ‘Kan’ Kong (4 of a kind) ‘Han’ A scoring unit to measure the quality of your hand ‘Yaku’ A scoring unit awarded to the combination of your hand 5.2 Minimum winning requirement
Basic condition to win a game: • Have a qualifying combination (that is 4 sets with a pair except two special combinations: ‘Seven pairs’ and ‘Thirteen orphans’) • Have at least one ‘yaku’ – ‘han’ is used for point calculation, which composite of ‘yaku’ (point awarded to combination) and ‘dora’ (bonus tiles) – Having ‘dora’ only does not qualify for the winning condition, but they will give you more points. 5.3 Discarding tiles
The tiles you discard may affect your winning condition. Hence you need to place your discard tiles orderly in front of you so that players can identify tiles you have discarded. By convention discard tiles are placed 6 tiles a row, for 3 rows (the third row go longer than 6 if necessary). 5.4 Calling/Melding tiles
If you call a tile you will need to place the tiles sideways depends on who discarded it. (so one can identify which player discard which tile)
29 When showing a chi put the tiles called sideways on the left (to indicate it comes from your left (previous) player)
j hk For pon put the tile sideways for which player it comes from (this shows from your previous, opposite and next player respectively) q q q qq q q qq Similarly for melding kan (you have a choice of putting which ’middle’ tile sideways when calling from opposite) 6 6 666 6 6 66 666 For extending a pon to kan put the new tile on top of the sided tile: gg gg gg gg g g gg Finally for concealed kan flip either the end or middle to tile (after showing to everyone you have got the same four tiles): 8uu8 u88u
5.5 Dead wall
The last 7 stacks (14 tiles) will be separated from the wall after you have rolled the dice and break up the wall. They will form the dead wall and used as solely for replacement tiles for kan and ‘dora’ indicators. The remaining wall is known as the (live) wall. When the dead wall is set up, the top tile of the third stack (counting from the side where the dead wall meet the start of where tiles are drawn) will be flipped open to act as ‘dora’ indicator. By convention the top tile of the first tile will be put down to avoid being wrongly drawnor knocked down by accident
Figure 5.1: The dead wall, with dora indicator and the first tile put down [3]
30 5.6 Dora
‘Dora’ are bonus tiles used in Japanese mahjong: • ‘Dora’ will carry ‘han’, but they do not have any ‘yaku’ so having ‘dora’ only will not necessarily mean that you can ‘ron’/’tsumo’ • The ‘dora’ is the ‘next tile’ of the indicator: – For suits it will be the next number, and 9 will loop back to 1 – For the four winds it follows East, South, West, North and loop back to East – For the dragons it follows Green, Red and White (and loop back), which happens to be the alphabetical order of them
Dora indicator j0s36
Dora k-y47 • There are also occasions (namely kan and ‘riichi’) will open up more ‘dora’ indicators to represent more dora. • If ‘Dora’ indicators are the same, their effect will stack up. • Sometimes ’red fives’ will be added and they themselves are already a ’dora’ regardless of the indicators. They can stack up with the indicators too.
Figure 5.2: Red fives[5]
5.7 Kan
• Calling a kan will open up a new ‘dora’ indicator (as known as ‘kan-dora’): – For concealed kan: indicator will be flipped (be effective) straight after the player have declared kan – For extended/melded kan: indicator will be flipped (be effective) after the replace- ment is drawn and the discard is safely passed (without any one ‘ron’ on it) to the next player • In one game at most four kan can be called, which must satisfy: – If one player has 4 kan, no other players are allowed to have a fifth kan. – If two or more players are having a total of four kan, then after the fourth kan is called and after a round no player can ‘ron’/’tsumo’ then the game will end straight and counted as an aborted hand. • There are always 14 tiles in the dead wall. If a kong is declared and tiles are drawn then the last tile from the (live) wall will be shifted to the dead wall.
31 Figure 5.3: Opening ’kan-dora’ and taking ’kan’ replacement tile from the dead wall [1]
5.8 Riichi
‘Riichi’ is a declaration of commitment to your current ready hand. A ‘riichi’ can be declared once you have a concealed ready hand, which have the benefit of: • You can win with any combination with 4 pairs and a pair - Riichi is a one han yaku itself which qualify the winning requirement • Open up ‘ura-dora’ if you win: these are the ‘dora’ indicators under the top ‘dora indi- cator’ • Have an extra ‘yaku’ (This allow you to win by any combinations (so any 4 sets with a pair)) • If you ‘ron’ on the first discard by others until your first draw or ‘tsumo’ by yourfirst draw after ‘riichi’ you will get an extra ‘yaku’ (‘ippatsu’) However, ‘riichi’ will need/cost: • You must have a concealed hand (Concealed kan are okay - in Japanese style a concealed hand is where you have not called a discard from other player). • There must be at least 4 tiles left from the live wall (that is you can draw at least once more after you declared ‘Riichi’) • You need to put a bet of 1000 points onto the table – You will need to have at least 1000 points to declare Riichi (normally each player start with 25000 - see the ’scoring’ chapter) – If another player win on the discard when you declare Riichi, you will not need to pay this 1000 point bet (Put the bet once the tile is ’safely passed’ where no other player ’ron’ on that discard) – These bet will be claimed by the next winning player
32 – If it is a draw or aborted hand the bet will remain on the table until the next win • You will not be able to change your ready hand: Once you have declared ‘riichi’ you have to stick with your waiting hand as it is and discard whatever you draw afterwards – The only exception is when you have a 3 of a kind and draw the fourth copy where you are allowed to form a concealed kan, but you cannot change your hand when doing this When declare ‘riichi’ you will place your discard sideways and place the 1000 points bet on the middle of the table after discard is safely passed (without any one ‘ron’ on it - you don’t pay the bet if others ’ron’ on your initial riichi discard). If that tile is called by others then put the next available discard sideways.
Calling concealed kan after declaring ’Riichi’ Here are some examples of kan that are allowed and not allowed after riichi. This should give you a better idea about how a hand is structured and separated. yyyuiohjker33 y Draw This is allowed as this have not changed the structure of the hand or the wait. yyyu111222333 y Draw Making a concealed kan of 8yy8 is not allowed. This is because the original are ui but after that kan it becomes u only. yyyu111222333 1 Draw This is allowed as the East have nothing to do with the other tiles (and after that this hand still have a wait on ui as before)
]]]aasss44466 ] or s Draw Draw Even if this does not reduce the number of sided wait, both are not allowed since this can be split as ]as+]as+]s (wait on a) and kan of either ] or s will remove this possible split.
