How to Play Mahjong ?
Players The basic game is played with four players. There are variants with three players. Components The basic game has 136 tiles, including 36 characters, 36 bamboos, and 36 circles, which are the suits. These are, in turn, divided into four sets of numbers 1 to 9 in each suit. There are also 16 wind tiles and 12 dragon tiles. Many sets also include eight bonus tiles with four flowers and four seasons, but these are not needed in the basic game. One pair of dice is used to determine the deal. It is optional to have four racks. Goal The goal of the game is to get a mahjong, which consists of getting all 14 of your tiles into four sets and one pair. A pair is two identical tiles. A set can either be a "pung," which is three identical tiles, or a "chow," which is a run of three consecutive numbers in the same suit. A single tile cannot be used in two sets at once. Setup Determine a starting dealer. In Chinese tradition, the four wind tiles are shuffled face down and ...