Three-player mahjong
Three-player mahjong is a variation of mahjong for three players rather than the more common four-player variations. It is not a mere adaption of four-player mahjong to suit only three players but has its own rules and idiosyncrasies that place it apart from the more standard variations. The equipment used and the basic mechanisms are much like four-player variations though some tiles are removed, certain plays are prohibited and the scoring system is simplified. The game is embraced in some Asian countries while ignored or snubbed in others.
Three-player mahjong is played mostly in Japan, Korea and Malaysia. This article focuses on rules from the earlier two while other variations are covered in the following section. The rules given below are the most commonly used rules in Korean/Japanese three-player mahjong while optional house rules are listed afterwards. There are numerous possible house rules meaning three-player mahjong can be as simple or complex as players prefer.
Vanilla three-player rules
There are basic rules common among the three-player Mahjong variations played in Korea and Japan. The following presents the most commonly used rules with a list of variations afterwards. Those familiar with common versions of four-player mahjong will note the removal of several tiles, chows cannot be melded on a discard, discards are placed in front of the player, a player cannot win on a discard they have previously discarded themselves and a notably different scoring system.Tiles
Three-player mahjong is played with a standard mahjong set with several tiles removed. First, the north wind is removed. The 2-8 of bamboo is also removed. The four season tiles are also removed, but the four flowers are kept. There are no jokers or any other extra tiles.Circles 1 to 9:
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Characters 1 to 9:
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Bamboo 1 and 9 :
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East, South and West :
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Red, Green and White Dragons:
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The four flowers :
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The circles, characters, and bamboo are called simple tiles. Of the dragons and winds, there are three kinds of each with no numerical value. Of both simples and honours, there are four matching tiles for each value.
Deal
Tiles are dealt just like other variations of mahjong except the walls are only thirteen or fourteen tiles long and only two dice are used. For those unfamiliar with stacking the wall, the following explains it for three-player mahjong.Shuffling tiles
All tiles are placed face down on the table and are shuffled. By convention all players should participate in shuffling using both hands moving the tiles around the table rigorously and loudly for a lengthy period. Tiles may get flipped up during this process and players should flip them facing down as soon as possible to avoid identifying the location of the revealed tiles.Stacking tiles
Each player then stacks a row of 13 or 14 tiles, two tiles high, in front of them. East and West stack a row of 14 tiles, South and North stack a row of 13 tiles. One of the three players also stacks the North wall. Players then push each side of their stack together to form a square wall. Players may instead more informally build a triangle wall.Drawing tiles
The order of play is traditionally anticlockwise but some house rules may go the other direction.The dealer throws two dice in the square wall and sums up the total. Counting anticlockwise so that the dealer's wall is 1, 5 or 9, South is 2, 6 or 10, etc. This determines which side of the wall will be cut and the tiles dealt from.
Using the same total on the dice, the dealer counts each stack of tiles on that side of the wall from right to left, and cuts the wall to the left of the count. Starting from the left of the cut, the dealer draws four tiles for himself so that the wall decreases in a clockwise direction. Players in anticlockwise order draw blocks of four tiles until all players have 12 tiles. Each player then draws one last tile to make a 13-tile hand.
Dealing may be done more informally. In some house rules the dealer deals out all of the tiles.
Objective
Each player's hand consists of 13 tiles. In sequence, players pick up a tile from the wall and discard one until a player has a legal hand. The majority of legal hands consists of 4 melds of three tiles and one pair of identical tiles. Melds can also consist of four tiles under certain conditions and there are a few uncommon and very specific winning hands that have a unique composition that break all the rules. These game rules are commonly interrupted by specific plays which include stealing a player's discard, forming a kong, putting a flower tile to the side, and a few other special rules.Composition of Hands
Hands consist of four melds and one matching pair of tiles.Melds
Chow
A chow is a set which consists of three tiles in one suit in numerical sequence. It can only be made of circles or characters as the remaining bamboo suit allows for no consecutive numerical sequence anymore. Chows must contain three tiles; two- or four-tile chows are not permitted. Unlike in four-player mahjong, chows can only be formed through the deal and drawing from the wall, with the usual exceptions for the final move of a win.30px 30px 30px
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Pong
A pong is a set which consists of three identical pieces of any tile. Examples would be three red dragons or three 2 of circles.30px 30px 30px
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Kong
A kong is a special type of pong which consists of all four pieces of any tile. See below for the procedures for declaring a kong. It is the only set that permits four tiles.30px 30px 30px 30px
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Eye
On top of the 4 melds a winning hand must also include an eye. The eye is a pair of tiles such as two green dragons or two 9 of bamboos. Any simple tile or honour tile can be used.30px 30px
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General play
All players start with 13 tiles. The dealer starts the game by drawing the next available tile from the wall adding it to their hand. If this draw does not complete a legal hand, the dealer then discards a tile.All players must have only 13 tiles in their hand, not including flowers and the 4th tile of any kong they might have. Any kong declared or flower set aside, is replaced by a tile from the wall.