33 fffhjjjuio333 j Draw This is not allowed as this will change the hand from waiting ghk to gh only. fffhjjjuio333 f Draw Unlike above, after kan of 8ff8 this is still on the same wait of ghk. However this is not allowed as this hand can be interpreted as ff+fh+jjj with a ’middle wait’ on g where kan of 8ff8 will remove this. uuuuio5557700 p Draw 8uu8 is not allowed since you will need to discard whatever you draw unless you are winning. Also this will change set from uio to iop so a kan is not allowed after riichi is declared.
5.9 Furiten
‘Furiten’ is a condition where you will not be able to win a game by ‘ron’ even if you have a ready hand. There are three types of furiten:
5.9.1 Temporary furiten If a player discard a tile and you did not call for it or ‘ron’ it, then you cannot do so for the same tile until the next time you draw. (This is an analogue to call exchange)
5.9.2 Discard furiten Suppose you have your ready hand and waiting to win. You are in ‘furiten’ if you have discarded at least one of the winning tiles before. You can cancel this by changing your hand to make it not involve any tiles you have discarded.
For example you are on a three-sided wait of 9=e but you have discarded e before. This will cause you cannot ‘ron’ on all of 9=e. 5.9.3 Furiten after riichi If you have declared riichi but you have missed out your first chance to win, then you will be in furiten for the whole game. To sum up, this is basically the rule to say that you must win on your first available opportunity. (until you have a ‘change’ in your hand) 5.10 Honba
If the dealer is winning, or the game ended with a draw or aborted hand, then a ‘honba’ will be added to the following game.
34 • Each ‘honba’ will +300 points to the next winning hand. (for ‘tsumo’ +100 to each player) • Once a non-dealer player wins all ‘honba’ will be removed (reset to 0). • Each ‘honba’ is indicated by a 100-point stick placed on the table by the side. Usually using point sticks from the dealer but they still belong to the player (they just act as indicators) 5.11 Draw
If all tiles (in the live wall) are drawn, the game will end up in a draw. In here players will go in turn (starting from the dealer) to choose to declare if they have a ready hand. Those have not had a ready hand has to pay a total of 3000 points to those have a ready hand. This is summerised as: No. of players with ready hand 0 1 2 3 4 Each player with ready hand 0 +3000 +1500 +1000 0 Each player without ready hand 0 -1000 -1500 -3000 0 After payment of points add a ‘honba’. If the dealer has a ready hand, he/she will continue to be the dealer, otherwise pass to the next player. 5.12 Aborted hand
The following will trigger an aborted hand. This results in the game ending immediately without anyone winning or exchange in point. A ‘honba’ is added and the dealer remain the same for the next game.
5.12.1 Four wind discarded (Suufon renda) All four players discard the same wind tile in their first discard. If a set is called this will not be triggered.
5.12.2 Nine types nine tiles (Kyuushu kyuuhai) If a player’s 14-tile hand after the initial draw is composed of 9 different honor or terminal (1,9) tiles, the player may announce this and reveal the hand to abort the deal. This cannot be triggered if there is a tile called before the initial draw.
5.12.3 Four player riichi (Suucha riichi) Suppose three players declared riichi. If the fourth player also declared riichi and no one win by his/her discard of that riichi, then this aborted hand will be triggered where all players must reveal their hands.
5.12.4 Four kan (Suukaikan) If two or more players are having a total of 4 kan, then after the fourth kan is called and after a round no player can ‘ron’/’tsumo’ then the game will end straight and counted as an aborted hand. (as mentioned in ‘Kan’ section)
5.12.5 Three wins (Sanchahou) If a discard lead to all other three players declare ‘ron’, then this will be considered as an aborted hand.
35 5.13 Multiple wins
When a discard lead to two players winning the game, the most common rule used will be only one player can win, where the winner is determined by who is the next player up, starting from the player who discarded the tile (following the order counting anticlockwise) Three players winning results in an aborted hand, as mentioned above.
36 Chapter 6 Combinations
This chapter is a list of combinations sorted by their ‘han’ value • Always take the highest possible way to count • Different yaku can add up (as long as they can ’split’ in the sameway) • Some yaku must be concealed –marked with * • Some yaku will have one less ‘han’ if it is opened rather than concealed –marked with (-1) • You must have at least one yaku to win. You cannot win by only ’dora’. 6.1 One han yaku
6.1.1 Fully concealed ‘tsumo’ (Menzen tsumohou)* Winning on a self-draw on a concealed hand. (or in other words: you draw all 14 tiles by yourself)
6.1.2 Riichi* (In section 5.8) ‘Commitment’ to ready hand.
6.1.3 ‘One shot’(Ippatsu)* After declaring Riichi, either: • ‘Ron’ on the first discard by others until your first draw; or • ‘Tsumo’ by your first draw after ‘riichi’ This effect will be cancelled if the turn is interrupted byacall.
6.1.4 Pure Double Chow (Iipeikou)* Two identical chow of the same suit
Example: hjkhjk8888888
6.1.5 ‘All straight’ (Pinfu)* A hand satisfies the following: • Have 4 chi • Have a pair that is either a suit or a non-han carrying honours • Concealed • Win by a two-sided wait of an unfinished chi missing either end Or a more concise definition: A concealed hand only have the 20 base ‘fu’ (excluding the ‘tsumo’/’ron’ fu) (see section 7.3)
37 Example (of a ready hand): 90-iop]asllgh (Waiting on fj) Note that the following are NOT a pinfu waiting hand (they don’t have pinfu yaku): iop]asghjll90 (Waiting on -) 90-iop]asghjl (Waiting on l) 90-iop]asghjk (Waiting on gk) This is not a pinfu since when winning the hand is seen as either 33+456 or 345+66, so the wait is considered as an one-sided wait where you have one copy and the other copy make up a pair (of 3 or 6)
6.1.6 Bottom of the Sea (Haitei raoyue/Houtei raoyui) Winning tile is either the last tile from the wall or the last discard
6.1.7 After a Kong (Rinshan kaihou) Winning tile is from a replacement tile due to a kan
6.1.8 Robbing kan(Chankan) When your winning tile is appeared when a player extending melded pon to kan
6.1.9 No terminals or honours (Tanyao) A hand only contains 2-8
Example
gg gg kl;0-=pppaa
6.1.10 ‘Han-carrying’ set (Yakuhai) Pon/kan of dragons, seat wind or prevailing wind
38 Example 66688888888888 Example(when getting in East round and/or you are the dealer) 11188888888888
6.2 Two han yaku
6.2.1 Double riichi* Riichi declared when you discard the first tile. This yaku is not available if there is a tile called before the discard.
