Mahjong

Mahjong is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is played by four players. The game and its regional variants are played throughout the Sinosphere in East and Southeast Asia and have also become popular in Western countries. The game has been adapted into a widespread form of online entertainment. Similar to the Western card game rummy, mahjong is a game of skill, strategy, and luck. To distinguish it from mahjong solitaire, it is sometimes referred to as mahjong rummy.
The game is played with a set of 144 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols, although regional variations may omit some tiles or add unique ones. In most variations, each player begins by receiving 13 tiles. In turn, players draw and discard tiles until they complete a legal hand using the 14th drawn tile to form four [|melds] and a pair. A player can also win with a small class of special hands. While many variations of mahjong exist, most of them have basic rules in common including how a piece is drawn and discarded, the use of suits and honors, the basic kinds of melds allowed, how to deal the tiles and the order of play. Beyond these basic common rules, numerous regional variations exist which may have different criteria for legal melds and winning hands, radically different scoring systems and even elaborate extra rules. A group of players may introduce their own house rules which can change the feel of play.

Etymology

The game was originally called 麻雀 meaning sparrowwhich is still used in several Chinese languages, mostly in the south, such as Cantonese and Hokkien. It is said that the clacking of tiles during shuffling resembles the chattering of sparrows. It has also been suggested that the name came from an evolution of an earlier card game called Madiao from which mahjong tiles were adapted. In Chinese, denotes a form of guerrilla warfare tactics colloquially called 'sparrow warfare '. Other languages, such as Sichuanese, Shanghainese and Standard Mandarin, now call the game 麻將, which is a nasal erhua form of the original name. Its name is similar in other languages, except in Thai, where it is called ไพ่นกกระจอก, a calque meaning "sparrow cards".

Old Hong Kong mahjong rules

There are many highly varied versions of mahjong both in rules and tiles used. "Old Hong Kong mahjong" uses the same basic features and rules as the majority of the different variations of the game. This form of mahjong uses all of the tiles of the most commonly available sets, includes no exotic or complex rules, and has a relatively small set of scoring sets/hands with a simple scoring system. For these reasons Hong Kong mahjong is a suitable variation for the introduction of game rules and play and is the focus of this article.

Game equipment

Old Hong Kong mahjong is played with a standard set of 144 mahjong tiles. Sets often include counters, dice, and a marker to show who the dealer is and which round is being played. Some sets include racks to hold the tiles, especially if they are larger or smaller than standard tiles or have an odd shape. Mahjong sets originating from the United States, Japan or Southeast Asia will likely have extra tiles or specialized markings.
The tiles are split into three categories: suited, honors, and bonus tiles.

Suited tiles

Suited tiles are divided into three suits and each are numbered from 1 to 9. The suits are bamboos, dots, and characters. There are four identical copies of each suited tile totaling 108 tiles.
The bamboo suit is also known as "sticks", "strings" or "bams" suit; the first tile usually has a bird instead of a single bamboo. The dots suit is also known as the "wheels", "circles", "coins", "stones", "marbles" or "balls" suit. The characters suit is also known as the "myriads", "cracks" or "numbers" suit since the top characters are numbers in the Chinese writing system, and the bottom characters are the Chinese character for "ten thousand".

Honors tiles

There are two different sets of honors tiles: winds and dragons. The winds are east, south, west, and north, beginning with east. The dragons are red, green, and white. The white dragon has a blue or black frame on the face of the piece or in some sets is entirely blank. These tiles have no numerical sequence like the suited tiles. Like the suited tiles, there are four identical copies of each honors tile, for a total of 28 honors tiles.

East 東	South 南	West 西	North 北

Bonus tiles

There are two sets of bonus tiles: flowers and seasons. The flower and season tiles play a unique role in the mechanics of the game. When drawn, the bonus tile is not added into a player's hand but are instead set aside and kept near the player's other tiles for scoring purposes should they win the hand, and an extra tile is drawn in replacement of the bonus tile.
In addition, unlike the suited and honors tiles, there is only one of each bonus tile, so there are a total of four flower and four season tiles in the set. The tiles have a different artistic rendering of a specific type of flower or season.

No	Image	Name	Character	Direction
1		Plum blossom		East
2		Orchid		South
3		Chrysanthemum		West
4		Bamboo		North

It is not necessary to know the names or the Chinese characters of each bonus tile, only the number, as this is associated with a specific direction, and the player receives bonus points when the bonus tile matches the seat direction. There is no relation between the bonus tile "bamboo" flower and the bamboo suit of suited tiles. In traditional Chinese culture, the Four Gentlemen are the plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum which are regarded as the representative plants of those seasons, but people regard it as plum blossom, orchid, chrysanthemum and bamboo now.

Choosing table positions and first dealer

Before the game can begin, players need to be assigned one of the wind positions at the table – those being East, South, West, and North. East will also be the first dealer. Play proceeds in this counterclockwise order.
There are a variety of ways to determine positions. For example, one way is to have each player roll dice and assign East to the player that rolls the highest, South to the second-highest, and so on. Another way is to shuffle the 4 wind tiles face down and have each player choose one, determining their position.

Hands, rounds, and matches

A match consists of four rounds, each representing a "prevailing wind", starting with East. Once the first round is completed, a second round begins with South as the prevailing wind, and so on. Wind position is significant in that it affects the scoring of the game. A mahjong set with winds in play will usually include a separate prevailing wind marker.
In each round at least four hands are played, with each player taking the position of dealer. In the first hand of each round, Player 1 is East and therefore dealer. In the second hand, Player 2 takes the East position, shifting the seat winds amongst the players counter-clockwise. This continues until all four players have been East. A marker is used to mark which player is East and often the round number.
Whenever a player in the East position wins a hand, or if there is no winner, an extra hand is played with the same seating positions and prevailing wind as in the previous hand. This means that a match may potentially have no limit to the number of hands played.
Example of games:

Round	Hand number	Prevailing wind	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Comment
1	1	East	East	South	West	North
1	2	East	North	East	South	West
1	3	East	West	North	East	South
1	4	East	South	West	North	East
2	5	South	East	South	West	North
2	6	South	North	East	South	West
2	7	South	West	North	East	South	No one wins
2	Extra hand	South	West	North	East	South	Repeat of seat positions
2	8	South	South	West	North	East
3	9	West	East	South	West	North
3	10	West	North	East	South	West
3	11	West	West	North	East	South
3	12	West	South	West	North	East
4	13	North	East	South	West	North
4	14	North	North	East	South	West	East wins hand
4	Extra hand	North	North	East	South	West	Repeat of seat positions
4	15	North	West	North	East	South
4	16	North	South	West	North	East