Mahjong

This article is about the Chinese multiplayer tile game. For the tile-matching solitaire game, see Mahjong Solitaire. For other uses, see Mahjong (disambiguation).
Mahjong

A game of Mahjong being played in Hangzhou, China
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 麻將
Simplified Chinese 麻将
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 麻雀
Simplified Chinese 麻雀
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese mạt chược
Korean name
Hangul 마작
Hanja 麻雀
Japanese name
Kanji 麻雀
Kana マージャン
Mahjong
Players 2-4
Age range 4 years and older
Setup time 1-5 minutes
Playing time Dependent on variation and/or house/tournament rules
Random chance Yes
Skill(s) required Tactics, observation, memory, teamwork

Mahjong ( listen ), also spelled majiang and numerous other variants, is a game that originated in China during the Qing dynasty. It is commonly played by 4 players (with some 3-player variations found in South Korea and Japan). The game and its regional variants are widely played throughout Eastern and South Eastern Asia and have a small following in Western countries. Similar to the Western card game rummy, Mahjong is a game of skill, strategy, and calculation and involves a degree of chance.

The game is played with a set of 144 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols, although some regional variations may omit some tiles and/or add unique tiles. In most variations, each player begins by receiving 13 tiles. In turn players draw and discard tiles until they complete a legal hand using the 14th drawn tile to form 4 groups (meld) and a pair (eye). There are fairly standard rules about how a piece is drawn, how a piece is robbed from another player, the use of simples (numbered tiles) and honors (winds and dragons), the kinds of melds allowed, how to deal the tiles and the order of play. Despite these similarities, there are many regional variations to the rules including rather different scoring systems, criteria for legal winning hands and even private table rules which distinguish some variations as notably different styles of mahjong.

Name

In Chinese, the game was originally called 麻雀 (pinyin: máquè)—meaning sparrow—which is still the name most commonly used in some southern Chinese varieties such as Cantonese and Min Nan, as well as in Japanese. However, most Mandarin-speaking Chinese now call the game májiàng (麻將). In Northern Wu Chinese (Shanghainese and its relatives), it is pronounced as 麻將 [mo tsiaŋ], but in actuality, 麻將 is the diminutive form of 麻雀, written as 麻雀兒 [mo tsiaʔ ŋ], due to an erhua event. It is through the Wu Chinese pronunciation of 麻雀兒 that the diminutive form of 麻雀 in Northern Wu became known as 麻將 in both Mandarin and Wu.

History

Money-suited cards

Mahjong is based on draw-and-discard card games that were popular in 18th and 19th century China and some are still popular today.[1] They were played with a stripped deck of money-suited cards. Each deck is divided into 3 suits of Cash or coins, Strings of cash, and Myriads of strings. There are 9 ranks in each suit. In addition, there are 3 wild cards: Red flower, White flower, and Old thousand. Depending on the game, there are multiple copies of each card.

Games scholar David Parlett has written that the Western card games Conquian and Rummy share a common origin with Mahjong.[2] All these games involve players drawing and discarding tiles or cards to make melds. Khanhoo is an early example of such a game. The most likely ancestor to Mahjong was pènghú (碰和) which was played with 120 or 150 cards.[1] During the late 19th century, pènghú was used interchangeably with máquè in both card and tile form.

It is not known when the conversion from cards to tiles took place precisely but it most likely occurred in the middle of the 19th century. The earliest surviving tile sets date to around 1870 and were acquired in Fuzhou, Shanghai, and Ningbo.[1][3][4] These sets differ from modern ones in several ways. In the Glover sets, there were no "flower" and fā ("green dragon") tiles. In their place were "king" tiles for heaven, earth, man, and harmony and also for each of the 4 "winds" which may have acted as bonus tiles. In the contemporaneous Himly set, there were no zhōng ("red dragon") tiles either. Instead there were the wild cards known as Cash Flower, String Flower, and Myriad Flower plus an additional tile, the king of everything. These early jokers are still found in the Vietnamese and Thai sets.[5][6] They may have been removed as the tiles share the same titles as the leaders of the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864).[7] For example, Hong Xiuquan was the self-styled "Heavenly King of Great Peace" and his top subordinates were called east king, south king, west king, and north king.

The ban on gambling after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 led to a decline in playing. The game itself was banned during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).[1] Today, it is a favorite pastime in China[8] and other Chinese-speaking communities.

Mahjong in the West

Students in the United States learning how to play Mahjong

In 1895, British sinologist William Henry Wilkinson wrote a paper which mentioned a set of cards known in central China by the name of ma chioh, literally, hemp sparrow, which he maintained was the origin of the term Mahjong. He did not explain the dialect of the originator or region specific etymology of this information.[9] By 1910, there were written accounts in many languages, including French and Japanese.

The game was imported to the United States in the 1920s.[10] The first Mahjong sets sold in the U.S. were sold by Abercrombie & Fitch starting in 1920. It became a success in Washington, D.C., and the co-owner of the company, Ezra Fitch, sent emissaries to Chinese villages to buy every Mahjong set they could find. Abercrombie & Fitch sold a total of 12,000 Mahjong sets.

Also in 1920, Joseph Park Babcock published his book Rules of Mah-Jongg, also known as the "red book". This was the earliest version of Mahjong known in America. Babcock had learned Mahjong while living in China. His rules simplified the game to make it easier for Americans to take up, and his version was common through the Mahjong fad of the 1920s. Later, when the 1920s fad died out, many of Babcock's simplifications were abandoned.

The game has taken on a number of trademarked names, such as "Pung Chow" and the "Game of Thousand Intelligences". Mahjong nights in America often involved dressing and decorating rooms in Chinese style.[11] Several hit songs were recorded during the Mahjong fad, most notably "Since Ma Is Playing Mah Jong" by Eddie Cantor.[12]

Many variants of Mahjong developed during this period. By the 1930s, many revisions of the rules developed that were substantially different from Babcock's classical version (including some that were considered fundamentals in other variants, such as the notion of a standard hand). The most common form, which eventually became "American Mahjong", was most popular among Jewish women.[12] Standardization came with the formation of the National Mah Jongg League (NMJL) in 1937, along with the first American Mahjong rulebook, Maajh: The American Version of the Ancient Chinese Game, written by NMJL's first president and co-founder, Viola L. Cecil.[13]

Many consider the modern American version a Jewish remake,[12] as many American Mahjong players are of Jewish descent. The NMJL was founded by Jewish players and is considered a Jewish organization. In 1986, the National Mah Jongg League conducted their first Mah Jongg Cruise Tournament, in conjunction with Mah Jongg Madness. In 2010, this large scale seagoing event hosted its 25th Silver Anniversary Cruise, with players from all over the States and Canada participating.