After the dealer discards, the next player, in anticlockwise order, draws the next available tile from the wall and discards a tile. Play continues until a player forms a legal, 14-tile hand. Play may be interrupted for any of the following reasons:
Flowers
The moment a player draws a flower, they should announce so, place it face-up to the side, and draw a replacement tile from the wall.Stealing a pong
If a player can use an opponent's discard to complete a pong, the player calls this out. The player takes the discarded tile, reveals the two matching tiles, and places all three face up on the table in front of their hand. This forms an "exposed" or "stolen" pong. The player then discards a tile when ready. Play continues with the next player taking their turn and drawing a tile from the wall. Note: A previously discarded tile cannot be used to make a pong after the next player draws a tile from the wall, meaning all discarded tiles beforehand are untouchable.Stealing a kong
If a player can use an opponent's discard to complete a kong from a pong concealed in their hand, the player calls this out. The player takes the discarded tile, reveals the three matching tiles, and places all four face up on the table in front of their hand. This forms an "exposed" or "stolen" kong. The player must then draw an extra tile from the end of the wall. Play continues same as stealing a pong.Promoting an exposed pong to an exposed kong
At any point during a player's turn they may add a tile in their hand to an exposed pong. The player adds it to the pong and draws a tile from the wall to compensate for the extra fourth tile of the kong. This forms an "exposed", "stolen" or "promoted" kong.Revealing a concealed kong
During a player's turn they may choose to reveal a concealed kong if they want to claim a replacement tile for the fourth tile in the kong. The player reveals the tiles by placing all four in a row with the end two face down and the middle two face up. This forms a "concealed" kong. The player must then draw an extra tile from the end of the wall.Robbing the kong
If a player declares a kong and another player needs that tile to make a chow and win the game, the player may declare so and "go mahjong". This is called "robbing the kong" and does not occur often. Note that this is limited to chows in this variant.Winning from a discard
A player lacking only one tile to form a legal hand may steal the discard to win. The exception to this rule is the sacred discard.Sacred discard
Unlike many variations of mahjong, a player may not win from a discard if they, themselves, have discarded a matching tile previously. In order to keep track of discards, tiles are not thrown into the centre as in other versions of mahjong but are placed directly in front of their hand so that their discard history is easily seen. A player's discards are usually arranged in neat rows of six to ten tiles.Irregularities
Changes
No changes can be made to a pong or kong which has already been declared.Stealing chows
Stealing chows is allowed in some versions of mahjong but not in this version. You cannot meld a chow from another player's discard.Stealing kongs
A discard cannot be stolen to add the fourth tile to a pong which has already been declared. This can only be formed by players taking the 4th tile from the wall on their turn.Priority of stealing tiles
If two players both need a discard to win then the player who can form the hand with the most hand-points takes it and wins. If both players have the same hand-points, then the player with the most bonus-points takes it and wins. If this is also equal, then the first player anticlockwise to the player who discarded takes it and wins. Winning always takes precedence over forming a pong or kong.Mistakes
If it is noted that a player has too many or too few tiles in their hand, robs a tile but cannot form the right set, forgets to put aside a flower, or has any other irregularity, they are usually heavily punished. Punishment depends on the house rules of each group of players. Serious flaws like having too many tiles typically involve having points deducted. Claiming to win mahjong while not having a legal hand should be seriously punished. Knocking over another player's tile should be punished. Calling out the wrong name of a tile may be one of the worst offenses possible – especially, if another player reveals that they could have stolen it had it been correctly named.Hands, rounds, and matches
At the end of each hand, the dealership passes to the player to the right. The dealer is always known as the East player, the player to the right as South, and the third player as West. In other words, your seat direction rotates as the dealer seat rotates.Three hands make up a round. Thus, in each round, each player is dealer once. Each round is also named after its prevailing wind.
