The game of mahjong has Chinese origins. The game involves the use of tiles and hence can appear quite confusing if one is not familiar with the rules. The following are some fundamental guidelines to make the game of Chinese mahjong a bit easier to play.
Preparing for the game
Before the game of Chinese mahjong begins, the dealer has to be elected and every player must be allocated with Winds for representation. Each player is supposed to roll the dice and the one with the highest numbers is chosen as the dealer.
This dealer becomes a part of the East Wind in this game of Chinese mahjong. The player positioned on the right side of the dealer is the South Wind, the one next to him/her is the West Wind and the remaining one is the North Wind. The dealer for the game changes in every round unless the dealer can score a win.
These tiles are positioned face down and then put through some rigorous shuffling. Two tiles are place high and another one is kept deep in front of the two tiles to create a wall. The dealer is then supposed to roll the dice and then count in the anti-clockwise direction to choose any player’s row.
As the dice is rolled, tiles are counted and shifted towards the right. This movement begins from the right side of the wall. The player sitting on the left-hand side of the dealer is supposed to pick up four tiles from her/his left. All the other players can then pick up four tiles each from their respective right sides.
Playing the actual game
In Chinese mahjong games, each player gets the chance to pick a tile from the wall adding it to their hand. However, another tile has to be discarded on the table. Once a player comes across the tile with the flower, he/she is supposed to place it on right next to the dead wall. One can also place it at the back wall if the dead wall is not available.
Creating Melds
The first priority of players in the game of Chinese mahjong is to form melds. A player is allowed to ask for a tile that may help him/her to create a meld. However, they are required to declare the kind of meld they are going for and place it open on the playing table. In Chinese mahjong, players can form three kinds of melds i.e. chows, kongs and pongs
Pongs
Pongs, also known as pungs, represent a set of three tiles that are identical.
Kongs
Similarly, kongs have four tiles of the same type. Players get the freedom to choose between concealed or exposed kong. When the four tiles are formed by holding the tiles in the hand, it is known as a concealed kong. On the other hand, in the case of the exposed kong, a discarded tile is used to form the set.
Chows
When a player gets three suited tiles in the required order, he/she is entitled to chows. Again, in order to form an exposed chow, the player is required to use only tiles discarded by the participant seated on the left of that particular player.
Ending the game
There is a fair chance that the game of mahjong may finish as a draw. So a winner can be picked once the dead wall is the only thing remaining. On the other hand, if a player can manage to form a mahjong hand with melds, the particular player can win the game. This is the only effective way to win the game.
