Mahjong

The mahjong (麻雀(マージャン), mahjong ^? /maˈdʒoŋ/), mah jong or mah-jongg (Traditional Chinese 麻將; Simplified Chinese 麻将) is a board game of Chinese origin, exported to the rest of the world, and particularly to the West from the 1920s. she knows him as sparrow. In addition to the original Chinese version, its variants are included (Japanese, Korean, American, and Solitaire, to name a few). Due to its popularity and influence, it was spread to the whole world through the internet.

Its ancestor was called the "shredded game", since the chips were made of cardboard, like today's playing cards. This material was progressively abandoned and ivory, wood and, above all, bamboo tokens began to be manufactured, although nowadays it is normal to use plastic, which is more durable and cheaper. However, true works of art in different materials continue to be manufactured, as was done in ancient times.

Mahjong, in its original version, is composed of 144 tiles or generic tiles, but that number changes depending on the type of set, where some tiles are added or removed. In many variations, players have 13 tiles to start the game, and by drawing a #14 tile, you would win the game if you have 4 sets (Chow, Pung, and Kong, alternate) and the pair of eyes.

History

Apparently, mahjong is a direct descendant of an ancient oracle that Chinese fortune tellers consulted thousands of years ago. When astronomers began to record the progressions of the Sun, Moon, and planets, they used a simple device, a blackboard, to calculate the positions of celestial bodies. Movement through the skies was recorded by moving counters around the divisions on the board. This, or another similar one, is possibly also the origin of very widespread games, such as parcheesi, or the goose. But precisely in mahjong some remains of this origin are recognizable, such as the fact that the cardinal points are inverted, since it is about representing a celestial map, not a terrestrial one, or that thirteen tiles are distributed, which are the months of the lunar calendar.

However, the history of mahjong is unclear and poorly documented antecedents abound. For example, one of the legends about its origin states that the game was invented by Confucius around 500 BC. C. According to this, the tiles of the three dragons, Red, Green and White —in Chinese, respectively, in simplified Chinese, 中; pinyin, Zhōng; literally, 'center', Chinese Simplified, 發; pinyin, Fā; literally, 'prosperity' and pinyin, 白; literally, 'white' -, would represent the Confucian virtues of benevolence, sincerity and filial piety. The Red dragon would refer to China (in simplified Chinese, 中国; pinyin, Zhōngguó; literally, 'Country of the Center'). Also according to this legend, Confucius would have been in love with birds, which would explain the name "sparrow" that the game also receives.

A game, roughly related to modern day mahjong, was invented in the Tang dynasty, during the years of the reign of Emperor Tai Zong (626-649), for the amusement of the imperial house and nobility. However, there is no evidence of mahjong's existence before the time of the Taiping Rebellion, in the mid-19th century. The general consensus is that the game was developed around 1850 based on existing card and domino games. Many historians believe it was based on a card game called in Traditional Chinese, 馬吊; in simplified Chinese, 马吊; literally, 'hanging horse' or in traditional Chinese, 葉子; in simplified Chinese, 叶子; literally, 'leaf' from the early Ming dynasty. This game was played with forty cards numbered 1 through 9 in nine suits with four extra flower cards, similar to modern day mahjong. According to some, the game would have been created by army officers during the Taiping Rebellion to pass the time. According to another theory, it would have been created by a nobleman who lived in the outskirts of Shanghai between 1870 and 1875. Others believe that it was the work of two brothers who lived in the city of Ningpo.

But actually, mahjong as we know it today has a much shorter history, dating back to the end of imperial China in the early 20th century; this is the so-called "old style".

The first time that mahjong was mentioned in a language other than Chinese was in 1895, in an article by the American anthropologist Stewart Culin and by 1910 there were already several writings in other languages, such as French or Japanese. In the United States, Joseph Park Babcock wrote a book called Rules of Mah-Jongg ("Rules of Mah-Jongg"), which in a simplified version from 1920 was known as &# 34;the red book", although these simplifications would later be abandoned. Starting in the 1920s, the game was very successful in England and the United States, where it became known under trade names such as Pung Chow or Game of Thousand Intelligences, forming part of the fashion for everything oriental, also dedicating hit songs to it, such as Since Ma is Playing Mah Jong, by Eddie Cantor. It was played mostly by women. In the thirties, in the United States, several revisions of the rules were made until in 1937 the "National Mah Jongg League" (National Mah Jongg League, NMJL) and the regulations were standardized with the book Maajh: The American Version of the Ancient Chinese Game (Maajh: the American version of the ancient Chinese game). Although in the twenties it had been a game accepted by people of all kinds of races, from this officialization it was considered racistly as a Jewish game, because many of its players were; and even the NMJL was considered a Jewish organization, a product of antisemitism. The western version of the game is called new style, although it seems that the origin of these modifications comes from Beijing and Shanghai, so this new style is sometimes called Shanghai style.