6.2.2 Seven pairs (Chiitoitsu)* Seven pairs. Must contain 7 distinct pairs (4 of a kind is not two pairs)
Example 66wwrr''yyaass
6.2.3 Pure Straight (ittsu) (-1) Contains three chi of 123,456,789 from the same suit (must be able to split like that)
Example (Concealed hand - carries two han) dfghjkl;'uuu66 Example (Opened hand - carries one han)
d fg hjkl;'uuu66 but NOT ddfghhjkl;'uuu
6.2.4 Outside Hand (Chantaiyao) (-1) All sets and the pair contain at least one terminals/honours
Example 66690-yyy]as11
39 6.2.5 Mixed Triple Chow (Sanshoku Doujun) (-1) Same chow in each suit
Example -=qghjiop88888
6.2.6 Triple pon (Sanshoku doukou) Same pon/kan in each suit
Example 000fffuuu88888
6.2.7 All pongs (Toitoi) Four pon/kan + a pair
Example hh hh k k k ;;;uuu11
6.2.8 Three concealed triplets (Sanankou) Three concealed pon/kan (you draw the 9 tiles forming 3 triplets by yourself)
Example
8==8u i o kkk;;;11 Ron Example
8==8u i o kkk;;11 ; Tsumo but NOT
8==8u i o kkk;;11; Ron since for ;;; you only drawn 2 of them and the third one is from another player
6.2.9 Three kan (Sankantsu) Have three kan (can be any of concealed, extended or melded)
40 Example
8rr8]] ]] ;; ; ; 90-44
6.2.10 All terminals and honours (Honroutou) Only contains terminals (1,9) and honours. ‘Han’ also added for seven pairs or all pongs
Example
9 99 sss11166677
6.2.11 Small dragons (Shousangen) Have two pon/kan of dragons and a pair of the third dragon ‘Han’ from dragons can also be counted.
Example
55 55 66677888888
6.3 Three han yaku
6.3.1 Mixed one suit (Honitsu) (-1) A hand contains one type of suit and honours
Example dfgghjkl;66611
6.3.2 Terminals in all sets (Junchan taiyao) (-1) All sets (and the pair) contains at least one terminal (1,9)
Example dfg]assss90-tt
6.3.3 Twice pure double chow (Ryanpeikou)* Two groups of ‘Pure double chow’
41 Example ghjghjp[]p[]88 Note that this can be seen as seven pairs, but if possible Ryanpeikou will always be used to give a higher han
6.4 Six han yaku
6.4.1 All one suit (Chinitsu) (-1) A hand contains one type of suit
Example 9000--=qwerttt
6.5 Thirteen han yaku (Yakuman)
13 ’han’ is the limit of any hand, either by having 13 ’han’ accumulated from the previous mentioned yaku and from ’dora’ or having one of the listed ’yakuman’ from this section. Some rules will allow ’yakuman’ to be accumulated and/or some ’yakuman’ hands will count as ’double yakuman’. For completeness the condition for ’double yakuman’ is noted, but for simplicity you can just say max=13 for any hand.
6.5.1 Thriteen Orphans (Kokushi musou)* Contain every terminals and honours, plus any one more of them. Can rob a concealed kan.
Example 9td'yss1346752 For double yakuman:
|9td'ys1234675{z } Have this as your ready hand (a 13-sided wait)
then win by any copies of them
6.5.2 Nine gates (Chuuren poutou)* Contain 1112345678999 + any of 1-9 from the same suit
42 Example yyyuip[]aasss o For double yakuman:
|yyyuiop[]asss{z } Have this as your ready hand (a 9-sided wait)
then win by any copies of them
6.5.3 Four concealed triplets (Suuankou)* Suppose you already have three concealed pon/kan, then: • If you have two pairs with a two sided wait you must win by ‘tsumo’ for this yaku. • If you already have 12 tiles forming 4 triplets and one extra tile for a one-sided wait to win then you can win by discard or self-pick. Some rules may see this case as a double yakuman (or in other words: you draw all the 12 tiles forming 4 triplets by yourself)
Example of a ready hand (Two-sided wait, must win by ’tsumo’) 8yy8ppp===6677 Example of a ready hand (One-sided wait, can win by ’tsumo’ or ’ron’) 8yy8ppp===6667
6.5.4 Great dragons (Daisangen) Have pon/kan of all three dragons
Example
55 5 66677788888
6.5.5 Small winds (Shousuushii) Pon/kan of 3 winds with a pair of the 4th win
Example
1 1 122233444888
43 6.5.6 Great winds (Daisuushii) Pon/kan of 4 winds. Count as ’double yakuman’
Example
1 1 122233344488
6.5.7 All honour (Tsuuiisou) Honour tiles only
Example
777 7 66611133322
6.5.8 All terminals (Chinroutou) Ones and Nines only
Example
9 99 yyysssddd''
6.5.9 All green (Ryuuiisou) Contain only ‘green tiles’: 2,3,4,6,8 bamboos and green dragon. Some variations may say you must have the green dragon.
Example ffgghhkkk;;;66
6.5.10 Four kan (Suukantsu) Have four kan (can be any of concealed, extended or melded)
6.5.11 Heavenly hand (Tenhou)* Dealer winning on the initial deal. (any combinations)
6.5.12 Earthly hand (Chiihou)* Non-dealer wins with the first tile draw (any combinations). This yaku is not available if there is a tile called before the initial draw 6.6 Nagashi Mangan
This is a special ‘yaku’ that allows you to win based on the tiles you discarded. You will get a 5 ‘han’ ‘tsumo’ win if the following conditions are satisfied: • The game ended in a draw (due to all tiles are drawn but no one wins)
44 • Have a concealed hand • Your every discard is terminal or honour tiles • No tiles are called (taken by others) from your discard pile This does not require you to have a ready hand at the end.