Three rounds make up a match. Thus, the entire match is 9 hands in total.
| Hand Number | Prevailing Wind | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 |
| 1 | East | East | South | West |
| 2 | East | West | East | South |
| 3 | East | South | West | East |
| 4 | South | East | South | West |
| 5 | South | West | East | South |
| 6 | South | South | West | East |
| 7 | West | East | South | West |
| 8 | West | West | East | South |
| 9 | West | South | West | East |
Whether the dealer wins or not, or if there is a winner or not, dealership changes each hand.
Unlike other versions of mahjong, being East does not give any special bonuses.
If a hand ends in a draw, however, the winner of the next hand first receives the usual points from his opponents and then an extra 5 points from each opponent. If, instead, there is a second draw, the winner of the next round receives 10 points from each opponent in addition to their usual points. And so forth.
Players may choose to continue playing a second match after the first one ends or even a triple match.
Minimum hand-points
Only the winner's hand is scored. Points are counted based on the individual sets a player has, if they are made of simples or honours, if these sets match the players seat, how the hand is composed as a whole, and special patterns. Bonus-points are then scored for having kongs, flowers and other criteria mentioned later. When being introduced to a game, the mechanics may be so overwhelming that no points may be scored and players simply try to win with any legal hand until the mechanics of the game are understood. Once this is achieved, the player should be introduced to the minimum point chart and should be encouraged to form hands of at least three minimum points. The scoring chart below gives all possible points. Experienced players will play for a higher minimum.Melds and point settlement
Even if a player has a legal winning hand, most house rules requires that a player has a minimum number of hand-points first. Typically they are three points for novice play, six points for intermediate play, and 7+ points for advanced play. Bonus-points are included in the winner's final score but do not count towards the minimum hand-points a player needs to go mahjong.Discarder pays
If a player wins by stealing a discard, the player who discards has to pay the winner double the winners hand-points. Both players pay the winner bonus points.If a player wins from the wall, both players pay the winner hand-points plus bonus points.
Declare ready
A player with a concealed hand may declare ready. They can only do so if they are waiting for a single tile to complete a legal hand. The player puts his/her tiles face down and on their turn will take a tile from the wall and must discard it if it doesn't complete a legal-hand. The player gains points if they win though they become completely unable to change their hand.Points
The point system is straight forward though may require some time to memorize the various elements. There are two classes of points which are hand-points and bonus points. There is a special class called limit hands which is treated later. In order to win a player needs to have a legal hand which scores the minimum or higher hand-points that players agree on before playUnlike many other mahjong variations, only the winner scores and the other players take no points regardless of the content of their hands. Once a player wins he/she adds up all of his/her hand-points. If they meet the minimum hand-points they receive that number of points from the other two players. If they won from a discard then the person who discarded that tile pays for both players. The winner then counts his/her bonus points and collects them from both players. If a player was waiting for one tile to win, they pay two bonus points less.
Limit hand
If a player wins on a limit hand, the player scores either the agreed limit or a half limit and there is no need to total the other points. Limit hands can make or break a match.Hand-points
A winning hand must have the minimum number of hand-points agreed on before the match starts. Points are based on specific melds a combination of melds or the entire hand. Some melds/hands can score more than once.Hand-points based on melds
- 1 point any Dragon Pong
- 1 point extra for having two dragons
- 1 point any Wind Pong
- 1 point more if the wind is players seat wind
- 1 point More if the wind pong is the prevailing wind or round wind
- 1 point every Kong
- 3 points extra for 3 kongs
- 1 point Pong of 1 or 9 bamboo
- 4 points extra for having both 1 and 9 bamboo
Hand-points based on two or three melds
- 2 points for having two identical chows
- 3 points for having 3 concealed pongs/kongs
Hand-points based on the complete hand
- 3 points for having all pongs/kongs and any pair
- 6 points extra if player has all terminals and honours
- 3 points for having a clean hand
- 3 points extra if the hand is pure without honours
- 3 points for having 7 pairs
- 3 points for having three chows of 1 to 9 in circles or 1 to 9 in characters
- 1 point for having all simples
- 2 points extra for having all chows and a pair of simples
Hand-points based on revealed/concealed hand
- 2 points for having a concealed hand
- 2 points extra if the concealed is completed by a tile from the wall
Bonus-points
- 2 points for winning from each player who was not waiting to win. Waiting means waiting for one tile from the wall or a discard that would give a legal hand meeting the minimum required hand-points. Sometimes a player may be able to win with one of two different tiles. A player is not considered "waiting" if the tile they are waiting for has already been discarded.
