Rules for
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The following describes the rules for Singapore Mahjong that are
followed by the computer game at this web site.
In
general these rules apply to the
some of the known variations will be pointed out in the description below. There are many different ways to play
Mahjong. Each country, region, and even household may play with a different set of rules. However, there is a
good portion of the rules that remain common throughout most of the different variations that are played.
Rule differences are pointed out below when know.
The Tile Set
The tile set is made up of 148 tiles. These 148 tiles are broken into suits
that contain 136 total playable tiles,
flower suit tiles that contain 8 tiles, and animal suit tiles that contain 4
tiles.
The Bamboo, Circle, and Numbers suits.
There are 36 tiles each of the Circle, Bamboo, and Numbers Suit. Each one of
these suits has numerical tiles
ranging from one to nine containing 4 tiles for each number in the suit. These
tiles are shown below.
Bamboo Suit
Circle Suit
Numbers Suit
The Honor suit
The Honor Suit is made up of 2 types of tiles, the Dragon Tiles and the Wind
Tiles which are explained below.
The Dragon Tiles.
There are three unique tiles within the dragon suit with each unique tile
having four tiles each for a
total of 12 tiles. Each unique tile is referred to as the Green Dragon, Red
Dragon, and White Dragon.
These tiles are shown below.
Dragon Suit
The Wind Tiles.
There are four unique tiles within the wind suit with each unique tile having
four tiles each for a
total of 16 tiles. Each unique tile is referred to as the East Wind, South
Wind, West Wind, and North Wind.
These tiles are shown below.
Wind Suit
The Flower Suit
There are 2 sets of flower tiles called the Red Flower Suit and the Black
Flower Suit with each set containing
four unique tiles for a total of 8 tiles. Each flower set has tiles numbered
from 1 to 4. The number
1 corresponds to the East Wind, the number 2 corresponds to the South Wind, the
number 3 corresponds
to the West Wind, and the number 4 corresponds to the North Wind. The complete set of flower tiles are
shown below.
Black Flower Suit
Red Flower Suit
The Animal Suit.
There are 4 animal tiles with each one displaying a unique animal. The animal
set is shown below.
Animal Suit
Types of valid Mahjong combinations
A CHOW contains 3 tiles in numerical sequence of the same suit. For example a
5, 6, 7 of Circles
(shown below) is considered a CHOW. The Honor Suit Tiles, Flower Suit Tiles and
Animal Tiles
cannot be used in a CHOW.
A PONG contains 3 tiles of the same number and suit. An example of a PONG is
shown below.
The Flower Suit Tiles and Animal Tiles cannot be used in a PONG.
A KONG contains 4 tiles of the same number and suit. An example of a KONG is
shown below.
The Flower Suit Tiles and Animal Tiles cannot be used in a KONG.
An EYE contains 2 tiles of the same number and suit. An
example of an EYE is shown below.
The Flower Suit Tiles and Animal Tiles cannot be used as an EYE. When a Kong is
formed
a replacement tile is selected by the user. More on this below.
Achieving Mahjong
To achieve Mahjong you must have one and only one EYE and 4 sets of any combination
of CHOW's,
PONG's, and KONG's. Some
examples of Mahjong are shown below.
How to play
Mahjong Game, Mahjong Round, and Banker Definition
A game of mahjong is where tiles are distributed to the players and the game is
played until a players
declares Mahjong (GAME) or the unused tiles run out and the game is over
(nobody wins). A round
of mahjong is made up of many games. At the beginning of the mahjong round a
banker is determined
usually by rolling the dice. For the purposes of the computer game the computer
user is chosen to be
the initial banker. When a player has Mahjong (GAME) or the tiles run out and
someone has declared
a KONG, the banker position rotates to the player to the right
(counterclockwise) of the banker of the
previous game, otherwise the banker remains the same. A mahjong round is
complete when the banker
position has rotated around the table four times.
Prevailing Wind
When the mahjong round starts the Prevailing Wind starts at the East position.
When the banker position
rotates one full time around the table the prevailing wind changes to South,
then West, then finally North.
After the North prevailing wind the round is complete. The prevailing wind can
be determined from the
computer game by looking at the middle of the compass shown below. For this
situation the prevailing
wind is South.
The Prevailing Wind is South.
Player Wind
During each game, a player is assigned a wind value. This Player Wind value is
different from the Prevailing Wind.