In 1999, a second organization was formed, the American Mah Jongg Association. The AMJA currently hosts tournaments all across North America, with their signature event being at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

British author Alan D. Millington revived the Chinese classical game of the 1920s with his book The Complete Book of Mah-jongg (1977). This handbook includes a formal rules set for the game.

Current development

There are many governing bodies which often host exhibition games and tournaments for modern and traditional Mahjong gaming.

Mahjong, as of 2010, is the most popular table game in Japan.[14] As of 2008, there were approximately 7.6 million Mahjong players in Japan and an estimated 8,900 Mahjong parlors did ¥300 billion in sales.[15] Many devotees there believe the game is losing popularity and have taken efforts to revive it. There are several manga and anime (e.g. Saki and Akagi) devoted to dramatic and comic situations involving Mahjong.[16] Since the 1980s, hundreds of different Mahjong arcade machines in Japanese video arcades have been created, including strip versions. Newer units can connect with other arcade machines across the Internet.

Mahjong culture is still deeply ingrained in the Chinese community. Sam Hui wrote Cantopop songs using Mahjong as their themes, and Hong Kong movies have often included scenes of Mahjong games. Many gambling movies have been filmed in Hong Kong, and a recent subgenre is the Mahjong movie.

Prolonged playing of Mahjong may trigger epileptic seizures according to a 2007 study.[17][18] To date there are 23 reported cases of Mahjong-induced seizures in the English medical literature. Some doctors speculate that this may be due to stress and complex manual movement correlated with intense brain function similar to playing chess or card games such as poker.[19]

Studies by doctors have also shown in Hong Kong that the game is beneficial for individuals suffering from dementia or cognitive memory difficulties, leading to the development of Mahjong therapy.[20]

Old Hong Kong Mahjong

A set of Mahjong tiles.

Old Hong Kong Mahjong uses the same basic features and rules as the majority of the different variations of the game. This form of Mahjong uses all of the tiles of the most commonly available sets, includes no exotic complex rules and has a relatively small set of scoring sets/hands with a simple scoring system. For these reasons Hong Kong mahjong is a suitable variation for the introduction of game rules and play.

Game Pieces and Accessories

Main article: Mahjong tiles

Hong Kong Mahjong is played with a set of Mahjong tiles (though cards may be used). Sets often include counters (to keep score), dice (to decide how to deal) and a marker to show who the dealer is and which round is being played. Some sets include racks to hold the tiles, especially if they are larger/smaller than standard tiles or have an odd shape.

A set of Mahjong tiles usually has at least 136 tiles (most commonly 144). Although, sets originating from the United States or Southeast Asia will probably have more. Mahjong tiles are split into 3 categories: Suits, Honors, and Bonuses.

Simples tiles

There are 3 different suits of simples and in each suit the tiles are numbered from 1 to 9. The suits are: bamboos, dots and characters. There are 4 identical copies of each simples tile totaling 108 simples tiles.

Numbers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Simples Dots
Bamboo
Characters

Honors tiles

There are 2 different sets of Honors tiles: Winds and Dragons. The Winds are East, South, West and North. Keep in mind that the order of winds are not the same as in Western countries where usually North is the beginning point of the four directions. In Mahjong East is the beginning. The Dragons are Red, Green and White. The white dragon has a blue or black frame on the face of the piece or in some sets is entirely blank. These tiles have no numerical sequence like the simples (for example the bamboo pieces number 1 to 9).

Winds
East South West North
|
Dragons
Red Green White

Bonus tiles

There are 2 sets of bonus tiles: Flowers and Seasons. The flower and season tiles are unique not only in playing a different roles in the mechanics of the game but also in the fact that there is only one instead of four copies of each tile. The tiles have a different artistic rendering of a specific type of flower or season and that each design has only one tile in the whole set making a total of 4 flower tiles and 4 season tiles altogether. These tiles are not drawn into a player's hand but are set aside (kept near the player's other tiles for scoring purposes should they win the hand) when drawn and an extra tile is drawn in replacement of the bonus tile.

Flowers
1 2 3 4
|
Seasons
1 2 3 4

While it is not necesary to know the names of the bonus tiles (only it's number) the flowers are named: 1. Plum, 2. Orchid, 3. Chrysanthemum, 4. Bamboo. There is no relation between the bonus tiles "bamboo" flower and the set of simple tiles (ex. 2 bamboo). The seasons are named 1. Spring, 2. Summer, 3. Autumn, 4. Winter. The Plum, Orchid, Chrysanthemum, and Bamboo is regard as the representative plant of Winter, Spring, Autumn, and Summer in traditional Chinese culture.

Choosing table positions and first dealer

The dealer is chosen by various means, either by throwing dice (the highest total takes the east wind), by placing one of each wind face down and having each player randomly select one of these tiles or other house rule variations. Each player sits down at their respective position (called the wind position) at the table in positions of an inverted compass: East is dealer, the right of the dealer is South, across is West and the left is North. The order essentially is counter-clockwise.

Hands, rounds, and matches

A match consists of 4 rounds, each representing a "prevailing wind," starting with East. Once the first round is completed, a second round begins with South as the prevailing wind, and so on. Wind position is significant in that it affects the scoring of the game. A Mahjong set with Winds in play will usually include a separate prevailing wind marker (typically a die marked with the Wind characters in a holder).

In each round at least 4 hands are played, with each player taking the position of dealer. In the first hand of each round, player 1 (winner of the dice toss) is East and therefore dealer. In the second hand player 2 takes the East position, shifting the seat winds amongst the players counterclockwise (though players don't physically move their chairs). This continues until all 4 players have been East (dealer). A marker is used to mark which player is East and often the round number. (In sets with racks, a rack may be marked differently to denote the dealer.)