Be that as it may, the fact is that today most of the players are in Taiwan and the United States, since for decades it was banned in communist China. However, with the political reforms undertaken at the beginning of the 1990s, mahjong has been considered an official sport since 1998 in mainland China and, although it never ceased to be played at home, now the stamp of the mahjong players in the streets of Chinese towns. Along with the decriminalization of its practice, the Chinese government published an official regulation that is the one that governs the official world championships, the first of which was held in Tokyo in 2002. In this way, it has been tried to recover a cultural heritage of China that was being usurped by other Asian nations.

Mahjong has become so popular throughout Asia that many countries consider it their national game. There are many variants adapted to each country, such as the Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese or Filipino, and it is normal for any festive event, celebration, meal, or even business, to end with a few games of mahjong. There is also an Israeli variant.

Characteristics and objective

Mahjong is a four-player game and is rarely played with a different number of participants. However, it can also be played by three, although the game loses interest. Therefore, we will always assume that we are talking about the game for four players.

One of the aspects that we have to consider is the Chinese origin of mahjong, which in itself represents, in the eyes of Westerners, an attraction, for giving the game a certain exoticism, mainly in terms of design of the cards and the terminology used, which in several cases uses the original Chinese terms.

Among the virtues of mahjong, which have undoubtedly contributed to making it so extraordinarily popular, the following stand out:

• It is relatively easy to learn to play; the basic rules can be taught in one or two games.
• It's an ideal social game. While each player concentrates on his thirteen chips, he can engage in conversation with the other three; so it is possible even to do business in a pleasant environment.
• It is an easily adaptable and very flexible game. The four players jointly set their own rules, and time limits. The game can be interrupted at any time to attend to some momentary matter, and be continued later.
• The difficulty of the game can increase or decrease at will, according to the rules that are included according to the experience of the participants.
• A set of chips lasts a lifetime.

Each player participates individually: there is no system that allows you to establish teams. The game takes place in successive games, each of which can only be won by one of the four players; Whenever a game ends, the winner receives points from the three losers. At the end, a count of points is made, and the situation of each one is determined. Although this can be done by writing down the points of each player on a piece of paper, it is best to provide yourself with chips that symbolize the points, as currency.

Equipment needed

To play mahjong it is essential to procure a set of specific tiles. If we also have other elements, the game will be much more pleasant, but you can do without them. For example, it is advisable to have lecterns to place the chips (one for each player); a set of tokens for scoring points (or 100, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 point suits in the Japanese and Korean sets); a square or round table; two dice; and four discs or labels with the inscriptions or symbols of the four winds (East, South, West and North), to show the round that is being played at any given time.

Stands, dice, and symbols of the four winds are sometimes included with the basic set of tiles, also called tiles. In Japanese, Korean, and some variant sets, the scoring tokens are replaced by scoring suits. Sometimes auxiliary strips are also used to help the formation of the wall.

Tokens

Mahjong, in its original version, is made up of 144 tiles or generic tiles, but in Japanese sets 136 tiles are required to start without the flowers or seasons.

		N.o
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8		9
Classes	Circles (4 per chip)
	Bambus (4 per chip)
	Letters (4 per chip)
Other		Winds or cardinal points (4 per chip)				Dragons or colors (4 per chip)			Bonus
		East	South	West	North	Red	Green	White	Stations		Flowers

Depending on the sets, it is possible to use flowers or seasons, which do not repeat themselves. In 3 player versions they remove the north wind and a Chinese provincial version removes the honor tokens. Korean sets either remove the bamboo tiles or leave only tiles 1 and 9 of the same kind. Japanese sets rarely use flowers or seasons. Also, in the Japanese sets and depending on the rules they use red tiles, replacing some original tiles, which increases the dora gauge.

Player Giveaway

Once the players have taken their seats, in the order they wish, they proceed to assign each one a wind or cardinal point, whose order is not the usual western one, but East - South - West - North, in counterclockwise direction of a clock. This apparently capricious arrangement responds to the fact that the cardinal points of a map are upside down, as if there were a transparent map in the sky and we, who see it from the ground, look at the cardinal points upside down. Obviously, it is not necessary to take any of this into account, it is enough to follow the indicated order as a rule of the game, which is basically what it turns out to be.

To determine which player is East, two dice are rolled, and whoever gets the highest score is vested as East Wind. The other players are then also determined, as explained above. That is, the player to his right is South, the one in front is West, and the one to his left is North.

As a curiosity, it must be said that the original way of determining the East Wind is much more complex and elaborated among Chinese players, with provisional winds that are used to later determine the definitive ones. However, since the purpose is the same, we understand the described system as perfectly valid.

Number of games and rounds

Depending on the wind, the point A that receives This part the turn, then B (South), C (West) and finally D (North).