The banker always has the East Player Wind for that game, and the player to the
right of the banker is the South
Player Wind. The player to the right of the South Player Wind is the West
player Wind, and the player to the right
of the West Player Wind is the North player Wind. You can easily identify the
player winds of all the players by
looking at the compass on the game board. An example is given below. In this example
the player at the top has
the West Player Wind.
Player at the top has the West Player Wind
Starting the game
The 148 tiles are shuffled and each player selects 13 tiles to start the game.
Each player starts with 13 tiles
and these tiles are not seen by the other players. These are called the players
concealed tiles. If a player has
a tile(s) in the animal or flower suit they must put that tile up to show the
rest of the players. These tiles
remain up for the rest of the game and are referred to as the players exposed
tiles. When a player exposes
an animal or flower tile, they will take a replacement tile from opposite end
of the remaining unused tiles.
The player who is the banker for this game will start by taking another tile
from the remaining unused tiles.
At this point the banker has 14 tiles and must discard a tile. The banker will
discard a tile which is then shown
to the rest of the players.
Playing the game
When a tile is discarded by a player, the other players have the option of
using that tile when it is first discarded.
The different options for using discarded tiles are described below. If no one
wants to use that discarded tile, the
player to the right of the player who discarded picks a new tile and adds it to
his concealed tiles. After the player
picks a new tile they will discard a tile.
Mahjong Moves
GAME MOVE
When a tile is discarded, any other player may decide that they would like to
win the game using that tile.
If more than one person can win the game using that discarded tile then the
person closest to the right hand
side of the player (counterclockwise from the player) who discarded the tile
will have priority and win the game.
Further, the GAME move has priority over the KONG, PONG, and CHOW moves. A
player invokes this
move by clicking the GAME button. A player may not use a discarded tile to GAME
(win) if that same tile was
discarded previously and was not used by that player after that players last move. A players last
move is defined
by any new tile, chow, pong, or kong that was
performed by the player. A player may not GAME on a tile that
they last discarded. If a player picks a new tile and wants to win the game,
they may do so by clicking the GAME
button. To win the game a player must have a valid Mahjong combination and have the minimum number of Fan
to win the game. (more on Fans below).
KONG MOVE
There are 3 unique ways to perform the KONG move.
Three Concealed Tiles Kong
When a tile is discarded and a player has 3 of the same tiles in the concealed
tiles, the player may declare a KONG
move by clicking the KONG button. When this happens, the 3 concealed tiles and
the discarded tile is moved
to the players exposed tiles and the player will pick a replacement tile from
the opposite side of the remaining tiles.
One Concealed Tile Kong
When a new tile is picked by a player, and that player has 3 of the same tiles
in the exposed tiles, that player
may declare a KONG move by clicking the KONG button. When this happens the new
picked tile in the
concealed tiles is transferred to the exposed tiles and the player will pick a
replacement tile. Note, when a
player performs this type of Kong, the tile that is put in the exposed tiles is
treated
as a discard for that moment. Any other player can use that tile to win the
game if they are able. This is
called Robbing the Kong.
Four Concealed Tiles Kong.
When a new tile is picked by a player, and there are 4 of the same tiles in
that players concealed tiles,
that player may declare a KONG move by clicking the KONG button. When this
happens, the 4 concealed
tiles used for the Kong are transferred to the exposed tiles and the player
will pick a replacement tile.
If a player invokes the KONG move and more than one KONG move is possible,
the player must click
on the tile that they wish to KONG.
PONG MOVE
When a tile is discarded, any other player may decide that they would like to
PONG using that tile. When a
player PONG's a discarded tile, the discarded tile
plus two tiles from the players concealed tiles are moved to
that players exposed tiles. A player may not use a discarded tile to PONG if
that same tile was discarded
previously and was not used by that player after that players
last move. A players last move is defined by any
new tile, chow, pong, or kong that was performed by
the player. A player may not PONG on a tile that they
last discarded. The GAME and KONG moves have priority over the PONG move.
CHOW MOVE
When a tile is discarded, the player to the right of the player who discarded
may choose to CHOW the tile.
When a player CHOW's a discarded tile, the discarded
tile plus two tiles from the players concealed tiles are
moved to that players exposed tiles.
The GAME, KONG, and PONG moves have priority over the CHOW move. If the user
decides to CHOW
there may be multiple ways of obtaining the CHOW. The user should click on the
tiles that they wish to use
for the CHOW. A player may not CHOW on a tile that he last discarded.