Whenever a player in the East position (dealer) wins a hand, or if there is no winner (a draw or "goulash hand"), an extra hand is played with the same seating positions and prevailing wind as in the previous hand. This means that a match may potentially have no limit to the number of hands played (though some players will set a limit of 3 consecutive hands allowed with the same seat positions and prevailing wind).

Example of Games:

Example of a standard 16 hand game with 2 extra hands played per no-winner-hand (goulash) and per east winning hand.
Hand Number Prevailing Wind Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 Comment
1 East East (dealer) South West North
2 East North East (dealer) South West
3 East West North East (dealer) South
4 East South West North East (dealer)
5 South East (dealer) South West North
6 South North East (dealer) South West
7 South West North East (dealer) South no one wins (goulash)
extra hand South West North East (dealer) South (repeat of seat positions)
8 South South West North East (dealer)
9 West East (dealer) South West North
10 West North East (dealer) South West
11 West West North East (dealer) South
12 West South West North East (dealer)
13 North East (dealer) South West North
14 North North East (dealer) South West
15 North West North East (dealer) South (east wins hand)
extra hand North West North East (dealer) South (repeat of seat positions)
16 North South West North East (dealer)

Dealing tiles

All tiles are placed face down on the table and are shuffled. By convention all players should participate in shuffling using both hands moving the pieces around the table rigorously and loudly for a lengthy period. Each player then stacks a row of 18 tiles 2 tiles high in front of them (for a total of 36 tiles). Players then push each side of their tiles together to form a square wall.

The dealer throws 3 dice and sums up the total. Counting counterclockwise so that the dealer is 1 (or 5, 9, 13, 17), so that south is 2 (or 6, 10, 14, 18), etc., a player's quarter of the wall is chosen. Using the same total on the dice, the player then counts the stacks of tiles from right to left. Starting from the left of the stacks counted, the dealer takes 4 tiles to himself, and players in counterclockwise order take blocks of 4 tiles until all players have 12 tiles, so that the stacks decrease clockwise. Each player then takes one last tile to make a 13-tile hand. Dealing does not have to be this formal and may be done quite differently based on house rules. Tiles may flip over when being dealt and players should agree in advance on how to deal with the problem. Solutions include having the dealer penalised points, shuffling the turned over piece back into the wall somehow, allowing the player who the tiles were dealt to take the piece or not (meaning the dealer must take it as his/her 14th piece) or other house rules.

Each player now sets aside any Flowers or Seasons they may have drawn and takes replacement piece(s) from the wall.

The dealer takes the next piece from the wall, adds it to his hand. If this does not complete a legal hand, he then discards a piece (throwing it into the middle of the wall with no particular order in mind).

Rules

Local play on the street in Lanzhou

Each player takes a turn picking up a tile from the wall and then discarding a tile by throwing it into the center and, if desired, announcing out loud what the piece is. Play continues this way until one player has a legal winning hand and calls out Mahjong while revealing their hand. There are 4 different ways that this order of play can be interrupted.

During play, the number of tiles maintained by each player should always be thirteen tiles (meaning in each turn a tile must be picked up and another discarded). Not included in the count of thirteen tiles are Flowers and Seasons set to the side and the 4th added piece of a Kong. If a player is seen to have more or less than thirteen tiles in their hand outside of their turn they are penalised.

Legal hand

A winning hand consists of 14 tiles. Since players always have 13 tiles in their hand they must win by either taking a piece from the wall that completes their 14 tile hand (winning from the wall) or claiming a discard from another player which completes a 14 tiles hand (winning by discard). The winning hand is made of 4 melds (a specific pattern of 3 pieces) and the eyes (a pair of 2 identical pieces). The exceptions to this rule are the special hands listed below.

Most players play with a table minimum, meaning a winning hand must score a minimum number of points (which can be seen in the scoring section). In Hong Kong Mahjong the most common point set is 3 but can be higher or lower depending on consensus before the match begins.

Melds

You may form a Pong with any tile (except Flowers or Seasons because they are bonus tiles which are set aside and there are not 3 identical bonus tiles). The tiles must be identical (you cannot mix suits).

Consider a Kong the same as a Pong/ Pung with an additional tile to make a set of 4. There are 3 ways to form a Kong.

Whenever a Kong is formed, that player must draw an extra tile from the end of the wall and then discard a tile. The 4th piece of the Kong (not Flowers/Seasons) is not considered as one of the 13 tiles a player must always have in their hand. Kongs are worth collecting to score more points and/or deprive opponents of obtaining specific tiles.

The meld must be in absolute numerical sequence. Players cannot skip numbers or meld from the 8 or 9 to 1 or 2. The sequence must also be in the same suit. Honors, Flowers and Seasons cannot be used to make chows because they have no numerical value. A player can steal a discard to form a chow from the player whose turn was immediately before theirs if no one else needs the tile to make Pongs/Pungs, Kongs or win (go Mahjong).

For example:

Interruption of play

Flower or Season

Whenever a player draws a flower or season, it is announced and then placed to the side (it is not considered a part of the hand but the player with the winning hand will earn a bonus point for them) and the last tile of the wall is drawn as a replacement tile so that the player has the 14 pieces needed before their discard. This may happen successively in a player's turn.

Melding another player's discard

When a player discards a tile, other players may steal the tile to complete a meld. Stealing tiles has both advantages (quickly forming a winning hand and scoring extra points) and disadvantages such as revealing part of one's hand to other players and not being able to change the meld once declared.

When a meld (Pong, Kong or Chow) is declared through a discard, the player must state the type of meld to be declared and place the meld face up. The player must then discard a tile, and play continues to the right. If the player who melds a discard is not directly after the discarder (in order of play), one or 2 players essentially miss their turn as play continues to the player after the one who declared the meld.

When 2 or more players call for a discarded tile, a player taking the tile to win the hand has precedence over all others. Otherwise a player who can form a Pong or Kong takes precedence over a player who claims a Chow. Players may only call for a Chow from the discard of the player immediately prior to them, unless the tile is the final one required to complete the hand, but may call for a Pong or Kong from any player. A player may also take the tile to win the hand from any other player.