- 1 point if player wins by a tile from the wall
- 1 point if the tile was the last tile from the wall
- 1 point if the winning tile was used to replace a flower or kong
- 1 point if the winning tile was stolen by another player making a kong
- 1 point for every extra tile player has that matches the tile the player used to win
- 1 point for every flower player has
- 4 points extra if player has all 4 flowers
- 2 points if player has a concealed hand
- 2 points extra if player has a completely concealed hand
- 2 points if player declared ready
- 2 points extra if a player declared ready and won from the wall
Optional rules and optional scoring
Experienced players will raise the minimum hand-points needed to four points or more. There are a few limit hands. Limit hands are special hands that a player may have which score a set number of points. The amount is high and depends on whatever limit the players set. If playing for stakes, the limit may be low to avoid having to pay large amounts to each other. A couple patterns, much like seven pairs, are special hands. They are the only three hands a player can have which do not fit the pattern of four melds and an eye. They must be concealed hands though may be won on a discard or from the wall. They are optional and players do not need to include them in their game if not desired. A limit hand may effectively end a match if not playing for stakes as players may not be motivated to continue as beating a player who has won a limit has is incredibly difficult as winning limit hands are exceedingly rare.
Only the winner of each game scores points for his/her hand. The winner will collect his/her total points from each player if he/she wins from the wall. If the winner wins on the discard of a player, that player pays the winner and the bonus points for the other player. There are no doubles nor fan systems as in continental versions of mahjong. Points are never doubled for any reason. In the case of a player winning a half limit or limit hand, both players pay the winner either the limit or half of the limit and if he/she wins on a discard, the player who discards pays double.
Players may place a limit on how many points may be awarded for consecutive goulash hands.
Players in Western countries may shift the winds from E, S, W to N, E S to align with Western culture centering their compass on the North.
Limit hands
Hands are optional and players may use all hands or choose based on consensus which ones to use. As all are difficult and the limit hands being very rare, all hands are included by most experienced players.Half limit
- Two dragons and a pair of the other dragon
- Two winds and a pair of the other winds
- All bamboo and honours
- At least one terminal in all sets and honours
- Pure hand with pong of seat dragon or wind
- Four concealed pongs
- Three kongs and a pair of honours
- Little Jade Dragon
- Three concealed Kongs
- Four Kongs
Full limit
- All honours and or Terminals
- Great Dragons
- Great Winds
- Pong of 1 and 9 bamboo and pair of five bamboo
- Four concealed kongs
- Thirteen orphans
- Nine gates is a concealed hand of 1112345678999 tiles in one suit, and winning on any extra tile of the same suit
- Pearl Dragon
- Ruby Dragon
- Great Jade Dragon
Dead wall
North Wind as normal piece
The North wind is kept in play but can only be used as a pair or as a kong. A player cannot call mahjong if they have only a pong of the North. Winning a hand by drawing or stealing a North win scores two extra bonus points. The North wind is considered an honour tile but there is no round of North nor a North prevailing wind or a North seat position. North Wind is not part of the three little or three big winds limit hand but is part of the 13 orphans limit hand as well as the all-honours hand.All bamboos removed
All bamboo tiles are removedThree declared ready
If all three players declare ready, depending on the variation, either that particular game is considered a draw, or the winner only wins his hand-points from the other players.Dora Tiles
There are two forms of dora which may optionally be used in three-player mahjong.Red Dora Tiles
In some Japanese mahjong sets, one five circles tile is coloured red and one five characters tile is coloured red. There are thus only two of these tiles. A player who has one red dora tile in their hand scores one bonus point, and if they have both red dora tiles they score six bonus points. These dora tiles count as bonus points and do not count as hand-points nor towards the minimum hand-points needed to go mahjong.Revealed Dora Tiles
The second form of dora which is distinct from the first, is the revealing of one tile from the wall before the game begins. If a simple tile is revealed, then the next tile in order becomes a dora tile.If a nine is revealed then the 1 of the same suit becomes dora. If a 1 bamboo is revealed then a 9 bamboo becomes dora. If a wind is revealed then the next wind in compass order becomes dora. If a dragon is revealed then the next dragon in alphabetical order becomes dora: Green-Red-White-Green.
A player scores one bonus point for each of these dora tiles used in the winning hand. The player scores one extra point if the player forms the eye using these tiles, two extra points if the player forms a pong, and scores six extra points if the player forms a kong using these tiles.
