5. FILL YOUR PLANTER

Y are finally ready to begin the game! First we're going to explain what it is you're trying to do with your tiles, and then we'll explain the procedure for getting (and discarding) tiles. Also, please keep in mind that there are tons of variations on the rules, so we're going to give you the simplest set possible.

The goal of mah-jong is to organize your hand into a pattern consisting of three combinations of chows, pungs, and/or kongs, and one pair. Here's a translation:

  • Pung: Three-of-a-kind of the exact same tile. So this can be 3 white dragon tiles, 3 "five lines" tiles, 3 "eight characters" tiles, or whatever else you like. Pungs made up of honor tiles are worth more than suit tiles pungs. When you get three of the exact same tile with suit tiles, it's called a suit pung. When you do it with honor tiles, it's called an honor pung.

  • Chow: Three consecutive tiles of the same suit (dots, lines, characters). 1-2-3 character tiles is a chow, as is 6-7-8 line tiles. While we'll get into the scoring in step 6, realize now that chows are worth 0 points; they're used only to help complete a hand.

  • Kong: Four-of-a-kind of the exact same tile. So 4 green dragon tiles make a kong, as do 4 "six dots" tiles. Because it's difficult to collect all four members of a certain tile, they're worth a lot. If another player discards a tile that you pick up to make a kong, you must draw an extra tile from the dead wall to replace it.

  • Pair: Pairs are two-of-a-kind of the exact same tile. It can be a pair of suits or honors. They are worth nothing unless they are a pair of dragons, a pair of the prevailing wind, or a pair of your own wind. To complete your hand, you must have one (and only one) pair of tiles.

A note about the dead wall: the ONLY time you ever take tiles from the dead wall is when you replace bonus tiles and when you get a kong.

So now for the procedural rules:

  1. Remember how East has 14 tiles when everybody else has 13? Well East begins the game by discarding any tile that doesn't fit in with the rest. For instance, he might have a nine dots tile, but also 2 four dots and 1 five dots. So since the nine dots isn't looking like a useful tile, he'll discard it. The discarded tile is placed face up in the center of the square walls.

  2. The next player (counterclockwise, so South) has the choice of picking up the tile discarded by East, but ONLY if it completes a chow. If not, the South must or draw a tile from the wall (the side from which tiles were dealt, not the dead side).

  3. If South decides to take in East's discarded tile, South must turn over his other two tiles that complete the chow and put the three tiles faced up on the table. The chow tiles get placed to the right of South's hand. South must also discard a tile of his own. So South started with 13 tiles, and after putting his two tiles from his rack that complete the chow, and after discarding a tile of his own, South would have only 10 tiles left on his rack.

  4. Chows can only be claimed by the player following a player who just discarded a tile. For example, if West tosses out a "five dots" that goes with the four dots and six dots that North conveniently has, South may pick it up to form the chow. But if it's North that has the four and six dots, he may not touch the tile if West threw it out. The only exception is when a player is one chow away from winning the game. In that case, the player can jump in after anyone lays down a useable tile and claim it.

  5. If South decides to draw a tile, then after he takes it, he has to discard a tile. And yes, South can discard the tile he just drew if he so chooses.

  6. Anytime a tile is discarded and any another player sees that it completes a pung or kong for his hand, the player should call out "PUNG!" and turn his pair of the same discarded tile face up to complete the pung. The pung gets placed to the right of the player's hand. Then the player discards a tile, and the game continues counterclockwise from him.

  7. Now comes the question: what if someone discards a tile, and more than one person wants to use it (say, the person on the right wants to use it as a chow, but someone else wants to use it as a pung)? Then the rule goes as follows: pungs and kongs take precedence over chows. So if South was about to claim West's discarded tile as a chow, but North calls pung or kong, North gets to claim the tile to complete his combination. Another situation is if more than one person wants to use a tile as a chow (specifically, the person to the right of the discarder wants to use it, but someone else also wants to use it as their last combination to win the game). In such a case, priority goes to the person who needs the tile to win the game. If BOTH players can use the tile to win the game, then priority goes counterclockwise around the table.

  8. Let's say that North discards a tile, and South calls out "PUNG!" and uses the discarded tile for his own combination. Then it would be the player to South's right who goes next. In other words, West loses his turn. The point is that if someone ever makes a pung or kong combination, after they do so, the game continues counterclockwise from whoever laid the combination, not whoever discarded the tile.

  9. To win, you must have three combinations and a pair. The three combinations could be anything - two pungs, one kong; one pung, one chow, one kong; three chows you get the point. The combinations can be achieved by collecting discarded tiles (these combos must be turned face up and exposed to the rest of the players), or by drawing tiles from the wall (these combos can be kept concealed within the hand).