Going Mahjong

If at any point in the game a player can use another player's discard to complete a legal hand (and with the agreed minimum points), they yell out Mahjong, take the piece and reveal their hand, with the way of calling it out depending on variations. This ends the hand, and scoring commences. If 2 or 3 players need the piece to win, there are 2 ways to resolve the issue depending on agreed table rules: Either the players compete to see who would have a better hand in terms of scoring, or simply the player closest to the discarder in order of turn wins the game.

Alternatively, a player may also win by drawing the tile required to complete a legal hand on his turn. This usually results in more points scored than if the player were to use another player's discard.

Extra points are also scored if the dealer draws a winning hand right at the beginning of the game, or if another player uses the dealer's first discard to complete a winning hand.

Robbing a Kong

A rarely occurring and high scoring feature of Hong Kong Mahjong is a move called robbing the Kong. If a player declares a Kong (by melding it or adding a 4th piece to a Pong to form a Kong or declaring a concealed Kong) and another player(s) can use that piece to complete a hand (which by logic could not be used to form a Pong or Kong as 2 players cannot make a Pong out of the same tile) a player may steal that piece from that player when declaring the Kong and go Mahjong (win the hand).

Example winning hands

Below are examples of winning hands. A winning hand must consist of 4 melds (Pongs, Kongs and/or chows) and a pair (eyes) and must also score the agreed table minimum.

– – – –

Hand formed with 4 Pongs and the eyes (pair) of East wind. Only bamboo is used (no other simples), scoring extra points (clean hand). No chows are used (an all Pong/Kong hand scores extra points).

– – – –

A high scoring hand formed using only circles, known as a pure hand. Hand is made of chows, Pongs and the eyes of circles.

Most players include table variations in their games, of which some non-standard are included. The hands of 7 different pairs and thirteen orphans are examples which do not have 4 melds and the eyes. They are described in more detail below.

Calling out Mahjong

In Western Classical variants, this is known as creating a Mahjong, and the process of winning is called going Mahjong. Calling a Mahjong without having a legal hand or with the minimum points is usually penalized via points or with the player having to play the rest of the hand with his tiles shown to the other players face up.

Turns and rounds

If the dealer wins the hand, s/he will remain the dealer and an extra hand is played in addition to the minimum 16 hands in a match. The same occurs if there is no winner.

The dealer position is significant in that s/he owes or is owed double their score.

Extra points are also scored if their hand is composed of pieces that match their seat wind and or the prevailing wind.

Flowers and Seasons are also scored as bonus points to the winner depending on their seat position.

Rhythm of play

Amongst players, there is an agreed amount of time allowed to make a call for a discarded tile, before the next player takes their turn, known as "window of opportunity" is explicitly stated in the rules; whereas in other variants, it is generally considered that when the next player's turn starts, i.e., the tile leaves the wall, the opportunity has been lost.

Scoring

Main article: Scoring in Mahjong

Old Hong Kong scoring involves adding up the fan value (the value of a hand) of the winner's hand and paying the winner the appropriate sum/points:

Fan value

Basic fan value

A winning hand must include an agreed minimum amount of fan value (often 3)

Basic Elements
Item Fan value
A Pong/Kong of Dragons 1
A Pong/Kong of Seat wind or Round wind 1
All simples 1
All chows and a pair of simples 1
Only Pongs/Kongs and any pair (Pong hand) 3
Only bamboos with Honors, only circles with Honors or only characters with Honors (clean hand) 3
Advanced Elements (less common and difficult elements to achieve)
Item Fan value
3 unmelded (hidden) Pongs/Kongs 3
3 Kongs 3
7 pairs (special pattern) 4
Pure hand (of only one suit and no Honors: pure circles, pure bamboos or pure characters) 6
Little Dragons (2 Pongs of dragons and a pair of the 3rd dragon) 12
Little Winds (3 Pongs of winds and a pair of the 4th wind) 12
Bonus fan
Bonus fan by Manner of Winning (not counted towards the minimum fan needed)
Item Fan value
Winning from the wall 1
Robbing the Kong 1
Winning on the last tile from the wall or its subsequent discard 1
Bonus fan from Flowers and Seasons (not counted towards the minimum fan needed)
Item Fan value
No Flowers or Seasons tiles in hand 1
Having Own flower (seat flower) 1
Having Own season (seat season) 1
All 4 Flowers 2 (plus 1 for own flower)
All 4 Seasons 2 (plus 1 for own season)
All 8 Flowers and Seasons (exceedingly rare) Automatic win with maximum payment

A player only scores a bonus fan for Flowers or Seasons if it is their own flower or season (East=1, South=2, West=3 and North=4) or if the player has all 4 Flowers or all 4 Seasons (scoring 5 fan in total).

Payment

The losers pay the winning player points based on several criteria and depending on whether the player are playing for fun or for money. How points are reckoned is agreed by players before hand. For example they can keep a tally, exchange chips or pay one another with money. The fan value of a hand is converted into base points which are then used to calculate the points the losers pay the winner. The table is progressive, doubling the amount of base points when reaching a certain fan point target. The following is the Old Hong Kong simplified table, for other tables see Hong Kong Mahjong scoring rules.

Base points (Old Hong Kong Simplified)
Faan points Base points
3 1
4 2
5 2
6 2
7 4
8 4
9 4
10+ 8 (limit)

This table is based on play where 3 faan is the minimum needed in order to win with a legal hand. If a player has 3 faan then his hand is worth one base point. A winning hand with 9 faan is worth 4 base points. Losing players must give the winning player the value of these base points. Individual players must double the amount of base-points owed for the following:

If two of these criteria apply to any player...then the player must double and then redouble the points owed to the winner.