The red dora tiles are considered distinct from the revealed dora tiles and they should not be confused with each other. Table rules might include the red dora tiles but not the revealed dora tiles or the reverse. If table rules include both dora tiles, care should be taken not to mix the points scored for having them in their winning hand but to do so separately.
Dummy hand
The last thirteen tiles of the wall are not used in the game.Variations from specific regions
Honshū and other parts of Japan
Popular in the western part of Honshū, three-player Japanese mahjong incorporates a few changes which make it more suited to three players and simplified from four-player mahjong. There is no ghost player. Players need a minimum of one yaku to win. Refer to the article on Japanese Mahjong for unique Japanese playing concepts such as dora and furiten.Tiles 2 through 8 are removed from the character suit. Chows cannot be melded. All four winds are used. Flowers are optional and not normally used. A dora tile is revealed at the beginning of the round, with more dora used or revealed later on as popular additions. The North wind also acts as a dora when it is exposed and set aside, or it may also be discarded as a safe tile. Once all North wind tiles are exposed another dora tile is revealed in the dead wall, which consists of fourteen tiles as in four-player mahjong. A player cannot use a discard to win if his hand, prior to using the discard, does not contain a yaku.
One-Han Yaku
- Yakuhai
- Iipeikou
- Pinfu
- Riichi
- Tanyao
- Haitei / Houtei
- Rinshan kaihou
- Chankan
- Chantaiyao
- Chiitoitsu
- Daburu riichi
- Ikki tsuukan
- San'ankou
- Sankantsu
- Iisou sanjun
- Toitoihou
- Hon'iisou
- Junchantaiyao
- Sanrenkou
- Shousangen
- Honroutou
- Chin'iisou
- Chiihou
- Chinroutou
- Chuuren poutou
- Daisangen
- Suushiihou
- Kokushi musou
- Paarenchan
- Ryuuiisou
- Suukantsu
- Suuankou
- Tsuuiisou
- Kokushi musou, without having discarded any of the tiles previously nor having claimed a North wind tile as dora
- Suuankou, winning with a single tile to form a pair
- Chuuren poutou, without having discarded any such tiles previously
- Tenhou
- Bazoro
- Dora
- Ippatsu
| Han | Ron | Ron | Tsumo | Tsumo |
| 3 | 1000 | 1500 | 300 / 500 | 500 |
| 4 | 2000 | 3000 | 500 / 1000 | 1000 |
| 5 | 4000 | 6000 | 1000 / 2000 | 2000 |
| 6-7 | 8000 | 12000 | 2000 / 4000 | 4000 |
| 8-9 | 12000 | 18000 | 3000 / 6000 | 6000 |
| 10-12 | 16000 | 24000 | 4000 / 8000 | 8000 |
| 13-15 | 24000 | 36000 | 6000 / 12000 | 12000 |
| Yakuman | 32000 | 48000 | 8000 / 16000 | 16000 |
| Double Yakuman | 64000 | 96000 | 16000 / 32000 | 32000 |
| Triple Yakuman | 96000 | 144000 | 24000 / 48000 | 48000 |
Malaysia
Malaysian 3-player mahjong is played with only circles and honours, as well as the extra eight flowers in a Malaysian mahjong set and jokers, for a total of 84 tiles. There is no fixed game length and the dealer is the winner of the previous round.A winning hand must be worth 5 fan, to a maximum of 10, earned thusly:
- One face or animal / All four faces or animals: 1
- Four flowers / Four seasons: 1
- Own flower or season: 1
- "Bamboo" flower or "Winter" season: 1
- Pung of dragons / own wind / North / East: 1
- Little three dragons: 3
- One suit with honors: 1
- One suit only: 3
- All chows with pair of circles: 1
- All pungs / kongs: 2
- Winning with kong / flower replacement tile: 1
- Seven pairs: 1
- Stealing kong: 1
- Nine gates: 10
- Big / little four winds: 10
- No flowers / seasons / faces / animals: 10
- Four kongs: 10
- Big three dragons: 10
- Winning with kong replacement tile after two consecutive kongs: 10
- Four concealed pungs / kongs: 10
- Four fly: 10
- Winning with one's first or last tile: 10
- All honors: 10
- All flowers / seasons / faces / animals: 10
Recap
The following is an overview of set up, game play and scoring. Experienced players should be able to understand the game based on the following and using the scoring table further below. Each element however is detailed in the following sections.The North wind is removed. Walls are formed as walls of 13 for dealer and the wall without a seated player and 12 for opponents, or in informal play, dealer with a wall of 19 and opponents with walls of 18 having no fourth wall. Each round includes three matches of three hands and there is no North round. Chows cannot be melded by discards, only pongs and kongs. Seasons are not used. 2-8 of bamboo is removed from the game with the option of using two 5 bamboo pieces which can only be used as a pair. Sacred discard is in effect. Discards are placed in front of players in rows of 6. There is not doubling and dealer passes to next player in all cases. In the case of a goulash game the next winner takes one point from each player extra. Limit hands are optional and the limit starts at 40 points. Half limit hands in such a case being 20. Limit hands must be concealed. There is a distinction between hand-points and bonus points. A minimum of 3 hand-points is necessary to win. Only winner scores, taking his total score from each player with no doubling of any kind. Discarder pays the other player's score and only the bonus points if the player was ready to win. Seat dragons match seat winds. Seasons are omitted. Flowers score one bonus point each regardless of which numbered flower it is.