45 6.7 Summary table
* = concealed hand required % = one ‘han’ deducted if not concealed
Name Han Summary Fully concealed ‘tsumo’ * 1 Winning on a self-draw on a concealed hand Riichi* 1 ‘Commitment’ to ready hand Ippatsu* 1 Win in first turn of riichi Pinfu* 1 4 chi + no-han pair, two sided wait Pure Double Chow* 1 Two identical chow of the same suit Bottom of the Sea 1 Winning by the last tile After a Kong 1 Winning by replacement tile due to a kan Robbing kan 1 Winning tile is when a player extending melded pon to kan No terminals or honours 1 2-8 only ‘Han-carrying’ honours 1 Pon/kan of dragons, seat wind or prevailing wind Double riichi* 2 Riichi in the first turn Seven pairs* 2 Pure Straight% 2 123,456,789 from the same suit Outside Hand% 2 All sets (and pair) contain at least one terminal/honour Mixed Triple Chow% 2 Same chow in each suit Triple pon 2 Same pon/kan in each suit All pongs 2 Four pon/kan + a pair Three concealed triplets 2 Three concealed pon/kan Three kan 2 All terminals and honours 2 1,9, honours only Small dragons 2 Two pon/kan of dragons + pair of third dragon Mixed one suit% 3 A hand contains one type of suit and honours Terminals in all sets% 3 All sets (and pair) contains at least one terminal (1,9) Twice pure double chow* 3 Two groups of ‘Pure double chow’ All one suit% 6 A hand contains one type of suit Thriteen Orphans* 13 Every terminal and honour + any one more of them Nine gates* 13 1112345678999 + any of 1-9 from same suit Four concealed triplets* 13 Four concealed pon/kan Great dragons 13 Pon/kan of all three dragons Small winds 13 Pon/kan of 3 winds + pair of the fourth wind Great winds 13 Pon/kan of 4 winds All honour 13 Honour only All terminals 13 1,9 only All green 13 ‘green tiles’(2,3,4,6,8 bamboos, green dragon) only Four kan 13 Heavenly/Earthly hand* 13 Win on first draw NAGASHI MANGAN* 5 Discard 1,9, honours only when game ended in a draw
46 Chapter 7 Scoring
Computer and phone applications can help you to work out the value of a hand easily. Other players can also help you with point calculation. However yourself must be the final one to confirm your value of winning hand. Also during intermediate steps in a game no one canhelp you to decide how to build a more valuable (or less valuable if you prefer) hand. Thus knowing how to calculate points is important (but obviously not a must if you just want to get started) 7.1 Point sticks
Each player will start with the same amount of points. Conventional starts include 20000, 25000 and 30000. Point sticks are used for scoring. (Alternatively you can use pen and paper)
Figure 7.1: Point sticks[6]
7.2 Han
For each winning hand there will be a number of ‘han’ go with it, which is the sum of the yaku from the combination and the number of ‘dora’ you have. • The minimum ‘han’ is 1, since you will need at least one ‘yaku’ to win a game. • The maximum ‘han’ is capped at 13. (‘Yakuman’) – A less common rules is that the max ‘han’ will be 11 a (Does not count ‘cumulative yakuman’ (kazoe yakuman)). 13 ‘han’ can only be achieved by a 13-han yaku (‘yakuman’) on its own. – For simplicity take max = 13. But just to note that there is a subtle difference between a ‘cumulative yakuman’ and a ‘yakuman’ combination on its own in some rules. • All hands must be seen as the way with the highest number of ‘han’ • For hands with 1-4 ‘han’ another scoring unit, ‘fu’ will also be used to work out the total points • For hands with 5-13 ‘han’ no ‘fu’ calculation is needed 7.3 Fu
‘Fu’, as known as ‘mini point’ is used to calculate the point for hands with 1-4 ‘han’. Firstly, you will get a default of 20 base ‘fu’. This is rewarded once you win regardless of the hand.
47 7.3.1 Triplets You will get ‘fu’ from any pon or kan you have: Type Numbers 2-8 Terminals and Honours Melded pon 2 4 Concealed pon 4 8 Melded kan 8 16 Conceled kan 16 32 A quick way to remember is: (assume concealed at start) • For any pon you get 4 ‘fu’ • For kan you get 4×4 = 16 (×4 for four tiles in a kong) • If it is terminals or honours times it by 2 • If it is opened divide by 2
7.3.2 ’Fu’ on combination and winning condition You get 10 ’fu’ if you ‘ron’ from others with a concealed hand You get 2 ‘fu’ for each of: • ‘Tsumo’ (except for ‘pinfu’) • Have a pair of ‘han’-carrying honour (i.e. dragons, prevailing wind and seat wind). If the pair happens to be both the prevailing wind and seat wind you will get 4 ‘fu’ • On a one-sided wait (i.e. you only have one kind of tile to win from) – However a hand can be interpreted differently to gain this two ‘fu’ even if youare on a multiple wait, such as yuiop999'''66 can be won by i or [. But if you win with ithis can be seen as you have had iop already with a one sided wait of yu (This example has 42 instead of 40 ‘fu’ when win by ‘tsumo’.) • Open ‘pinfu’ (the case where you only have the 20 base ‘fu’ but your hand is a non- concealed ‘pinfu’) Finally round up the total to the nearest 10 (for instance the above example will have 50 ‘fu’)
7.3.3 Special hands For ‘pinfu’ you always get 20 ‘fu’ for ‘tsumo’ and 30 ‘fu’ for ‘ron’ by default. (pinfu itself requires no other ‘fu’ is added in your hand) For ‘seven pairs’ you will always get 25 ‘fu’, regardless how many ‘han-carrying’ (honour) pairs you have or if you win by ‘tsumo’ or ‘ron’.
7.3.4 Summary • Winning a ‘pinfu’ by ‘tsumo’ –20 ‘fu’ • Winning a ‘pinfu’ by ‘ron’ –30 ‘fu’ • Seven pairs –25 ‘fu’ • All other hands –at least 30 ‘fu’ (at least 30 for ‘tsumo’, 40 for ‘ron’)
48 7.4 Point calculation
Included for completeness. Tables will normally be used (or memorised) instead. Firstly, a base point will be calculated by
Base point = Fu × 2(Han+2)
The base point will be capped at 2000. For 2000 or more base point (3 ‘han’ 70 ‘fu’, 4 ‘han’ 40 ‘fu’ or 5 ‘han’ or more) the following base point will be used regardless of ‘fu’: Han/Fu 3/70+, 4/40+, 5 6-7 8-10 11-12 13+ Name Mangan Haneman Baiman Sanbaiman Yakuman Base Point 2000 3000 4000 6000 8000 Then the payment is calculated by the following table: Payment for each player (when ‘tsumo’)/ Winning by who discarded winning tile (when ‘ron’) Dealer ‘ron’ Base point × 6 Dealer ‘tsumo’ Base point × 2 Non-dealer ‘ron’ Base point × 4 Base point × 2 for dealer Non-dealer ‘tsumo’ Base point for non-dealer Finally round up to the nearest 100. 7.5 Liability to pay (‘Pao’)
A player will need to pay for others (responsible to pay) when a player already has three (two for great dragon) sets out on the table, a player become responsible if he/she feeds into the fourth set (third set for great dragon) on table of the following combinations: • Great dragons • Great winds • Four kan – The new responsible player will takeover the previous one from great dragons (if any) (Or in other words: the ’feeding’ leads to the player confirms a ’yakumman’ hand)
Melded kong (Uncommon rule, included for completeness) A player will become responsible if he/she feeds into a melded kong and then the player win by ‘after a kong’ (winning from the replacement tile of kong)
The player will be responsible for paying: • All score when winning by self-pick • Half of the score when win by ‘ron’ of the other players
49 7.6 Point tables
7.6.1 Dealer point table This is the table for a dealer win. First value for ’ron’ and bracketed value for ’tsumo’ paid by each player. 20 25 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 1 – – 1500 2000 2400 2900 3400 3900 4400 4800 5300 (–) (–) (500) (700) (800) (1000) (1200) (1300) (1500) (1600) (–) 2 – 2400 1900 3900 4800 5800 6800 7700 8700 9600 10600 (700) (–) (1000) (1300) (1600) (2000) (2300) (2600) (2900) (3200) (3600) 3 – 4800 5800 7700 9600 11600 12000 (1300) (1600) (2000) (2600) (3200) (3900) (4000) 4 – 9600 11600 12000 (2600) (3200) (3600) (4000) 5 12000(4000) 6-7 18000(6000) 8-10 24000(8000) 11-12 36000(12000) 13+ 48000(16000)
7.6.2 Non-dealer point table This is the table for a non-dealer win. First value for ‘ron’ and bracketed value for ‘tsumo’ payment for (non-dealer/dealer).