Examples
Hand 1 (West wins with 4 fan from the wall (base points of 1))
Player base points
East (dealer) 1 (base points) x2 (doubling for winning from wall) x2 (doubling for being east) = -4
South 1 (base points) x2 (doubling for winning from wall) = -2
West 4 (from east) + 2 (from south) 2 (from north) = +8
North 1 (base points) x2 (doubling for winning from wall) = -2
Hand 2 (North wins with 6 fan on a discard from south (base points of 2)
Player base points
East (dealer) 2 (base points) x2 (doubling for being east) = -4
South 2 (base points) x2 (discarding winning piece) = -4
West 2 (base points) = -2
North 4 (from east) + 4 (from south) 2 (from west) = +10
Hand 3 (East wins with 10 fan on discard from west (base points of 8)
Player base points
East (dealer) 16 (from south) + 32 (from west) + 16 (from north) = +64
South 8 (base points) x2 (paying to east) = -16
West 8 (base points) x2 (paying to east) x2 (discarding winning piece) = -32
North 8 (base points) x2 (paying to east) = -16

Hong Kong Mahjong is essentially a payment system of doubling and redoubling where winning from the wall adds great value to the final payment and where the dealer is highly rewarded or penalized if he or she wins or loses.

Limit hands

There are a series of "limit hands". Table rules dictate if these rare and special hands are allowed, which ones, and the limit for scoring. A common scoring limit is 64 points, which is the highest base points doubled twice. A winner receives the scoring limit from each player without any doubling.

In some cases it is expected that the hand is achieved without calling any sets, except when winning, and or that it must be won from the wall.

Some groups also play with the "great Flowers" rule. If a player picks up all 4 Flowers and all 4 Seasons during their hand, they instantly wins the hand and receives the maximum points from all of the players. This is exceptionally rare.

Limit Hands (winner receives agreed maximum payment from each player)
Item Explanation
Heavenly Hand The dealer draws a winning hand at the beginning of the game.
Earthly Hand A player completes a winning hand with the dealer's first discard.
Thirteen Orphans Player has 1 and 9 of each simple suit, one of each wind, one of each dragon and in addition one extra piece of any of those thirteen elements
Heavenly Gates Player has 1112345678999 of any simple suit and one extra piece of numbers 1 to 9. This hand always has 4 melds and the eyes.
Hidden Pong Hand 4 concealed Pongs
Kong Hand Player has 4 Kongs
Honors Hand Player has all Honors in the hand (only winds and dragons)
Pearl Dragon 3 circle Pongs/Kongs and a pair of circles (eye) with a Pong/Kong of the White dragon (no chows).
Ruby Dragon 3 character Pongs/Kongs and a pair of character (eye) with a Pong/Kong of the Red dragon (no chows).
Jade Dragon 3 bamboo Pongs/Kongs and a pair of bamboo (eye) with a Pong/Kong of the Green dragon (no chows).
Great Dragons 3 Pongs of all 3 dragons
Great Winds 4 Pongs of all 4 winds

Examples of high-scoring hands

All-Pong hand (對對糊)

- - - -

Kong hand / 18 Arhats hand (十八羅漢)

- - - -

Clean hand (混一色)

- - - -

Pure hand (清一色)

- - - -

Great winds hand (大四喜)

- - - -

Great dragons hand (大三元)

- - - -

Thirteen orphans hand (十三幺)

Variations

Video of an uncharacteristic 5 player game

Variations may have far more complicated scoring systems, add or remove tiles, and include far more scoring elements and limit hands.

In many places, players often observe one version and are either unaware of other variations or claim that different versions are incorrect. Many variations today differ only by scoring:

3 player Mahjong (or 3-ka) is a simplified 3-person Mahjong that involves hands of 13 tiles (with a total of 84 tiles on the table) and may use jokers depending on the variation. Any rule set can be adapted for 3 players; however, this is far more common and accepted in Japan, Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines. It usually eliminates one suit entirely, or tiles 2-8 in one suit leaving only the terminals. It needs fewer people to start a game and the turnaround time of a game is short—hence, it is considered a fast game. In some versions there is a jackpot for winning in which whoever accumulates a point of 10 is considered to hit the jackpot or whoever scores 3 hidden hands first. The Malaysian and Korean versions drop one wind and may include a seat dragon. Korean Japanese 3 player variant.

Equipment

Numbers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Suits Dots
Bamboo
Characters
Honors/Bonus Winds Dragons Bonus
East South West North Red Green White Seasons Flowers
Interior of an automatic mahjong table.
Main article: Mahjong tiles

There are variations that feature specific use of tiles. Some 3 player versions remove the North Wind and one Chinese provincial version has no honors. Korean Mahjong removes the bamboo suit or at least its numbers 2–8 so that terminals can be used. Japanese Mahjong rarely uses Flowers or Seasons. The Seasons are removed in Korean Mahjong, while many Southeast Asian sets have more flower series. Joker tiles are used in some versions. Some variations use counting sticks while others use chips, and some use pencils and paper for score keeping. Wind indicators come in various formats such as cubes, discs, or cylinders. All varieties of mahjong use two or three dice, traditionally but not necessarily Chinese dice with red one and four pips. Japanese mahjong also uses four yakitori markers to indicate which players have not won a hand yet. Mahjong tables are square and small enough to be within arms-length of all equipment. The edges are raised to prevent tiles from sliding off and the surface is covered in felt to limit wear on the tiles. More expensive tables, like those found in tournaments, are able to shuffle tiles, build walls, and randomize dice.

Wild cards and jokers

Some players accept wild cards (混儿; hùnr) when playing Mahjong. The wild cards are decided at the beginning of the game. The wild card can be the next tile after spreading tiles to all players or separately decided by a dice toss. Wild cards are not allowed to be discarded and can replace any tiles in Chows. Wildcards can't replace any tiles in Pongs and Kongs. For example, if a character 4 taken out, then character 4 and the next number 5 can be used as wild cards in this round (When the tile showed, the tiles of the same pattern left only 3, so the next tile in the suit will be used as wild cards as well, adding to 7 wild cards for 4 players). Also, if a tile numbered 9 is chosen, then the number 9 and 1 are wild cards.

Also, if the chosen tile is not in the suited tiles, the wild cards are decided in rules:

Top eight are Vietnamese jokers. Bottom four are Chinese.
Wild card tile chosen Another wildcard
East South
South West
West North
North East
Red Dragon Green Dragon
Green Dragon White Dragon
White Dragon Red Dragon

The bonus tiles are not available for wild cards.