A "game" corresponds to each of the episodes in which the tiles are moved and distributed, and which ends either when a player ends it by playing mahjong or when the wall tiles run out. Each game has two winds that affect it, the prevailing wind (or round wind) and the own wind (or wind of seat). The first game has the East as the prevailing wind. The wind that corresponds to each player is called "own wind". The prevailing wind is changed every four games (or one round). Following the round of the East wind, the round of the South would begin, and so on. In case of a tie or if the east wind wins, the game is repeated (that is, the winds are not rotated). Therefore, we can make the following provisional scheme (playing the all winds mode and assuming that player A is the one who happened to be East for the first time):

Getting to have a combination of the prevailing wind or the own wind is important to calculate the score (we will see how later). When in a game the prevailing wind and the own wind coincide for a player, it is said that this wind is "double wind", which constitutes a very favorable circumstance; in the first round, for the East player, East is double wind.

Therefore, according to the previous scheme there would be four rounds of four games each. However, if a game is won by the player who was East, that player would repeat in the next game as East, and so on as many times as necessary, so rounds can have more than four games.

We will call the set of four rounds game. By now we know that a game has four rounds, and each round at least four games, so a game has a minimum of sixteen games. In Japanese sets you can also play one or two rounds.

Before starting to play a game of Mahjong, the number of rounds to be played or the time that the game will last must be agreed upon. Normally 1, 2 or 4 rounds are usually agreed, and if it is established by time, 90 or 120 minutes.

In terms of duration, a game can be very fast, or not so fast. Theoretically, it could happen that one of the players closed with the chips that he was dealt (although the probability is very small), but it usually takes about 20 minutes for each game. So the most normal thing is that a game of 4 rounds lasts approximately 2 or 3 hours, depending on the speed of the players when it comes to playing and building the wall.

Development of the game

Formation of the wall

Placing the table ready to break the wall

Once all the tiles are placed face down on the table, the players will proceed to mix them well so that there are no traces of previous arrangements. Next, the so-called wall will be built, using all the tiles, made up of four walls, each one 18 tiles long (17 if the flowers and seasons are not used) and two tiles high. All these tiles will be face down. The four rows will be arranged as sides of a square, in the center of which the discarded chips are left.

Opening of the wall and distribution of the chips

In Japanese sets, one of the dead wall tiles indicates the dora.

The player who is East Wind takes two dice and rolls them; With the number obtained, he counts, counterclockwise and starting with himself, on which side of the wall the chips will be taken. For example, suppose that the East wind rolls the dice and obtains a 7, the pieces will be taken by the West player (1 East, 2 South, 3 West, 4 North, 5 East, 6 South and 7 West).

Once it is known which side of the wall to start taking the tiles from, the player on that side of the wall will count from his right corner of the wall as many rows to the left as the number that was rolled in the dice; in our example, West would stop on row 7; (As each row is double, there are now 14 tiles from the right corner to that spot.) From that chip, the East player takes four, and puts them in front (that is, the first one is dealt to him), which would correspond in our example to rows 7 and 8; then the South would take another two rows (9 and 10), etc.; when each player has taken four tiles, this same operation is repeated two more times, so that each player has 12 tiles; next, each player takes one more token, always starting from the East, so everyone has 13 tokens, and finally, East takes one last token for himself, so that the East wind is left with 14 tokens, and the others with 13. The gap left by the tiles that have been dealt is called the gap, which is why the initial deal of tiles is sometimes called “opening the breach in the wall”. The game has started.

Finally, counting 7 rows from the gap to the right (that is, they would be the 14 tiles at the end), these tiles are called Dead Wall, and they are used to take the extra tiles after making Kongs, showing a flower or season on some sets, or indicating the dora on Japanese sets. The Dead Wall tiles are not played, so if there are no more tiles left on the wall, the game will be considered over.

Each player's turn

Once the chips have been distributed, the player who is the seat wind has 14 chips in hand. If by chance it turned out that the tiles that have corresponded to him form mahjong, he would say so immediately and that game would be over; but this is very rare, so he has to try to go looking for better chips. In Japanese sets it is possible to make an abortive draw on your first turn and the game is cancelled.

The first player then discards one of the tokens in their hand, and places it on the table, face up, in the central space bordered by the wall. This means that his turn is over, and (unless another player draws a tile discarded by the first to create an open Chow, Pung, or Kong, or forces mahjong which would end the game) the player to his right begins, the which will proceed to steal the first tile from the wall (the one located to the left of the newly opened gap), it will be the bottom tile of its row, since the top tile has been distributed. After drawing, he is left with 14 tiles, and then (unless he has formed a mahjong in all sets, or an abortive draw in Japanese sets, which would end or abort the game respectively), he locates a tile he wants to discard, which does, and the turn passes, and so on.

