How to Play the Mahjongg Board Game

Shuffle and Deal Tiles

• 1

  Setting one rack on the table at each players seat (one player sits at each side of the table). Place all 152 tiles face down in the center of the table. All four players shuffle the tiles by mixing them up around the table.

• 2

  Build the wall. With tiles shuffled, each player begins to draw tiles without looking at the faces. Each player builds a 'wall' in front of them. Each wall is 2 tiles high and 19 tiles long (total tiles/side = 38 tiles).

• 3

  Determine the order of play. Each player rolls both dice. Total the numbers rolled on dice for each player. The player with the highest total begins the deal. Dealer is east, continuing in a clockwise (right) direction. Players are south, west and north.

• 4

  East rolls the dice and using the total, breaks the wall in front of their position. Counting from right-to-left, East breaks away the number of 2-tile stacks corresponding to the number that was rolled on the dice. For example, if East rolls a total of 7, counting right-to-left, East will break away 7 stacks of 2-tiles from the wall in front of their position and separate it from the wall. East will then take 2 more stacks of 2 for their hand. Deal continues in a counterclockwise (left) direction as each player, in turn, takes 4 tiles from the wall. When the break is depleted, the Dealer breaks another section of wall using the same rolled total and the deal continues until all players have 12 tiles each. At this point, the dealer takes 2 tiles - 1 from the top and 1 from the bottom. This results in the Dealer = 14 tiles, South = 13, West = 13, North = 13 tiles; Total tiles dealt = 83, the rest of the wall remains for game play.

Begin Play

• 5

  Pick a hand. Each player organizes his/her tiles in order to showcase potential 'hands.' The goal being to match collected tiles to the possible hands shown on the scorecard, typical 'hands' as shown:

  Tile Designations:

  1 - 9: Refers to numbers on the tiles

  N,S,E,W: North, South, East, West (Wind Tiles)

  D: Dragon

  R,G,0: Red Dragon, Green Dragon, White Dragon (Soap)

  F - Flower (not used in hand building)

  Tile Patterns (examples of patterns to make up a hand):

  Year: grouping of tiles that make up a year (2011, 1958, etc.)

  2,4,6,8: Groups of tiles with even numbers on them

  Quints: hand that has at least one set of 5 identical tiles

  1,3,5,7,9: Groups of tiles with odd numbers on them

  Winds/Dragons: Groups that require Winds and Dragons to complete pattern

  369: Groups that use 3's, 6's and 9's to complete pattern

  Singles and Pairs: Groups with single tiles and paired tiles

  Hand Groups:

  Pair - 2 identical tiles

  Pung - 3 identical tiles

  Kong - 4 identical tiles

  Quint - 5 identical tiles

  Sextet - 6 identical tiles

  Additionally, a group is either exposed (X) or concealed (C).

• 6

  Draw or discard tiles. The dealer discards 1 tile. If another player does not claim the tile, play continues in clockwise direction. Draw continues where wall breaking (dealing) ended. The player takes the bottom tile if the row next to it is 2-tiles high; otherwise the player takes the top tile of that next row. Every player must first draw, then discard to maintain a total of 13 tiles at all times. On discard, the player must announce the tile as it is discarded, thereby, allowing others to claim the tile should it complete a suit in their hand. Play continues unless a tile is called, which interrupts play. Should a tile be called, play picks up to the right of the player that called, played and discarded. It is possible that turns will be missed. In order to qualify for a called tile, the tile in question must be the tile that was just discarded (all previous tiles are dead to play); it should not complete a single and should not complete a pair unless it completes a Mahjongg.

• 7

  End the game. Play ends when either Mahjongg is called or there are no tiles remaining to be drawn from the wall. Mahjongg is called when a player's 14th tile from either the wall or a discard completes a hand (as shown on scorecard). Player declares "Mahjongg!" Should all tiles be depleted without a winner, the game is a draw. Play repeats with the deal moving counterclockwise after each hand. Traditionally, a game is a set of at least 4 hands (draws and dealer wins do not count) and a match is composed of 4 games.