NEXT MOVE
If a player does not want to use the discarded tile, the NEXT MOVE button is
selected and play will proceed.
When is the game finished?
The game is finished when someone wins the game or when there are 15 tiles
left. When a player picks
the last remaining new tile in play, it may be used to win the game or perform
a Kong. It also can be used to
complete an animal or flower set. However that player is not required to
discard any tiles after the last tile has
been taken. After the last tile has been taken a replacement tile for a Kong,
Flower or Animal will not be taken.
The computer game will ask for a discard (the player should
click NEXT MOVE) in this situation, however
the card is not actually discarded and the game is finished at that point.
Types of Mahjong games
All Chow game
In Singapore Mahjong the rules for All Chow game are very unique and different
from other types of Mahjong.
To have an All Chow game the following criteria must be
meet;
1. The EYE cannot be a Dragon Tile or the Prevailing Wind or the Players Wind
for that game.
2. The tiles must be made up of one EYE and four CHOWs.
3. If the player wins the game on a discarded tile, there must be more than one
unique
tile that could have caused the player to win the game (get mahjong).
Ping Wu game
A Ping Wu game is an All Chow game with no tiles of the flower suit or animal
suit in the players
exposed tiles.
All Pong game
To have an All Pong game the tiles must be made of an EYE and four PONG's and or KONG's.
Half Color game
To have a Half Color game you must have mahjong. The tiles must be made of the
either the
Bamboo suit, the Circle Suit, or Numbers Suit combined with tiles from the
Honor Suit (Winds and Dragons).
Full Color game
To have a Full Color game you must have mahjong. The tiles must be made of the
either the
Bamboo suit only, the Circle Suit only, the Numbers Suit only, or the Honor
Suit only.
All one's and nine's game
To have an All one's and nine's game you must have mahjong. All the tiles must
be a
combination of one's and nine's only.
Half one's and nine's game
To have a Half one's and nine's game you must have mahjong. All the tiles must
be a
combination of one's and nine's combined with the Honor Suit (Wind Suit and
Dragon Suit).
13 Wonders game
To have 13 Wonders you must have the one and the nine of the Bamboo suit, the
Circle
Suit, and the Numbers Suit along with each unique tile in the Honors suit. You
must also
have an EYE which can be made up of any of the above mentioned tiles.
Eight flower suit tile game
In the case that a player has all eight Flower Suit tiles that person
automatically wins the game
regardless of their other tiles. If a player has seven Flower Suit tiles and
another player
picks the eighth and last Flower Suit tile, this eighth Flower Suit tile is
automatically transferred
to the player with seven Flower Suit tiles and that player automatically wins
the game
regardless of whether they have a valid mahjong combination.
All Dragon game
In the case where a player has a Pong or Kong of all the 3 dragons tiles they will automatically
win the game regardless of whether they have a valid mahjong combination. Note: the current
version of the computer game does not implement this rule.
All Wind game
In the case where a player has a Pong or Kong of all the 4 wind tiles they will automatically
win the game regardless of whether they have a valid mahjong combination. Note: the current
version of the computer game does not implement this rule.
What is a Fan (or Double)?
A Fan is something that will double the number of
points that can be won for that particular game.
Fan values are assigned to different tiles, tile combinations, and unique
winning games. Fan values
add together, such that if there are three tiles that are worth one Fan a
piece, the player has a
total of three Fan. Only the winning player for each
game gets credit for the Fan that they
have at the end of the game.
How to get Fan (or Doubles)?
There are many ways to get Fans during each game. Below is a list of the
different ways and the
values assigned to each way.