20 25 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 1 – – 1000 1300 1600 2000 2300 2600 2900 3200 3600 (–) (–) (300/ (400/ (400/ (500/ (600/ (700/ (800/ (800/ (–) 500) 700) 800) 1000) 1200) 1300) 1500) 1600) 2 1300 1600 2000 2600 3200 3900 4500 5200 5800 6400 7100 (400/ (–) (500/ (700/ (800/ (1000/ (1200/ (1300/ (1500/ (1600/ (1800/ 700) 1000) 1300) 1600) 2000) 2300) 2600) 2900) 3200) 3600) 3 2600 3200 3900 5200 6400 7700 8000 (700/ (800/ (1000/ (1300/ (1600/ (2000/ (2000/4000) 1300) 1600) 2000) 2600) 3200) 3900) 4 5200 6400 7700 8000 (1300/ (1600/ (2000/ (2000/4000) 2600) 3200) 3900) 5 8000(2000/4000) 6-7 12000(3000/6000) 8-10 16000(4000/8000) 11-12 24000(6000/12000) 13+ 32000(8000/16000)
50 7.7 Scoring examples
This give you some examples of how ’han’, ’fu’ and the score interact with each other. You can also create your own example and verify the point by point calculator (like http://mahjong. onevis.net/) qwel;'iop[]dd p Tsumo Dora indicator(s):7/South round, East player Pinfu (1) + Concealed Tsumo (1) = 2 han Base fu (20) only (Since it is a pinfu tsumo) Dealer ’tsumo’: 700 points from each player (700 all) t 8778 y uit t rtdde Ron Dora indicator(s):6j/East round, West player Red dragon (1) + Outside hand (1) + Dora (4) = 6 han Non-dealer ’ron’: 12000 points l;'''yyyyuiss' Ron Dora indicator(s):9/South round, North player Terminals in all sets = 3 han Base fu (20) + Concelaed ron (10) + Concealed pon of terminals (8×2) = 46 → 50 fu Non-dealer ’ron’: 6400 points
6 66iiooppssrr r Tsumo Dora indicator(s):o1/East round, West player White dragon (1) + Dora (2) = 3 han Base fu (20) + Opened pon of white (4) + Closed pon of 2-8 (4) + Tsumo (2) = 30 fu Non-dealer ’tsumo’: 1000,2000 points Note that in this case it does not have the Pure Double Chow yaku as it is an open hand. (despite the iioopp part is closed)
51 yuiop[]asjjklj Ron Dora indicator(s):i/East round, South player Consider only the bamboos: jjkl, ron on j. It can be seen as jkl with j (one sided wait) or jj with kl (two sided wait) If this is seen as an one sided wait this will be: Pure straight (2) + Dora (1) = 3 han Base fu (20) + Concealed Ron (10) + One-sided wait (2) = 32 → 40 fu Non-dealer ’ron’: 5200 points However, in this case it should be seen as a two sided wait since it satisfies the pinfu requirement. Hence the point is calculated as: Pinfu (1) + Pure straight (2) + Dora (1) = 4 han Base fu (20) + Concealed Ron (10) = 30 fu Non-dealer ’ron’: 7700 points Now consider the case with one set opened:
y u i op[]asjjklj Ron Pure straight (2-1) + Dora (1) = 2 han Base fu (20) + One-sided wait (2) = 22 → 30 fu Non-dealer ’ron’: 2000 points In this case it does not matter for counting one or two sided wait, since you will still get 2 fu for open ‘pinfu’ (the case where no other ‘fu’ are awarded but your hand is a non-concealed‘pinfu’)
7 77yy y ggg22]]] Ron Dora indicator(s):5/South round, South player Red dragon (1) + All pongs (2) = 3 han Fu are calculated as: Ron 7 | 77{z } |yy{z }y |ggg{z } |22{z } |]]{z ]} Open pon of honours Open pon of terminal Closed pon of 2-8 Pair of south Opened pon of 2-8 4 fu 4 fu 4 fu (Prevail+Seat) 2 fu 4 fu
Base fu (20) + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 2 = 38 → 40 fu Non-dealer ’ron’: 5200 points
52 Appendices
53 Chapter A Suggested manners
In our society we take a relaxed way to play the game so don’t worry too much about this, but it is included if you want to be a better and faster player. It is good to follow a standard practice to play with strangers to keep a friendly and polite playing environment, but they can be relaxed when playing with closer friends. Style-specific manners are in italics, where actions may be acceptable in one but not in other. Note that this list is more like ’What is acceptable by the majority in the community plays that style’. These are not rules attached to the style (if they are they would have been included previously), but more like a convention of the people who are playing it. There are international competitions (and as in Exeter) where people from different places play together with commonly appreciated manners so they are very flexible. I believe most of them are common sense to make the game flows better and more friendly. A.1 Setting up the game
A.1.1 Move the wall Tilt the wall slightly after you build your wall so that others can see the end of the wall. Also during the game you may need to push the wall slightly forward so that other players can reach it.
A.1.2 Breaking the wall After dealer rolls the dice the player withe the wall to be broken in front should help to separate the break by moving the wall slightly apart. For number more than 9 it would be easier to count 17 (or 18) minus the dice from the other end.
