Rules of the Game Mahjong
While there are many variations on the rules of mahjong around the world, most share these basics.
Four players, a way to keep score and a standard mahjong set are
required for play. The basic mahjong set includes dice and a set of 144
tiles in three varieties: suit tiles, honor tiles and bonus tiles.
Suits come in three varieties--dots, bamboos and characters--with each
containing 36 tiles in four sets of nine. The 28 honor tiles are divided
into dragons (four sets of three each) and winds (four sets of four
each); the bonus tiles are four flower tiles and four season tiles.
To begin play, each player throws the dice and highest score wins the
deal. The dealer shuffles the tiles face down on the table and each
player receives 13 tiles. The object is to collect melds or sets of
tiles: a pong is a set of three identical tiles, a kong is a set of four
identical tiles, and a chow is three sequential tiles from a single
suit. Beginning with the player to the dealer's right, players draw a
tile and discard a tile, keeping a constant total of 13 in their hand.
Any other player can take a discarded tile to complete a pong, kong or a
mahjong of three melds and a pair, however, only the player whose turn
is next make take a discarded tile to complete a chow. Melds created
using discarded tiles must be shown to other players.
Play continues counter-clockwise and finishes when a player makes a mahjong. No discard is required on the final play.
If the dealer wins he retains the deal, otherwise the deal goes to the
player on the dealer's right. The game continues until all players have
dealt or the preset point limit is reached.
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