It is important to point out that the players always take the first free tile from the wall, that is, the one located to the left of the gap; although it has not been mentioned so far, it is clear that the tiles are taken from top to bottom, that is, first the top tile, then the bottom one, then the top one of the next row, etc. This principle by which the players take a token from the wall in turn is affected by some exceptions that are indicated later, which allow one player to take the discarded token for another, and the order of play to be altered, skipping any player.

Endgame

As the game progresses, the tiles on the wall will gradually be consumed. Generally, the game will end when any of the four players manages to place their tiles doing mahjong, but if all the valid tiles are consumed without any of them having succeeded, a new game will begin, rotating the winds assigned to each player. Valid tiles are considered all but the last 14 that made up the Dead Wall, that is, when a player leaves 14 tiles on the wall and has not been able to do mahjong himself (except for the so-called tenpai in Japanese sets), the game has ended without a winner. Keep in mind that, although you always draw in a clockwise direction, that is, following the gap opened in the wall when the tokens were given at the beginning, sometimes tokens are taken from the other end of the wall (this happens when doing "kong", as will be seen later), with which the last 14 pieces of the wall can be "moving" throughout the game.

Once the game is over, and the winner and losers have been determined, we proceed to count the points that the first must receive from each of the losers; This operation is carried out with the help of everyone, since although the rivalry between them is great while they compete, it is normal to collaborate to speed up this phase of the game, which is the most tedious, especially if the players are newbies.

If the winner was the player who was East, the game is repeated (that is, the winds are not rotated) and only in Japanese sets a homba is added for the next game. In another case, the winds rotate counterclockwise. That is, the East would become North, the South would be East, the West would be South and the North would be West.

After this, the tiles are shuffled, and a new game begins. If the player is left with a negative score in Japanese sets, it is game over. The same is true in Japanese sets if the eastern player wins the last hand (オーラス, oorasu^?) via victory and closure (agari-yame, あがりやめ).

Ties

In case the tiles on the wall run out (the ones on the dead wall don't count), the game is considered a draw (it's called ryūkyoku in this case) and depending on the set or the rulebook, it could rotate the winds or repeat game. In Japanese sets, in addition to choosing to replay or change winds, to break the tie, tenpai will be called if a player has a ready hand to determine the winner(s) of the match. game, plus a homba for the next game.

In Japanese mahjong, if 3 players declare mahjong at the same time (triple ron), it is possible to activate the sanchahō (三家和, 'sanchahō'^?), that when making triple ron it is considered a draw. Because of that, the 1000-point suits to make rīchi cannot be divided into 3. That rule is considered an abortive draw, which cancels the game in the process.

Abortifacient robberies

In Japanese sets, depending on the rules and when there are tokens available, a game can be canceled by doing these abortive draws. In all these cases, the canceled games count as a tie and, depending on the situation, the game is repeated or the winds are rotated. The player can cancel the game by doing:

• Kyūshu yaochūhai tōhai (أعربية, Kyūshu yaochūhai tōhai^?) o Kyūshu kyūhai (مع , Kyūshu kyūhai^?): In the first shift if you have 9 or more terminal chips (1 and 9) or honor and if another player has not declared chips above, the player shows up all the chips (e.g.: , but can be treated as 13 orphans in the 2nd or next shifts.
• Barrier of four winds (▪, Sūfontsu rentā^?): In the first turn of each player when he has no declared chips, all players ruled out the same wind (e.g.: ).
• Fourth rīchi (▪, Sūcha rīchi^?) o Yonin rīchi (▪, Yonin rīchi^?): It happens if all players declare rīchi (hand list) in the same game.
• Abortion by fourth Kong (أعربية, Sūkan sanra^?): If 2 or more players declare a room Kong (quartet) in the same game.

Rules

General

In order to continue explaining the development of the game we need to introduce these three concepts. A pung, pon or trio (碰, pèng or ポン) is always made up of three identical tiles. For example: three white dragons, three West winds, three 7's of bamboo, etc. A chow, chī or straight (吃 or チー) is made up of three consecutive tiles of the same suit. That is, the sets (1 discs, 2 discs, 3 discs), (7 bamboos, 8 bamboos, 9 bamboos), (4 characters, 5 characters, 6 characters), etc. are chow. A kong, kan or quartet (槓, 杠, gàng or カン) is made up of four identical tiles (the four white dragons, the four 7 of disks...), that is, it is the same as a pung but with four chips instead of three. However, the pung and chow formations are "normal" and the kong formation is "exceptional", as will be seen later. Note that Chow cannot be formed with Winds or Dragons, it is only possible to use them to form Pung or Kong.

When a player has a pung, chow, or kong in his hand, which he has either gotten by dividing it up among his starting tiles, or by discarding and drawing tiles from the wall, it is said that these formations are "occult". A hidden combination remains so until the player plays mahjong, that is, it does not reveal to the rest of the players that he has it, except in the case of the kong. If a player had a kong and did not say anything, he would not be able to do mahjong, since he would lack one tile to form four combinations and the pair of eyes (see the next section). Therefore, if a player has a hidden kong, he must declare it before he ends the game (before the end of any of his turns).