A.1.3 Bonus tile (Cantonese style) After the initial deal of 13/14 tiles, take out all bonus tiles you have and wait for all of your previous player have taken their replacement tile before you (for example if you are west player you will wait for the dealer and the south player). If you have no bonus tile, declare ‘no flower’ (or ‘mou fa’ in Cantonese) so that the next player can draw their replacement tile. If the replacement tile happens to be another bonus then you will need to say ‘to be taken’ (or ‘hau bo’ in Cantonese) to take another (turn of) replacement after north have taken replacement from initial deal. In any point of the game you will declare (just say it as if you are calling tiles) if you are getting two ‘faan’ from bonus tiles (either a matching pair or a set)
A.1.4 Dead wall (Japanese style) Put the last tile down The first replacement tile in the dead wall should be put down. This is to prevent it from falling over and/or avoid tiles being wrongly taken from the dead wall. This should be done by the player who has the dead wall in front of him.
54 Flipping dora indicator Immediately after putting down the rinshan tile, the dora indicator should be turned over. This is important at the start so that the dealer can decide what to discard in a timely manner.
Separating the dead wall This is unnecessary especially at the beginning of a hand since one can stop drawing when 14 tiles left. It is good to separate the dead wall but only do so when you have time after the first few discard (this is to make sure you don’t miss out tiles that you want to call or to slow the speed down) and this should be done after the previous two steps. A.2 Drawing and discarding tiles
A.2.1 Don’t use both hands (Japanese style) You are not suppose to use both hands other than sorting out the initial deal and revealing your hand after winning/in a draw. You should use only one hand. If you are right-handed, you should not put your left hand on the table, either. Don’t do things like drawing with your left hand and discarding with your right hand. This is to prevent (the appearance of) cheating. In Cantonese style it is acceptable to use both hands.
A.2.2 Discard before sorting You should put the newly drawn tile on top of your tile or at one side of your tile. After you have discard then you can put that tile into the appropriate (sorted) position of your hand. Other players have the right to know if you have discarded the tile you just drawn or something else in your hand. Also, putting the newly drawn tile into your hand upon self-pick is a serious violation (where you may lose points for certain combinations).
A.2.3 Don’t speed other players You should not press other players to be faster than they could by any action or words. Please be considerate and friendly to other players, especially to beginners or those are less familiar to characters. A.3 Calling tiles
A.3.1 Voice clearly When calling tiles, say clearly for chow/pong/kong. In Cantonese style it is acceptable to neglect saying ‘sheung’ (Chi).
A.3.2 Calling chi Before calling chi you should wait for a second for any potential pong/kong (it’s your turn anyway so no pressure of slowing the game down)
A.3.3 Calling pong/kong: voice before action When calling pong/kong, voice immediately after the tile is discarded and before you take the tile so that you can interrupt before the next player draws or any potential chi. (despite you have the priority)
A.3.4 Calling Riichi (Japanese style) The procedure to call riichi is as follows: • Say Riichi
55 • Discard a tile and rotate it sideways • Confirm that no one ron on that tile. • Place the Riichi bet. The most important point is that you say Riichi before discarding a tile. This is because the opponents’ choice of what to do with your discard may be different if you riichi. A.4 Winning a hand
A.4.1 Voice clearly (Japanese style) When winning a hand, say ‘ron’ or ‘tsumo’ clearly. It is also OK to say ‘Mahjong’ instead. In Cantonese style it is acceptable to say nothing when winning (but most player will say ‘sik’s̀ik wu’ (or ‘zi mor’ for self-pick) to have the joyful moment of winning)
A.4.2 Don’t put the winning tile into the hand (Japanese style) When winning by tsumo, don’t place the winning tile inside the hand. Just place the winning tile right next to your hand and keep it separated. This is important because scores (yaku and fu) may be different depending on which tile was the one to complete thehand.
A.4.3 Don’t take the winning tile (Japanese style) You should refrain from taking the winning tile this to prevent (the appearance of) cheating. People do this on TV, but they do so only for the camera. In Cantonese style there is no specific convention on the winning tile, but usually it is nottaken to save time
A.4.4 Sorting tiles Sort the tiles before showing your hand so that other players can check your hand’s score (and any furiten). Do not split the hand into sets as it may actually obstruct other players’ vision.
A.4.5 Declaring faan/yaku As mentioned before, other players can also help you with point calculation. However yourself must be the final one to confirm your value of winning hand. After revealing your hand, reveal the ura dora if you have called riichi. You need to show the ura-dora to all the other players even when you don’t get any of them. After that, you should declare all the faan/yaku in your hand. In more professional setting this is neglected (just report score for faster game) but you can say out the faan/yaku to make sure you are all happy (it may help calculating the value of a hand)
A.4.6 Reporting Score Cantonese style Report the point need to be paid by each player.
Japanese style When reporting your point, you will say: • The point itself for a ron; • The point then ’all’ for a dealer tsumo (like ’1300 all’ for 2 han 40 fu dealer tsumo);
56 • Point for non-dealer then point for dealer for a non-dealer tsumo (like ‘8000,16000’ for a non-dealer tsumo of ‘Yakuman’)
A.4.7 Confirm the score When one player wins a hand, the other three players must also see the hand and confirm the declared score. You should also check if the hand was not furiten.
A.4.8 Payment (Japanese style) When paying with point sticks, it should be done with minimum exchange of sticks. You will put the sticks paid on the table near to the receiver, then he/she will pick them up himself/herself and place back any change. If no point sticks are available use phone application or pen and paper instead.
A.4.9 Payment (Real currency) If you would like to play with real currency (usually in Cantonese style) in sessions run by the society then you should note the following (as set out in 2019/20)
You must get consensus from ALL players (on your table) if you wish to play with real currency. You can agree on an amount together to play with. As a society we do not encourage playing with real currency but we do not prohibit this to happen. You can record your points and deal with money at the end outside our sessions time –which we cannot and will not intervene but also not responsible for.
A.4.10 Exhaustive draw (Japanese style) In case of exhaustive draw, the dealer should be the first one to declare whether or not he hasa ready hand. If he wants to declare ready, he has to show the hand and say ‘Tenpai’ (for ready hand); if not, say “No-ten.”or “Not tenpai.”without showing his hand. Then, South,West, and North declare tenpai or no-ten in that order.
A.4.11 Don’t go over the wall Digging through the wall after a game end can be seen as rude and/or a waste of time. It does nothing at all in an ended game. This is probably the most arguable item in this list. It will depend on who you are playing with but I would say it is fine to do this in a casual setting in Exeter.
Cantonese style Digging through the wall is acceptable. However you should not just open up every single tile to look for tiles or do that often just for the sake of it. It is ideal to do that as infrequent as possible
Japanese style This is stricter where the thought of ‘you should not see the things that you are not meant to see’ becomes much stronger. You should refrain from opening up tiles in the (live and dead) wall in any sense.
A.4.12 Don’t reveal others’ hand It is fine to choose to open up tiles at the end and discuss on it, but if a player don’twantto then you should never open their tiles.