A feature of several variations of Mahjong, most notably in American mahjong, is the notion of some number of Joker tiles. They may be used as a wild card: a substitute for any tile in a hand, or, in some variations, only tiles in melds. Another variation is that the Joker tile may not be used for melding. Depending on the variation, a player may replace a Joker tile that is part of an exposed meld belonging to any player with the tile it represents.

Rules governing discarding Joker tiles also exist; some variations permit the Joker tile to take on the identity of any tile, and others only permit the Joker tile to take on the identity of the previously discarded tile (or the absence of a tile, if it is the first discard).

Joker tiles may or may not affect scoring, depending on the variation. Some special hands may require the use of Joker tiles (for example, to represent a "fifth tile" of a certain suited or honor tile).

In American Mahjong, it is illegal to pass Jokers during the Charleston.

Flowers

Japanese rule sets discourage the use of Flowers and Seasons. Korean rules and 3-player Mahjong in the Korean/Japanese tradition use only Flowers. In Singapore and Malaysia an extra set of bonus tiles of 4 animals are used. The rule set includes a unique function in that players who get 2 specific animals get a one-time immediate payout from all players. In Taiwanese Mahjong, getting all 8 Flowers and Seasons constitutes an automatic win of the hand and specific payout from all players.

4 of the flower tiles represent the 4 noble plants of Confucian reckoning:

The other 4 flower tiles (or season tiles) represent Seasons:

The animal tiles used in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and local variations are the animals. They represent the cat, mouse, rooster and centipede.

Walls

All tiles are placed face down and shuffled. Each player then stacks a row of tiles 2 tiles high in front of him, the length of the row depending on the number of tiles in use:

Charleston

In the American variations it is required that, before each hand begins, a Charleston be enacted. In the first exchange, 3 tiles are passed to the player on one's right; in the next exchange, the tiles are passed to the player opposite, followed by 3 tiles passed to the left. If all players are in agreement, a second Charleston is performed; however, any player may decide to stop passing after the first Charleston is complete. The Charleston is followed by an optional pass to the player across of one, 2, or 3 tiles. The Charleston, a distinctive feature of American Mahjong, may have been borrowed from card games such as Hearts.

Rules

Japanese and Korean Mahjong have some special rules. A player cannot win by a discard if that player had already discarded that piece, where players' discards are kept in neat rows in front of them. Players may declare ready, meaning that they need one tile to win, cannot change their hand and win extra points if they win. Some rules may replace some of the number 5 tiles with red tiles, as they can earn more points. Korean Mahjong does not allow melded (stolen) chows. Taiwanese Mahjong adds 3 tiles to a hand requiring a 5th set to be formed, making a clean hand or all Pong hand very difficult to procure. American Mahjong has distinctive game mechanics and the article on American Mahjong details these. Some differences include many special patterns, a different scoring system and the use of jokers and 5 of a kind.

Hands

Many variations have specific hands, some of which are common while some are optional depending on regions and players. One example is the Pure Green hand made of chows or Pongs using 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 of bamboo and green dragon.

Ready hands

When a hand is one tile short of winning (for example: , waiting for: , , or , as can be the eyes), the hand is said to be a ready hand (traditional Chinese: 聽牌; simplified Chinese: 听牌; Japanese: 聴牌; rōmaji: tenpai), or more figuratively, "on the pot". The player holding a ready hand is said to be waiting for certain tiles. It is common to be waiting for 2 or 3 tiles, and some variations award points for a hand that is waiting for one tile. In 13-tile Mahjong, the largest number of tiles for which a player can wait is 13 (the thirteen wonders, or thirteen orphans, a nonstandard special hand). Ready hands must be declared in some variations of Mahjong, while other variations prohibit the same.

Some variations of Mahjong, most notably Japanese and Korean ones, allow a player to declare rīchi (立直, sometimes known as reach, as it is phonetically similar). A declaration of rīchi is a promise that any tile drawn by the player is immediately discarded unless it constitutes a win. Standard requirements for rīchi are that the hand be closed or have no melds declared (other than a concealed Kong) and that players already have points for declaration of rīchi. A player who declares rīchi and wins usually receives a point bonus for their hand directly, and a player who won with rīchi also has the advantage to open the inner dora (ドラ, from "dra"gon) which leads to higher possibilities to match such a card, thus has more chance to grant additional bonus. However, a player who declares rīchi and loses is usually penalized in some fashion. Declaring a nonexistent rīchi is also penalized in some way.

In some variations, a situation in which all 4 players declare a rīchi is an automatic drawn game, as it reduces the game down to pure luck, i.e., who gets their needed tile first.

Draws

If only the dead wall remains (or if no dead wall exists and the wall is depleted) and no one has won, the hand is drawn (流局 liú jú, 黃莊 huáng zhuāng, Japanese ryūkyoku), or "goulashed". A new hand begins, and depending on the variant, the Game Wind may change. For example, in most playing circles in Singapore, if there is at least one Kong when the hand is a draw, the following player of the dealer becomes the next dealer; otherwise, the dealer remains dealer.

Japanese Mahjong has a special rule called sanchahō (三家和), which is, if 3 players claim the same discard in order to win, the hand is drawn. One reason for this is that there are cases in which bars of 1,000 points for declaring rīchi cannot be divided by 3. The rule is treated the same as "abortive draws".

Abortive draws

In Japanese Mahjong, rules allow abortive draws to be declared while tiles are still available. They can be declared under the following conditions:

Scoring

Scoring in Mahjong involves points, with a monetary value for points agreed upon by players. Although in many variations scoreless hands are possible, many require that hands be of some point value in order to win the hand.

While the basic rules are more or less the same throughout Mahjong, the greatest divergence between variations lies in the scoring systems. Like the rules, there is a generalized system of scoring, based on the method of winning and the winning hand, from which Chinese and Japanese base their roots. American Mahjong generally has greatly divergent scoring rules, as well as greatly divergent general rules.

Because of the large differences between the various systems of scoring (especially for Chinese variants), groups of players will often agree on particular scoring rules before a game.

Points (terminology of which differs from variation to variation) are obtained by matching the winning hand with different criteria scoring different values. The points obtained may be modified into scores for each player using some (typically exponential) functions. Some criteria may be also in terms of both points and score.