Kong hidden or closed

To declare a hidden kong, at any time during his turn, the player lowers the four kong tiles before him, receiving an additional tile, which is taken not from the first free spot on the wall, but from the Wall died (this area of the wall is also called "kong box" or "dora box"). The kong that has been lowered onto the table is placed so that the two extreme tiles are face up, and the two central ones face down (or vice versa); this kong is considered a "hidden kong" o Closed Kong, even though it is on the table, since it has been made without the help of other players. Another equivalent way to do this is to leave three tiles face up and the one on the far right face down. Additionally, in Japanese sets a dead wall token is revealed to indicate dora and another token will be revealed each time you alter the dead wall by kong.

Legal Hand

The objective of all the players in each game is always the same: to play mahjong. A legal hand is 14 tiles. All players have 13 tiles in their hand and a game can only be won if a player draws a tile from the wall (wall draw win, Tsumo in Japanese sets) or by drawing a tile that has discarded another player (win by discard, Ron in Japanese sets). Without counting on other types of hands, the objective is to obtain 4 combinations and the pair of eyes. The list of combinations is as follows:

Normal

• Four pung and pair of eyes (14 tiles)
• Three pung, one chow, and the pair of eyes (14 chips)
• Two pung, two chow, and pair of eyes (14 chips)
• A pung, three chow, and pair of eyes (14 chips)
• Four chow and pair of eyes (14 tiles)

Specials

• A kong, a pung, two chow and the pair of eyes (15 chips)
• A kong, two pung, a chow and the pair of eyes (15 chips)
• A kong, three pung and pair of eyes (15 chips)
• A kong, three chow and pair of eyes (15 chips)
• Two kong, a pung, a chow and a pair of eyes (16 chips)
• Two kong, two pung and pair of eyes (16 chips)
• Two kong, two chow and pair of eyes (16 chips)
• Three kong, one pung, and the pair of eyes (17 chips)
• Three kong, one chow, and the pair of eyes (17 chips)
• Four kong and pair of eyes (18 chips)

A variant of the game is to play by limiting the number of chows allowed to one, thus adding difficulty to the game and the following combinations would not be valid:

• Two pung, two chow, and pair of eyes (14 chips)
• A pung, three chow, and pair of eyes (14 chips)
• Four chow and pair of eyes (14 tiles)
• A kong, a pung, two chow and the pair of eyes (15 chips)
• A kong, three chow and pair of eyes (15 chips)
• Two kong, two chow and pair of eyes (16 chips)

Ready hand

When the player lacks a chip to win (e.g.: Waiting: , or Yeah. counts as the pair of eyes), the hand will count as a ready hand (tenpai (▪, 'Tenpai'^?) Traditional Chinese: Đ,, Simplified Chinese::). It is common for a hand to wait 2 or 3 chips, and some variants increase points if the hand is declared ready. This is stated in some mahjong variants, but not in others.

In Japanese and Korean sets, if the player has not declared any tiles (except hidden kongs), they may declare rīchi (立直, phonetically known in English as reach), placing one of his 1000-point suits on the table (as a bet) and the chip face up horizontally. Players with declared rīchi may not interrupt for chows, pungs or kongs, and will discard all tiles they have drawn from the wall. They can only be interrupted to declare hidden kongs or to declare mahjong. The players who made rīchi but lose, are penalized in points. Players who made rīchi and win, will increase their score to a greater extent in addition to showing the bottom tile(s) of the dead wall.

Interrupt to use discarded tiles

As previously stated, each player in their turn draws from the wall (which momentarily has 14 tiles), and then, if they don't have mahjong formed, they discard one, returning to the number of 13. But many times you You would like to take the token someone has discarded instead of taking one from the wall, which you can do like this:

Declaring Pungs

If any player discards a tile, and another player has in hand two identical tiles to the discarded one, they can claim the discarded tile for themselves, saying "pung" ("pon" in Japanese sets). In doing so, the game interrupts the normal sequence, and the turn of the player who claimed the discard is continued, who must then discard a tile, continuing then normally. Let's take an example: North draws from the wall and discards a 4 character. He would play East, but West has two 4 characters in hand, and says "pung". At that moment, West takes the 4 character from the table and places it in plain sight next to the two that he had hidden and discards another chip. He continues to play North again (which is the next player to West), etc.