A Pong or Kong of any the Dragon Tiles - 1 Fan for each
A Pong or Kong of the Prevailing Wind for that game - 1 Fan
A Pong or Kong of the Player Game Wind for that game - 1 Fan
All Chow Game - 1 Fan
Ping Wu Game - 4 Fan
All Pong Game - 2 Fan
Half Color Game - 2 Fan
Full Color Game - 4 Fan
All one's and nine's game - 5 Fan
Half one's and nine's game - 1 Fan (some people play 2 Fan)
13 Wonders Game - 5 Fan (Limt number of Fan)
Animal Suit tiles - 1 Fan for each
Complete set of the Animal Suit - 1 extra Fan (5 Fan total)
Flower Suit tiles that match the Players Wind - 1 Fan for each
Complete set of Red Flower Suit - 1 extra Fan (2 Fan total)
Complete set of Black Flower Suit - 1 extra Fan (2 Fan total)
Picking the winning tile after a flower suit or animal suit with a replacement
tile - 1 Fan
Picking the winning tile after a Kong Move with a replacement tile - 1 Fan
Picking the winning tile on the last valid tile left in the game - 1 Fan
Winning the game on a tile when another player performs a One Concealed Tile
Kong (Robbing the Kong) - 1 Fan
Winning the game with seven or eight flower suit tiles - 5 Fan (Limit number of
Fan)
Winning the game with a pong and/or a kong of each of
the Dragon Tiles - 2 extra Fan (Limt number of Fan)
Winning the game with a pong and/or a kong of each of
the Wind Tiles - 3 extra Fan (Limt number of Fan)
Winning the game with a pong and/or a kong of two of
the three Dragon Tiles
and having the third Dragon tile as the EYE - 1 extra Fan (3 Fan total)
Winning the game with a pong and/or a kong of three
of the four Dragon Tiles
and having the third Dragon tile as the EYE - 4 Fan total
Minimum Fan (Doubles) to win the game.
There is a minimum number of Fan that is needed for a
player to win a game. The default setting
for the game is 1 Fan, however this can be changed
under the options menu.
Maximum Fan Limit (Doubles Limit)
There is a maximum number of Fan that is allowed for a
player when they win a game. The default
setting for the game is 5 Fan, however this can be
changed under the options menu.
How does a player win the game?
To win the game, a player must have a valid mahjong combination and at least
the minimum number of
Fan. The exceptions to this rule are when the player has 13 wonders, 8 flowers,
all dragons and all winds.
How do you score?
When a player performs a One Concealed Tile or Three Concealed Tile Kong, they
receive 2 points from each
player. This number can be changed under the options menu.
When a player obtains all four tiles in the Animal Suit Tile set, they
receive 4 points from each player.
This number can be changed under the options menu.
When a player obtains all four tiles in either the Red Flower Set or the
Black Flower Set, they
receive 4 points from each player. This number can be changed under the options
menu.
When someone declares Mahjong and wins the game, the number of Fan they have
is counted.
If they have no Fan they receive 1 point from each player. By default this cannot
happen
in the game because the minimum Fan limit to win the game is set to one. If the
winning player
has one or more Fan, 1 point is doubled for each Fan the winning player has.
This
number of points is received by the winning player from each player. If the
winning player
picked the winning tile from the unused tiles, then they receive double the
calculated points. If the
winning player won via a discarded tile, then the winning player receives
double the points from
the player who discarded the winning tile. Example, player 1 wins the game with
3 Fan and
Player 2 discarded the winning tile. Player 1 receives 16 points from Player 2
and 8 points
(1 x 2 x 2 x 2) from the rest of the Players. Another example, if Player 1 wins
the game with
3 Fan and player 1 picked the winning tile from the unused tiles, then Player 1
receive 16 points
from each player.
When a player wins with a 13 Wonders Game, the scoring is treated as if he
picked the winning tile
himself, even if the winning tile was thrown by another player.
When a player gets the cat and the mouse in the animal suit they receive 2
points from each player.
If the cat and the mouse were received during the initial 13 tiles at the
beginning of the game, the
player would receive 4 points from each player. This number can be changed
under the options menu.
When a player gets the chicken and the centipede in the animal suit they
receive 2 points from each player.
If the cat and the mouse were received during the initial 13 tiles at the beginning
of the game, the
player would receive 4 points from each player. This number can be changed
under the options menu.
When a player gets both flowers that match his wind number for that game
they receive 2 points from
each player. If these flowers are received during the initial 13 tiles at the
beginning of the game, the
player would receive 4 points from each player. This number can be changed
under the options menu.
Pay all situations.
There are a number of game situations where discarding a particular tile may
result in that player
paying for all the other players. These game situations are described below.
Dragon Tile Set Scenario
If player A has a Pong or a Kong of 2 of the 3 Dragon tiles showing in his
exposed tiles, and a discard
by player B of the Dragon tile (that is not currently showing in player A's
exposed tiles) would cause player A
to Kong, Pong or Game where player A now has the completed Dragon tile set,
then player B would
pay for all the other players if player A won by picking his own winning tile
or player B threw the winning
tile to player A.
An example of this scenario is shown below and is as follows. Assume player
A has the exposed tiles as
shown below. If player B discards the White Dragon and Player A Pongs or Kongs
on that tile, then player B
is in a pay for all situation. In this case if player A
wins by picking his own winning tile or player B causes
player A to win with a discarded tile, player B will pay for all the other
players.