In many variations the dealer receives no scoring bonus and does not maintain his/her turn by winning or a dead hand.

In classical Mahjong all players score points. Points are given for sets and hand composition and winning bonuses, doubled and redoubled for basic patterns. Sometimes a loser may score more points than a winner. Japanese Mahjong has a complex scoring system with several stages of scoring, rules and exceptions, evening out scores and bonus points at the end of a match. Korean Mahjong has a simple scoring system where only winner scores without any form of doubling.

Some variations give points for concealed hands, in which case no melds are made except by winning on a discard.

In Old Hong Kong Mahjong:

Comparison

Mahjong Variations
Variation Hong Kong Competition Japanese Three player HK NewTaiwan AmericanClassical Korean Singapore Sichuan
Characters Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick
Circles Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick
Bamboo Green tick Green tick Green tick yellow tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick yellow tick Green tick Green tick
Dragons Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Red X
Winds Green tick Green tick Green tick yellow tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Red X
Flowers Green tick Green tick yellow tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Red X
Seasons Green tick Green tick yellow tick yellow tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Red X
Animals Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X
Jokers Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Green tick Red X
Scoring Base Fan Fan Multipliers Simple Fan Simple American Multipliers Simple Simple Varies
Scoring Winner Winner Winner Winner Winner Winner Winner All Winner Winner Varies
East Doubles Green tick Red X Green tick Red X Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Red X Green tick Red X
Sacred Discard Red X Red X Green tick Green tick Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X
Melded Chows Green tick Green tick Green tick Red X Green tick Green tick Green tick Green tick Red X Green tick Red X
Riichi Red X Red X Green tick yellow tick Red X Green tick Red X Red X yellow tick Red X Red X
Minimum Points (in variations units) 3f 8 1y 3+ 5f 7/10t Varies 3f 2p 2u Varies

Competition

The top 3 in the World Mahjong Championship in Tokyo, October 2002. Left: John J. O'Connor (2nd place) In the middle: world champion Mai Hatsune, from Japan Right: Yuichi Ikeya (3rd place)
The first Open European Mahjong Championship, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, June 2005
The winners of the second Open European Mahjong Championship, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 2007. From left: Kohichi Oda (2), Martin Wedel Jacobsen (1), and Benjamin Boas (3)

In 1998, in the interest of dissociating illegal gambling from Mahjong, the China State Sports Commission published a new set of rules, now generally referred to as Chinese Official rules or International Tournament rules (see Guobiao Majiang). The principles of the new, wholesome Mahjong are no gambling, no drinking, and no smoking. In international tournaments, players are often grouped in teams to emphasize that Mahjong from now on is considered a sport.

The new rules are highly pattern-based. The rulebook contains 81 combinations, based on patterns and scoring elements popular in classic and modern regional Chinese variants; some table practices of Japan have also been adopted. Points for flower tiles (each flower is worth one point) may not be added until the player has scored 8 points. The winner of a game receives the score from the player who discards the winning tile, plus 8 basic points from each player; in the case of zimo (self-drawn win), he receives the value of this round plus 8 points from all players.

The new rules were first used in an international tournament in Tokyo, where, in 2002, the first global tournament in Mahjong was organized by the Mahjong Museum, the Japan Mahjong Organizing Committee, and the city council of Ningbo, China. One hundred players participated, mainly from Japan and China, but also from Europe and the United States. Mai Hatsune, from Japan, became the first world champion. The following year saw the first annual China Mahjong Championship, held in Hainan; the next 2 annual tournaments were held in Hong Kong and Beijing. Most players were Chinese; players from other nations attended as well.

In 2005, the first Open European Mahjong Championship[26] was held in the Netherlands, with 108 players. The competition was won by Masato Chiba from Japan. The second European championship[27] in Copenhagen(2007) was attended by 136 players and won by Danish player Martin Wedel Jacobsen. The first Online European Mahjong Championship was held on the Mahjong Time server in 2007, with 64 players, and the winner was Juliani Leo, from the U.S., and the Best European Player was Gerda van Oorschot, from the Netherlands. The Third Open European Mahjong Championship 2009[28] at Baden/Vienna, Austria, was won by Japanese player Koji Idota, while runner-up Bo Lang from Switzerland became European Champion. There were 152 participants.

In 2006, the World Mahjong Organization (WMO) was founded in Beijing, China, with the cooperation of, amongst others, the Japan Mahjong Organizing Committee (JMOC) and the European Mahjong Association (EMA). This organization held its first World Mahjong Championship in November 2007 in the Chinese town of Chengdu, attended by 144 participants from all over the world. It was won by Li Li, a Chinese student at Tsinghua University. The next World Championship took place in Utrecht, the Netherlands, 27 to 29 August 2010.

Other major international tournaments include the Mahjong International League's World Mahjong Sports Games and the privately sponsored World Series Of Mahjong.

American mahjong tournaments are held in virtually every state—the largest is in Las Vegas, Nevada twice a year, and in Atlantic City, New Jersey, by Mah Jongg Madness; and the annual cruise hosted by the National Mah Jongg League and Mah Jongg Madness (MJM). MJM tournaments host between 150 and 500 participants at these larger events; and there are several smaller scale, but equally successful tournaments held annually by other hosts. Prize pools are based on the number participating. Rules are based on the National Mah Jongg League standard rules.

Superstitions

There are many superstitions associated with the game of Mahjong. For example, players will try to find seats with the best Feng Shui or wear their lucky clothing or trinkets.[29]

Some superstitious rituals in Mahjong can involve things from not counting one's wins and losses, to changing one's underwear after a loss.[30]

Glossary

Unicode

Mahjong tiles were added to the Unicode Standard in April, 2008 with the release of version 5.1.