Important remarks:

• There can only be one player in a position to say pung to a discarded chip, as we remember that there are four chips of each, one of which has been discarded, so they cannot have two players plus each one in the hand.
• As soon as the player says "pung", and as a check that he actually had the two chips he needed, he will lower in front of himself the trio he has formed, with the chips in sight (the rest of the game will remain so). When this happens, pung is said to be "exposed" or "vist." Next the player makes the discard, and continues by the next player.
• A player may claim his pung as soon as the appropriate chip is discarded, and he remains entitled to it as long as the next player has not made his discard, even if he has stolen from the wall. If this happens, that is, if a player claims pung after the next player has stolen, as the turn is going to jump, this will return to the wall the chip he stole (and possibly has already seen).

This rule can be modified opting that as soon as the next player robbed the wall lost the right to claim the "pung", this increases the difficulty of the game and makes you pay close attention to it.

Kongs exposed or open

The rules are similar to pung, but saying "kong" ("Kan" or Quad" in the Japanese and American sets, respectively) instead of "pung". A kong also takes precedence over the chow. When a kong is obtained in this way, by calling for a discarded tile, the resulting kong is of the "exposed" type, and is placed in front of the player with all tiles visible for the rest of the game.

Declaring Chows

If a player discards a tile, only the next player can claim it to chow it; to do so, he will say the word 'chow'. (& # 34; chi & # 34; in Japanese sets), and instead of drawing from the wall he will take the newly discarded tile. It is necessary that this player already have two other pieces of the chow that he is forming, and as in the case of the pung, the chow will return in front of him, which is then "exposed" the rest of the game.

Observations:

• A chow does not alter the game shift, as it can only be ordered by the next player in turn (i.e. the right player). The exception is given when a player expects to form a chow to make mahjong (in that case he can steal the chip from any player, not just his left).
• If a chip is claimed at the same time by the next player for chow, and on the other hand for pung, the one who claims pung, which will take it.
• If the next player who discards a chip steals from the wall, he can no longer return it and instead claim chow, that is, the right is lost as soon as he is stolen.

Making Mahjong

When a player is short of a single tile to do mahjong, he can ask for it in case any player discards it or steals it from the wall or from the dead wall, in case of kong; he will do it by saying & # 34; mahjong & # 34;, he will take the tile from the table, and the game will be over, turning all the tiles face up and proceeding to calculate the score. Note that to do mahjong we can ask for any tile, even if it is for the pair of eyes.

By discarding

The first way to win is that you can declare "mahjong" if a player intercepts another player's discard or kong formation (in Japanese sets they will say "ron"). If a tile is wanted by other players for pung, kong, or chow, the one requesting it for mahjong has priority and, in Japanese sets, intercepts the player who made kong. If there are several players who claim the tile to do mahjong (Double or Triple ron in Japanese sets), the one who is located first with respect to the one who discarded the tile will get it, always counting in the direction of the game (ie counterclockwise) or players with the best hand will always be scored in the direction of play.

Stealing from the wall

The last way to win is that you can also declare "mahjong" if a player draws a necessary tile from the wall, or from the dead wall in the case of kong (in Japanese sets they will say 'tsumo'). In that case, the score for declaring mahjong by draw is higher than declaring it by discard.

The bonus points also increase the score if the easterly wind (the player who started the turn) won by removing the token from the wall, or one of the players claims the token from the East player to complete the victory hand.

Punctuation

Once the player who has played mahjong in a game has been determined, the points he has achieved will be counted, which will be paid by the other three players; however, the other three players do not pay the same points to each other, since you have to take into account who discarded the tile that served the winner for mahjong (if he did not win by drawing from the wall). A loser pays double if he discards the tile that was used to mahjong the winner.

A variant is to ignore this penalty for discarding, avoiding that in the event that the winner is the prevailing wind, the one who discarded the chip pays quadruple (double for the penalty and double for winning the prevailing wind of the round).

Let's give some examples (we still don't know how to calculate the basic points achieved, so we'll set them arbitrarily):

Case 1

Winner: West, stealing the last sheet of the wall (Japanese Sets Suction)

They pay East, North and South:

All score of the West x2 (i.e. double your score).

Case 2

Winner: West, stealing a chip that discarded North (Japanese set band)

They pay East, North and South:

This: player score West

North: double score of player West

South: West player score

Case 3

Winner: This one, stealing a chip that discarded North (Japanese set band)

They pay West, North and South:

West: player rating East

North: player rating This x2

South: player rating East

Let's remember that, in addition, in all cases if the winner had distributed the chips (that is, if it was "seat wind"), the fact of having won gives him the right to repeat again, and this as many times as you are able to win.

Let's emphasize that the first thing to do is convert the faan obtained into points, and then double these points if necessary. For example, if 6 faan are rolled, this corresponds to 16 points, and if any player has to pay double, he will pay 32 points. In Japanese sets, instead of Faan, use multiples for scoring.

Okay, but it remains to be seen how to calculate what we have called the "basic score" of the play This calculation is not done directly in points (as in Japanese sets), but in "fan" (as in Chinese sets or other variants), and from here a table gives us the score directly.