57 Chapter B Tournament rules
This chapter should be used as a reference on tournament-style event hosted by the society. It is also useful if you want to play formally (or with strangers). B.1 General rules
• These rules are used to ensure gameplay and tournament are run smoothly and fairly. There is no intention to trap any players in any sense. • This covers the general procedure in a tournament as well as different cases which violate the mahjong game rules and the corresponding penalty. However referee will have a final say on any argument. • Normally minor error, impolite manners and/or accidental/unintentional violation of rules will be (and encouraged to be) tolerated and corrected with minimal disruptions – Repeated offences are subject to penalty at the referee’s discretion. – However, this does not facilitate any tolerance in cheating or serious offence. Cheat- ing and deliberate disturbances should be punished hard. Players should play fairly and politely in any mahjong game. • Rules should be mainly based on what is written in the previous parts but there can be slight alteration in game rule for each individual tournament/events that the society run. Please consult any additional resources in such case. This guide is provided as a summary of ‘How to play mahjong’ when it was written. B.2 Determining seats and starting dealer
Referee will be responsible for assigning players to different tables. After players are assigned to a table, each of wind tiles are taken out and players should proceed to the following:
B.2.1 Cantonese style Determining seat • Each player take a seat (or just pick and stand at a side) • The four tiles are shuffled and staked up. • A player roll the dice and count the number of players starting from him/her in anti- clockwise direction. • That player will take the top tile, then the next player (player on his/her right) will take the next and so on. • The player with east can choose a seat and the other three players seat at their wind seat as what they have drawn. – In here player drawn East is not necessarily the eat player in the first game
Determining starting dealer • The player picked east before roll the dice.
58 • Count the number of players starting from him/her in anti-clockwise direction. • That player will be the starting dealer.
B.2.2 Japanese style • The four tiles are shuffled face down. • Each player picks one of the tiles. • The player with east is the east player, who can choose a seat and the other three players seat at their wind seat as what they have drawn. • The east player is the starting dealer.
B.2.3 Alternative approach: Assign seat when assigning table This is where the assignment of seat is integrated together with the assignment of table. The referee will put you in seat when putting you into the table. When doing this randomness should be ensured, where referee should have accounted for when assigning table (so that the same way can be used to assign seat too). If players are unhappy with this you can still carry out the traditional approach as mentioned above. B.3 Time and round
B.3.1 Main round (earlier in the tournament) The following presetting shall be used for the main round of the tournament: Time: 90 minutes Round: 2 rounds (East and South) So that in the main round each player can play for 2 rounds, or if 90 minutes have passed then players finishes off the game that they are on. Usually a 10-15 minutes warning isgiven where player should only play for one more game if they haven’t finish the preset length of games/rounds. Players shall be able to play at least twice (to different people) in the very first round before any elimination to later rounds happens for better playing experience and reduce randomness to result.
B.3.2 Final round (later in the tournament) Roughly the top 25-40% from a round should proceed to the next round. How many rounds are played until the final should depends on the size of the tournament. Time: 90-150 minutes Round: 2/4 rounds Normally it should not be time-limited in the final. B.4 Scoring
Scoring can be done by the referee or any player in the table. Pen and paper is recommended but it can be recorded with aid of appropriate equipment (like whiteboard) or technology (like smartphone app). After each game the points should to be verified by all players before starting the next game.
59 B.5 Penalty
B.5.1 False win Severe offenses are punished as a false win, after which there is a re-deal of the currenthand. If a win is declared at the same time as the false win occurs, the false win is voided. After a false win riichi bets are returned to the players who declared riichi in that game, and there is a re-deal. No honba is added and the dealer does not change. This includes but not limited to: • Declare a win with an invalid hand (for example not valid combinations or not enough faan/yaku) • Play cannot continue due to a mistake of a player, such as too many tiles were revealed for the game to continue fairly. • Declaring riichi on a hand that is not waiting. This is determined only in case of a drawn game. – If the hand becomes a dead hand after a valid riichi declaration, it is not considered as false win but as without ready hand in exhaustive draw where the no ready hand (no-ten) penalty is paid. • Making an invalid concealed kong after declaring riichi (determined only if the offender declares a win or in case of a drawn game) • Attempting to call a tile after the hand has been declared a dead hand. • Ron with furiten
Cantonese style For each false win the player will be seen as they obstructed the potential of other players’ winning a large hand, which will result in the player point deducted by the maximum possible point win by self-pick × 3 with the other player adding that amount each (on the maximum 10 faan rule that would be −128 × 3 for that player and +128 for the other three players)
Japanese style (Chombo) For each false win a 20000 point penalty should be taken away from the player at the end of the round.
B.5.2 Dead hand Some smaller irregularities that are not punished as a false win instead in a dead hand. A player who has a dead hand is not allowed to declare a win and can never be considered having a ready hand in that game. This includes but not limited to: • Invalidly declaring a win without showing the tiles • Too few or too many tiles on the hand. • Making an invalid set when calling tiles • Call exchange • Attempting to declare riichi on a open hand, failing to call ‘Riichi’ or failing to rotate the discard
60 Special occasion: Bonus tiles The dead hand condition is not attached to the 7/8 flowers win in Cantonese style. Players can still win by (and only by) ‘Seven flowers’ and ‘Eight flowers’ if they have a dead hand. B.6 Error in calling tiles
When calling tiles the following steps should be followed: • Voice clearly for chi/pong/kong • Reveals the matching tiles from the hand (and take a replacement tile for kong) • Claim the tile • Discard a tile from the hand (The last two steps may be swapped but both must be completed) Minor errors in the order above should be pointed out to the player, but there will be no penalty.
B.6.1 Failing to take the claimed tile While a player who claims a tile can make a discard before placing the claimed tile with his revealed tiles, the player should take the tile before the next two players have made a discard. Failing to take the tile in a timely manner results in a dead hand, since the player will have a false set.
B.6.2 Empty calls This is the case where a player calls for chi/pong/kong but realise that they did that wrongly (for example regretting the call or realising that they don’t have the right tile to complete the set they called for). Players should make a correction quickly. It is not penalised but players should avoid this.
B.6.3 Changing calls Calls are not supposed to be changed. The first call should be the valid one but aquick correction is allowed.
B.6.4 Claiming a false set If a player claims a false set (like oop), it can be corrected if it is discovered before the player discards a tile. After the discard, the mistake cannot be corrected and resulting in a dead hand. B.7 Exposing tiles
Exposing a few tiles is not penalised. Exposed tiles are placed back in the wall or in the hand where they came from. Exposing tiles during the deal is not penalised. If the situation is judged problematic for the game then tiles should be dealt again, but no penalties. If too many tiles are exposed during the game, play cannot continue. This is a judgment that depends on the circumstances and the progression of the game. • As a rule of thumb, a game cannot continue if a large fraction of the wall is destroyed or several tiles revealed from an opponent’s hand.
