Mahjong Tile Instructions

Commit in advance to playing for a certain amount of time or to a certain set score. Simple Mahjong awards a point for a complete Mahjong hand and runs 16 rounds of play. Remove the Flowers and Seasons tiles and set them aside. You should now have 136 tiles to play with.

Seat four players around a table. Each player chooses a cardinal designation such as East, West, North or South. Turn all the tiles face down on the table, and have the players build a square out of tile "walls," two tiles high by 17 tiles long. Players roll dice to determine who will be the dealer.

Roll two dice if you are the dealer. Use this number to determine where to "break" the wall. For example, if you roll a 4, count from left to right along the wall facing you until you reach the fourth stack.

Draw 4 tiles in succession from the break point if you are the dealer. Other players do likewise, running counterclockwise, while moving left to right along their respective tile walls, until all players have 12 tiles.

Take one tile from the end of the wall if you are the dealer. The player to the dealer's right takes the tile underneath it. The player across from the dealer takes one tile from the top of the last stack. The player to the dealer's left takes the tile under that. The dealer takes one more tile from the end of the wall.

Stand the selected tiles in front of you in a straight line with no gaps. Organize the tiles by suit and number value.

Play the tiles and try to complete a hand comprised of four groups and a pair. Groups are defined a "Kong," or four identical tiles, a "Pung," three identical tiles, or a "Chow," three tiles of the same suit that create a consecutive number sequence.

Discard a tile to the center of the table if you are the dealer.

Draw a new tile from your wall. Running counterclockwise, players take turns doing likewise, attempting to get a Mahjong hand. Instead of drawing a tile off the wall, players may choose to pick up one of their opponent's discards if doing so will complete a group (they must show their tiles to their opponents to demonstrate this). When a player has Mahjong, a new round of play starts with the tiles mixed up and built into walls as before, until the predetermined number of rounds have been played.