The payout table is as follows:

For example, if we calculate that a play has 5 fan, and looking at the table we see that these 5 fan correspond to 16 points, which will already be the basic score, to which we will apply the duplication corrections described, if applicable. We subtract the description of the fan assignment system to a specific mahjong; This operation conditions the entire game, since the players will try to get one or the other plays taking into account how valuable they are. There are a number of observations and rules that can be mentioned:

(a) Making mahjong, i.e. obtaining four combinations and the pair of eyes does not provide any fan for the mere fact of getting it.

(b) The maximum number of fan that can be achieved are 10, that is, if you reach the 10 fan you do not continue to count, although there are no combinations to consider.

(c) It is possible to get 0 fan, and therefore 1 point, especially if you play with rules in which you do not set a minimum hand to win; this hand of 0 fan is called "empty Hand" or "chicken hand". In the original game of ancient China the set of punctuation rules is so complete that the chicken hand was impossible, that is, any combination that gave rise to the mahjong always had some fan.

The following section explains the faan allocation system. Finally, it is important to highlight that a mahjong winner can get very few points, or hundreds in a single game, depending on how lucky they are, so in the end a player who closes very few times but with difficult combinations can get many. more points than another who often closes with low-scoring combinations.

Fan earning system

The rules that are presented below are ordered by fan number. These rules are not mutually exclusive, and in fact as many as possible will apply to each mahjong; The faan obtained are indicated, and then the circumstances that favor this achievement. On the other hand, it must be taken into account that when talking about visible or hidden combinations we will always refer to pung, chow or kong, the pair of eyes does not enter into this consideration.

1 fan

• Everything chow: mahjong formed by four chow and pair of eyes.
• Pung or Kong of Own Wind
• Pung or Kong of Dominant Wind
• For each flower or season of the own wind: each flower or station carries a number that associates it with a wind. 1 is associated to the East, 2 to the South, 3 to the West and 4 to the North. Thus, if the West player has flower 3, 1 fan would be added.
• For not having no flower or station.
• For Close the wallI mean, shut up, not picking up a discard. (This also involves doubling points, as we already know).
• Close with the last tab of the wall or his discard. It must be remembered that the last piece of the wall is just the one before the first tile of the dead wall. Also known as "get the moon from the bottom of the sea."
• Close with an extra tab after declaring a Kong.
• Close with Kong robbery: close with a chip with which another player extended a Pung exposed to Kong.

2 fans

• Have all the flowers or all stations (only in certain sets): have 4 flower chips or 4 seasons.

3 fans

• All pung: have 4 pung/kong and the couple.
• Semi-purchase hand: all the chips are of the same stick, more honors.

4 fans

• Three little dragons: have pung/kong of two dragons and the third couple. Obviously, mahjong must be made with 4 combinations and the couple.
• Seven pairs: have 7 pairs of chips. This is a special move that does not follow the rule of the 4 combinations and the couple.

6 fans

• Pure hand: have all the combinations (and the couple) formed by chips of the same stick.

10 fans

• Treasure hidden: have 4 pung/kong (and the couple) all hidden.
• All kongs: have 4 kongs and a couple.
• Three great sages or Three great dragons: have pung/kong of the 3 dragons and any other combination, plus the couple.
• Four small winds: have pung/kong of 3 winds and a couple of the room, and any other combination.
• All Honors: have all the combinations (pung/kong and couple) formed only by honour chips (dragons and winds).
• All Terminals: have all combinations (pung/kong and couple) formed only by terminal chips (Fichas 1 and 9 of the sticks).
• Jade Dragon: have a pung/kong of green dragons, and the rest pung/kong of Bambooes (in addition to the couple).
• Dragon of Ruby: have a pung/kong of red dragons, and the rest pung/kong of Characters (in addition to the couple).
• Pearl Dragon: have a pung/kong of white dragons, and the rest pung/kong of Discos (in addition to the couple).
• Quick hand: make mahjong during the first round with the stolen wall tile.
• Nine doors: have 1-1-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9-9-9 of the same stick and hidden, and close with any chip of that same stick.
• Thirteen orphans: have 1 and 9 of each stick, one of each of the dragons and one of each of the winds, and a chip more equal to those described.

Points obtained with fans

Playing with flowers and seasons

The flower and season tiles are supplementary tiles that only serve to score points. It is available in Chinese sets or some variants and optionally in Japanese and 3-player sets.

When a player draws a flower from the wall, he immediately turns it over in front of him, in the area where the seen combinations are placed, and takes another token again (since the flower does not count for any combination, and if he did not do so, he would be left with one less token); the new token that replaces the flower will be taken from the dead wall, not from the normal place where the tokens are taken from. If he receives a second flower, the same thing is repeated, etc.

As soon as the chips are distributed, at the beginning of the game, each player discovers the flowers they have received (if they have received any, of course), and they will collect them in order (first the East, then the South, then the West and finally the North) the tiles that replace the flowers, always taking them from the dead wall, and starting with itself; If there are flowers among the new tiles, the operation is repeated, as in the previous case.

