Mahjong: How to Play, Winning Hands and Strategy

Mahjong How to Play Winning Hands and Strategy

About Mahjong: How to Play

Mahjong may have a large variety of rules and different systems depending on where it is played but the beginning of the game is always the same. 

To begin, shuffle the tiles, stack them into a wall of 34 tiles, 2 tiles high and 17 tiles long. This is followed by the drawing of 13 tiles with the exception of the dealer.

From this point on, read on in this article for a condensed beginners guide to start your Mahjong game after the crash course! 

Dealer

Dealer has 14 tiles in the beginning to start the game.

The turn order is determined by the dealer throwing a dice and rotates anticlockwise.  

Mahjong Combinations 

Chow (吃):  

Chow refers to a set of 3 tiles of the same suit in sequence, “ascending” or “descending” order.

Pong and Kong （碰/杠） : 

Pong refers to a set of 3 identical tiles, and kong a set of 4 identical tiles.

Rules and intricacies of Pong and Kong:

Put the Left tile facing the opposite direction/facing down if the player on the left discards it. 

Put the Middle tile facing the opposite direction/facing down for the player opposite. 

Put the Right tile facing the opposite direction/facing down if the player on the right discards it. 

杠 Kong Possibilities: 

Scenario 1:  Exposed Kong （明杠）

• Another player throws a tile. 

• Call for a “Kong”, draw a tile from the end of the wall and dispose a tile

Scenario 2: Concealed Kong  （暗杠）

• Draw a tile that forms the set of 4.

• Call for a “Kong”, put the tiles facing down, draw a tile from the end of the wall and dispose a tile

The scenario above is dependent on the type of rules applicable in the game and that can vary for different regions. It can be made known that concealed kong are to be displayed too. 

Mahjong Tiles Wall

Mahjong Winning hands

While there is a long list of combinations for winning mahjong, it may be beneficial to remember a few of the most common winning hands. (excluding special tiles) 

Common Combinations

All Chows（平和）: 4 set of Chows and 1 Pair

Other Possible winning hands: 

3 set of Chows, 1 set of Pong and 1 Pair 

2 set of Chows, 2 set of Pong and 1 Pair

Pure Suit （清一色）:

A Pure Suit is a combination of tiles from the same suit

For example: Character tiles:  1, 2 and 3  

2, 3 and 4 

3, 4 and 5 

a set of 3 (character 6, 6, 6) 

And a pair of 7 

Seven Pairs (七對子): 

7 Pairs  (With no Pong or Kongs) 

PongPong Win (碰碰和): 

4 set of Pongs and 1 Pair

Big Three Dragons （大三元）: 

1 set of Green Dragons,1 set of White Dragons, 1 set of Red Dragons, 1 pair of bamboo, and a set of characters (chow).  

Mahjong Tips and Mahjong Strategy

1. Choose a Different Set

Keep an eye out for the discarded tiles from the player before you (上家）。 It can give indicators of which suits he/she is going for. Given that he/she is likely to dispose of a tile not in their winning hand, you are more likely to get that tile into your combinations. However, this has its own inherent risk, revealing your intentions early might cause the player before (上家) to avoid discarding the tiles you need to win.  Similarly, the player after you (下家) may notice your intentions and do the same by gathering another set. 

Read more about this strategy in this article here : Mastering how to control your 下家

2. Discard tiles wisely. 

There are a few ways to decide which tiles to discard (and when to discard them), the most important is to decide which strategy you are going for.

Strategy 1: Keep the tiles that will ultimately form the winning hand, and discard other tiles. This is likely to be more beneficial if the tiles on hand are very close to winning. The game is likely to be won before the opponent can guess which tile you are looking for.    

Strategy 2: Keep a portion of the tiles that will form the winning hand, but contain a few variations, discard these variations. This method is partially dependent on the conditions of the tiles at hand and the tiles disposed by the other players.  

Other Factors to keep in mind

With the above strategy decided, other considerations are to keep the tiles that contain more possibilities. 

For example, character tiles 1 and 9 are at the extremes of the list, this means that they can only form a combination with numbers larger or smaller respectively. 

In contrast, number tiles 2 to 8 can form a combination with numbers larger and smaller, this increases the chances of combinations and should take priority over tiles 1 and 9.  

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