Changes in dynamics
The game dynamics in three-player mahjong, regardless of the rule set vary based on speed, the use of tiles, point keeps, using ghost players or not and how the lack of a fourth seat wind is dealt with.Speed
The game is always faster. With one less hand and more tiles available to the other players, the game is speedy.Wall
The wall remains the same, though playing with dead walls depends on the variation and the players. In very casual play the wall can consist of three sides.Pieces
In some variations an entire suit is removed. In Malaysian mahjong only the circles and honours are used. In Korean mahjong one suit is removed or in other variations as well as in Japan, numbers 2-8 is removed from one suit. This radically changes the dynamics making certain hands more common such as single suited hands and hands without chows.East
In many versions east scores or pays double, however in Korean scoring and Korean/Japanese scoring, there is no doubling of any kind.Ghost player
In some versions there is a ghost player, meaning 13 tiles are not used in the wall to mimic the lack of tiles in 4 player versions. This player also takes one of the four winds,. In Korean, Japanese and Korean/Japanese mahjong, there is no ghost player and all tiles are used during the games.Dragons
In some variations, each player has a seat dragon as well as a seat wind which changes the point structure. There is however never a prevailing dragon even if there is a prevailing wind. When there is a seat dragon, East is green, South is red and West is white.Melded (or declared) chows
In some variations these are not allowed. Only pongs and kongs in three-player games can be melded meaning a chow can only be formed by a discard on winning.In Korean mahjong, three-player Japanese mahjong and in Korean/Japanese mahjong, melded chows are never allowed except if done to complete a hand.
Social nature
It is far more social and less likely to be played for stakes as it is looked down on as a less serious version of mahjong. However, in some versions such as Korean/Japanese three player, the rules can be intricate or complex and playing for small or large stakes forces the players to try to make more complex hands.Point systems
The point system may or may not change depending on the variation of mahjong. In some variations a higher minimum point is expected or less points are given for certain hands. Table rules are common in three-player versions and a comprehensive list of variations or versions would be a massive undertaking not in the known works in any. In Hong Kong Mahjong, the doubling system is used in which certain points pay off a certain amount of money which doubles each subsequent level. For instance 1 or 2 points pay nothing. 3 or 4 points pay one unit, 5 or 6 points pay two units, 7 to 10 points pay 4 units and anything more pays 8 units. The Japanese system is rather complicated, though is simplified in the three-player version. The Korean system and Korean/Japanese system is a simple 'pay a unit per point' to the winner.Rule agreement
The best rule set to use is the one you are familiar with, adapting them to three players as you are comfortable. Korean/Japanese mahjong has a comprehensive set of rules well attuned for three-player gaming, for those with some experience in mahjong. The Malaysian version is a very simplified way for social playing. House rules of are the essence and players will decide their own rules over time.History
Three-player mahjong is probably as old as mahjong itself, though it is speculated that mahjong originated as a game for only two players.Korean/Japanese three-player mahjong, played in east Asia is an amalgamation of Old Korean mahjong rules with some elements of Japanese rules including sacred discard and many bonus points. Korean mahjong in the past included many elements of both traditional Chinese mahjong and the Japanese scoring system. The rules have changed and there are no standard rules, though this variation shown here reflects the old rules though adapted for modern three player play. An experienced player should be able to read the recap at the bottom of this section and understand the rules well. Inexperienced players would need to read the following to understand the game.