The rest of the game is the same, so the only effect of the flowers is to increase the faan gained.

Mistakes made during the game: penalties

It is relatively common, especially among beginners, to make a mistake or infraction. The most serious consists of singing mahjong, and when the score is being calculated, discovering that it had not been obtained; this is called "false mahjong", and the penalty is that whoever committed it pays the points corresponding to 2 faan to each of the other three players, without applying rules that can double this figure. The game is repeated, without changing the seat wind. Although it seems like a hard rule, it is convenient to apply it without hesitation.

Another common mistake among newbies, usually made carelessly when drawing from the wall, is to end up with more or fewer tokens than you should have. These cases are called "great eunuch" and "little eunuch", respectively. There is no penalty here, except if the player calls mahjong, which would necessarily be false, simply the "eunuch" cannot win the game. For this reason, the players in this circumstance are interested in reaching a null game, that is, they will try to exhaust all the valid tiles on the wall.

In other errors it is convenient to be lenient; thus, if a player says "pung" and then it turns out that he does not have the two necessary chips, it will be enough to undo the move and continue normally, etc.

Game variants

All mahjong variants have different rules and scoring, along with changes in the number of tiles and eventually more limited hands and more complex scoring. These are the current regulations for each variant:

• Mahjong Competition Rules or RCM (also calls, Official China Rules or Official China Rules): are the rules used in most official tournaments. They are rules with a lot of plays, which gives complexity and beauty to the game.
• Modern American Rules: are the most widespread and played rules in the United States. They use Jokers and Charleston (sheets are exchanged before starting each game).
• Classical European Rules: are ancient rules that still propose as exemplary rules in some Spanish-made mahjong games.
• Japanese rules: one of the most widespread Japanese rules that have even been found in various video games. In addition to changing the Faan score to Yaku and the dot sticks, there is the method Riichi (PHONE RING) to declare ready hand and Dora (loud) that will increase the score of such sticks. In addition, there is the regulation of sacred discards, where players cannot win for discarding this situation. They are used in several tournaments in Japan and Europe.
• Thai Rules: rules in which specific jokers, animals and extra flowers are added, having a total of 168 chips.
• Taiwanese Rules: rules in which the hands are 16 chips.
• Rules of 3 players: rules in which sets use less chips than the original, because only 3 players participate. A variant of Japanese, Korean, Filipino and Malaysian rules. Flowers or wilds are used, a complete set is omitted or only the terminals of that set are used, Chow is not supported, and is considered a fast game.

Comparison

Mahjong Variants

Variation	Original Hong Kong	Competition	Japanese	3 players and Korean	Hong Kong renovated	Taiwan	American	Classic	Singapore	Malay	Malay of 3 players	Vietnam	Sichuan
Letters (in Hanzi)	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	No.	Yes.	Yes.
Circles	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.
Bamboo	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Partial	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	No.	Yes.	Yes.
Dragons	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	No.
Winds	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Partial	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	No.
Flowers	Yes.	Yes.	No.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	No.
Stations	Yes.	Yes.	No.	Partial	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	No.
4 arts and 4 professions / Emperadores y emperatrices	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	Yes.	No.	Yes.	No.
Animals	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	No.	No.
Jokers	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	Yes.	No.	Partial	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	No.
Score base	faan	faan	Multiple	Simple	faan	Simple	American	Multiple	faan	faan	faan	faan	Varieties
Score	Winner	Winner	Winner	Winner	Winner	Winner	Winner	All	Winner	All	All	Winner	Varieties
This double	Yes.	No.	Yes.	No.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	No.	No.
Sacred Descartes	No.	No.	Yes.	Yes.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.
Chows exposed	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	No.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	No.
Riichi	No.	No.	Yes.	Partial	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.
Number of chips by hand	14	14	14	14	14	17	14	14	14	14	14	14	Varieties
Minimum score (in units)	3f	8	1y	2p	5f	7/10t	Varieties	3f	2u	?	5f	?	Varieties

Solo Mahjong

In the West, mahjong is mostly only indirectly known through solitaire versions of the game, called Shanghai, but popularly known by the same name as Mahjong; These games have simpler rules and whose general rule is to match Mahjong tiles, being Shanghai solitaires popularized over the Internet through online games.

Glossary

• Heavenly hand.
• 4 large winds (α-related)
• 3 great dragons (0,000 years ago)
• All of the Kongs
• All categories of honour (self-administration)
• Thirteen orphans
• Nine-door Hand (Computer宝)
• Middle Triples (국))
• All in Triples (conscious attraction)
• Mixed Set.
• A whole set (US$)
• Common hand (linked)
• Small 3 dragons (teaspoon writing)
• Small 4 winds (sooner than later).