This is the way the computer game plays but the actual rule is that when a player has the complete dragon set,
that player automatically wins and the player that threw the winning tile would pay for all in the scenario listed
above.
With these exposed tiles for Player A, the White Dragon is now
a pay all
discard.
Wind Tile Set Scenario
If player A has a Pong or a Kong of 3 of the 4 Wind tiles showing in his
exposed tiles, and a discard by player B
of the Wind tile (that is not currently showing in player A's exposed tiles)
would cause player A to Kong,
Pong or Game where player A now had the completed Wind tile set, then player B
would pay for all the other
players if player A won by picking his own winning tile or player B threw the
winning tile to player A. An example
is shown below.
This is the way the computer game plays but the actual rule is that when a player has the complete wind set,
that player automatically wins and the player that threw the winning tile would pay for all in the scenario listed
above.
With these exposed tiles for Player A, the North Wind
is a pay all discard.
Fan Limit Scenario
If player A has the number of Fan Limit (default to 5) showing in his exposed
tiles, and player B discards a Dragon
Tile, Prevailing Wind Tile, or Players Game Wind that causes player A to win
the game or Pong or Kong, then
player B would pay for all the other players if player A won by picking his own
winning tile or player B threw the winning tile to player A.
If player A has 1 less than the Fan Limit showing in his exposed tiles (4
Fan), and player B discards a Dragon
Tile, Prevailing Wind Tile, or Players Game Wind that causes player A Pong or
Kong and it brings player A to the
Fan Limit, then player B would pay for all the other players if player A won by
picking his own winning tile
or player B threw the winning tile to player A. This rule also applies if
player A were to win the game with the
discarded tile that was used in a PONG to win the game and bring player A to
the Fan Limit.
Player A has 4 Fan on the exposed tiles which
is one less than the
Fan Limit of 5. Therefore any Dragon Tile, Prevailing Wind tile, or Players
Wind tile is a pay all discard.
If a player A has 1 less than the Fan Limit showing (4 Fan) in the exposed tiles and player B discards a Dragon tile,
Prevailing Wind tile, or Players Game Wind that causes player A to win with a half color game (which would be
the Fan Limit) then player B will pay for all. This version of the computer game currently does not support this
particular rule.
Full Color Scenario
If player A has 3 or 4 sets of Chow's, Pong's, or Kong's that are all in the
same suit in the exposed tiles,
and player B throws a tile of that same suit that causes player A to win the
game with Full Color, then player B
will pay for all the other players.
Player A has 3 sets of the same
suit on the exposed tiles,
therefore any Bamboo Suit tile becomes a pay all discard.
End of Game Scenario (Fresh Discard Scenario)
When there is less than 7 tiles to play in the game, any player that discards a
tile that is not contained in the
discarded tiles which causes another player to win the game, the player who
discarded the "fresh" tile will pay
for all. The number of tiles that this rule applies to can be set in the options menu. In actual play the number of
tiles is usually played at 4.
In the case where multiple players encounter the pay all scenario, the
player that last encountered it would be the
one who would pay for all.
The help menu will tell you all the discard tiles that could possibly cause a pay all situation at any point in the game.
Rule Variations
These are some of the rule variations.
Pay all End of Game - Some games play that the pay all situation does not
occur until after 4 tiles are remaining
This is selectable under the Options menu.
Pay all for Kong at the End of Game - Some games play that any fresh tile
that causes a KONG at the end of
the game (usually fewer than 7 tiles remaining) is pay all for the Kong for the
person who threw the tile. This
computer game does not support this rule.
Robbing the Kong for Concealed Kong on 13 wonders - If a player invokes a
concealed Kong and another
played needs that tile to GAME for 13 wonders that
tile is transferred to him from the KONG and he wins
the game with 13 wonders. This rule is not supported by this game.
Extra Fan for concealed game - Some games play that when a
player games with no exposed tiles
showing (excluding animals and flowers) and he picks the winning tile himself,
he gets an extra Fan.
This rule is not supported by this game.
Extra points for self draw winning - Some games play when a player wins a
game by picking the winning tile
himself, extra points are received from each player. This rule is not supported
by this game.
Winning with Dragon or Wind Set - Some games play that once a PONG and or
KONG of the Dragon or
Wind set is obtained by a player he automatically wins the game without having
to obtain Mahjong.
This rule is not supported by this game.
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