61 • If the game cannot continue, the offending player receives a false deal penalty. • If the mistake happened due to no mistake on a player’s part, there is a re-deal (like a false win but without any point penalty). After the hand ends, players should not expose tiles from the (live and dead) wall. (i.e. players should not dig into the wall at the end). Tiles exposed on purpose in severe or repeated cases is considered obstruction.
B.7.1 Drawing a tile from the wrong part of the wall If a player draws a tile from the wrong part of the wall, and the mistake is realised or pointed out before the discard, the mistake should be corrected. After the discard the error cannot be corrected. In either case there is no penalty. B.8 Error in Riichi
A valid Riichi declaration should be announced in three steps: • The players clearly calls ‘Riichi’ • The player discards a tile and rotates it sideways in the discard line. • The player places a 1,000 point (stick) on the table close to his discards and close to the center of the table where it is clearly visible to all opponents A player who completes the first two steps, but forgets to place the Riichi bet still has avalid riichi, but should correct the mistake as soon as it is realised or pointed out. Opponents should point out the mistake. A player who fails to call ‘Riichi’ or fails to rotate the discard has not made a valid riichi declaration. The riichi bet is returned and the player has a dead hand. If an opponent claims the rotated tile for a melded set and the player forgets to rotate the next discarded tile, opponents should point out and the mistake. There is no penalty on this. B.9 Passing information, cheating and obstruction
Passing information or hints on opponents’ strategy in any way (like whether discards are dangerous or what faan/yaku someone might be aiming for) is bad behaviour. Normally the opponents should give the offending player a clear warning and in serious or repeated cases call a referee who can choose to penalise the player. A player caught cheating should be immediately disqualified; but it is a very serious accusation so the evidence must be clear. In serious or repeated cases the player is subject to penalties at the referee’s discretion, including dead hand and false win penalty as well as disqualification. B.10 Telephones
Players and spectators should have their telephones in silent/non-vibrating mode. Players should try to keep off their phone while playing, as a respect to other players and avoidany argument due to players being distracted. For exceptional circumstances players should notify other players and aim for dealing it in between games if they can. For extensive pause the referee should be notified for any necessary arrangements.
62 Chapter C References and additional resources
Figure
[1] European Mahjong Association. Riichi –Rules for Japanese Mahjong. 2016. url: http: //mahjong-europe.org/portal/images/docs/Riichi-rules-2016-EN.pdf. [2] Immanuel Giel. Wikipedia:MahjongTiles.JPG. url: https://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:MahjongTiles.JPG. [3] KyuuAA. Japanese mahjong wiki:Dora and Wanpai.jpg. url: http://arcturus.su/ wiki/File:Dora_and_Wanpai.jpg. [4] Mliu92. Wikipedia:Mahjong 13th piece draw.svg. url: https://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Mahjong_13th_piece_draw.svg. [5] Nazki_rhetorica. Wikipedia:Japanese Mahjong Tiles 1.jpg. url: https : / / commons . wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Japanese_Mahjong_Tiles_1.jpg. [6] Japanese mahjong wiki. Tenbou (Point sticks). url: http://arcturus.su/wiki/Tenbou. [7] Mahjong Wiki. Basic Rules:Building the Wall. url: http://mahjong.wikidot.com/ basic-rules. [8] Wikipedia:Mahjong tiles. url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahjong_tiles. Referenced content and additional resource
[1] European Mahjong Association. Riichi –Rules for Japanese Mahjong. 2016. url: http: //mahjong-europe.org/portal/images/docs/Riichi-rules-2016-EN.pdf. [9] Daina Chiba. Riichi Book I: A Mahjong Strategy Primer for European Players. 2019. url: https://dainachiba.github.io/RiichiBooks/. [10] Johan Eidenvall. Mahjong LaTeX package. url: https : / / sites . google . com / a / eidenvall.se/mahjong-latex-package/. [11] Light Grunty. Youtube: Light Grunty. url: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2E_ GfC7EwgBrYtbDzonZew/featured. [12] HanaYoriUta. Youtube: How to Play Japanese Mahjong - A Comprehensive Walkthrough by HanaYoriUta. url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlnC2rgIPrc. [13] Japanese Mahjong Wiki. url: http://arcturus.su/wiki/Main_Page. [14] Mahjong for redditors. url: https://www.reddit.com/r/Mahjong/. [15] Mahjong Wiki. url: http://mahjong.wikidot.com/. [16] Tom Sloper. The MAH-JONGG FAQs. url: http://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq.html. [17] Wikipedia. url: https://www.wikipedia.org/. Referenced content and additional resource (Non-English)
[18] chantatsu. 麻雀研究 (Mahjong study). url: https://www.mahjong.red/. [19] National Taiwan University Japan Mahjong Club. 台灣大學日本麻雀研究社 106 學年度 社課教學 (National Taiwan University Japan Mahjong Club tutorial for 2017-18). url: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgAqETcIMGxKQrJwCA8iRFmjc6J-fbTx0.
63 [20] The Student Union of The Chinese University of Hong Kong The Mahjong Study Society. 2019 年中大一雀成名麻雀大賽比賽規則 (Rules for 2019 Chinese University ’Yat Chuk Shing Ming’ Mahjong Tournament). url: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_ pdYX34qs_nM06VTj85QVNULi4Y-1MdAhCwn-RfYOh4/edit. [21] The Student Union of The Chinese University of Hong Kong The Mahjong Study Soci- ety and Hong Kong Joint University Mahjong Championship. 日本麻雀標準大賽規則 (Standard Tournament rules for Japanese Majong). url: https://docs.google.com/ document/d/1FPOgN33i176Q18KBgqgFnIGuJyKGgPFx2bsYKbF9I0k/edit. [22] 星野 Poteto.【15 分鐘就學會】日本麻將這樣玩！(Learning Japanese mahjong in 15 min- utes). url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTVArJQZ9nY&list=PLAOMOhCKGh6_ l6SzVP7mhjmd09gTzi5P3. Gameplay video (Riichi mahjong)
[23] 日本プロ麻雀協会 (Nihon Pro Mahjong). url: https://www.youtube.com/channel/ UCEPKIiiunLb64uYqDnN4pmA. [24] 日本プロ麻雀連盟 (Japanese Professional Mahjong League). url: https : / / www . youtube.com/channel/UCqHDeUer8bgaqswSuFP7FxQ. [25] 麻雀プロ團体 LIVE チャンネル (Professional Mahjong Live Channel). url: https: //www.youtube.com/channel/UCYkOShGDIiVoPNA1ggkfl6A.
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