The Unicode block for Mahjong tiles is U+1F000–U+1F02F:

Mahjong Tiles[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+1F00x 🀀 🀁 🀂 🀃 🀄 🀅 🀆 🀇 🀈 🀉 🀊 🀋 🀌 🀍 🀎 🀏
U+1F01x 🀐 🀑 🀒 🀓 🀔 🀕 🀖 🀗 🀘 🀙 🀚 🀛 🀜 🀝 🀞 🀟
U+1F02x 🀠 🀡 🀢 🀣 🀤 🀥 🀦 🀧 🀨 🀩 🀪 🀫
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 9.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

See also

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Lo, Andrew (2004). ‘China’s Passion for Pai: Playing Cards, Dominoes, and Mahjong’. In: Asian Games: The Art of Contest. Asia Society. pp. 217–231. ISBN 0-87848-099-4.
  2. ↑ Parlett, David (1978). The Penguin Book of Card Games. ISBN 978-0-14-103787-5.
  3. 1 2 Stanwick, Michael (2004). "'Mahjong(g) Before Mahjong(g): Part 1'". The Playing-Card. 32 (4): 153–162.
  4. ↑ Sloper, Tom. History of Mahjong FAQ 11. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Stanwick, Michael; Xu, Hongbin (2008). "Flowers and Kings: An Hypothesis of their Function in Early Ma Que". The Playing-Card. 37 (1): 29–40.
  6. ↑ Sloper, Tom. Is my set complete? at sloperama.com. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  7. ↑ Depaulis, Thierry (2007). "'Embarrassing Tiles: Mahjong and the Taipings'". The Playing-Card. 35 (3): 148–152.
  8. ↑ "Mahjong in China". Win Mahjong. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  9. ↑ Wilkinson, W.H. (1895). "Chinese Origin Of Playing Cards". The American Anthropologist. viii: 61–78.
  10. ↑ "Recalling the Craze for a Game of Chance" By Steven Heller, New York Times, 15 March 2010 online version
  11. ↑ Bill Bryson, Made in America. Harper, 1996, ch. 16.
  12. 1 2 3 "Why are so many players of American mah-jongg Jewish?". Sloperama.com. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  13. ↑ Tom Sloper, The Red Dragon & The West Wind: The Winning Guide to Official Chinese & American Mah-Jongg, HarperCollins, 2007.
  14. ↑ Pakarnian, John, "Game Boy: Glossary of Japanese Gambling Games", Metropolis, 22 January 2010, p. 15.
  15. ↑ Matsutani, Minoru, "Mah-jongg ancient, progressive", Japan Times, 15 June 2010, p. 3.
  16. ↑ Schodt, Frederik, Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics. Kodansha, 1986, Chapter 5.
  17. ↑ Richard S.K. Chang; Raymond T.F. Cheung; S.L. Ho & Windsor Mak (2007), "Mah-jong–induced seizures: case reports and review of twenty-three patients" (PDF), Hong Kong Med J, 13 (4): 314–318.
  18. ↑ England, Vaudine (4 August 2007). "Mahjong game can induce epileptic seizures". BBC News. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  19. ↑ "Only one way to cure mahjong epilepsy - avoid the game". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  20. ↑ "An exploratory study of the effect of mahjong on the cognitive functioning of persons with dementia". Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. 24 May 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  21. ↑ Lo, Amy (2001). The Book of Mahjong: An Illustrated Guide. North Clarendon, VT: Tuttle, p. 6. ISBN 978-0-8048-3302-8.
  22. ↑ Korean Rules
  23. ↑ "National Mahjjong League". Nationalmahjonggleague.org. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  24. ↑ American Mah-Jongg Association
  25. ↑ Peter Gregory. "Tile Classification". Mahjongbritishrules.com. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  26. ↑ "The Independent Internet Mahjong Newspaper". Mahjongnews.com. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  27. ↑ "Martin Wedel Jacobsen European mahjong champion". Mahjongnews.com. 20 June 2007. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  28. ↑ "OEMC 2009 Final Ranking". Mahjongnews.com. 5 July 2009. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  29. ↑ Lam, Desmond. "Chinese Gambling Superstitions and Taboos".
  30. ↑ "麻将之迷信技巧".
  31. ↑ Stanwick, Michael (2006). "Mahjong(g), before and after Mahjong(g): Part 2". The Playing-Card. 35 (1): 27–39.

Further reading

  • Lo, Amy. The Book of Mahjong: An Illustrated Guide. Tuttle Publishing: 2001. ISBN 0-8048-3302-8.
  • Oxfeld, Ellen, Blood, Sweat, and Mahjong: Family and Enterprise in an Overseas Chinese Community. Cornell University Press: 1993. ISBN 0-8014-9908-9.
  • Pritchard, David B., Teach Yourself mahjong. McGraw-Hill/Contemporary: 2001. ISBN 0-658-02147-8.
  • Sloper, Tom., Mah-Jongg: Game of the Orient. Self-published: n.d.
  • Wright Patterson Mah Jongg Group, Mah Jongg; Wright-Patterson Rules. Wright Patterson Mah Jongg Group: 1963.

Historical research

  • Culin, Stewart, ‘The Game of Ma-Jong, its Origin and Significance’. In: Brooklyn Museum Quarterly, Brooklyn, NY, Vol. XI, 1924, p. 153-168. Also found at; Gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca
  • Depaulis, Thierry, ‘Embarrassing Tiles: Mahjong and the Taipings’. In: The Playing-Card, Vol. 35, No. 3, 2007, pp. 148 – 153.
  • Ebashi, Takashi, ‘Proto Mahjong. Mahjong Tiles in the 19th Century’. In: Mahjong Museum Report, Vol. 5, No.2, Issue 9, April 2005, pp. 14 – 17 (in Japanese).
  • Lo, Andrew, ‘China’s Passion for Pai: Playing Cards, Dominoes, and Mahjong’. In: Asian Games: The Art of Contest, Colin Mackenzie and Irving Finkel, eds. Asia Society. 2004. pp. 217–231. ISBN 0-87848-099-4
  • Stanwick, Michael, ‘Mahjong(g) Before Mahjong(g): Part 1’. In: The Playing-Card, Vol. 32, No. 4, 2004, pp. 153–162.
  • Stanwick, Michael, ‘Mahjong(g) Before Mahjong(g): Part 2’. In: The Playing-Card, Vol. 32, No. 5, 2004, pp. 206–215.
  • Stanwick, Michael, ‘Mahjong(g), Before and After Mahjong(g): Part 1’. In: The Playing-Card, Vol. 34, No. 4, 2006, pp. 259–268.
  • Stanwick, Michael, ‘Mahjong(g), Before and After Mahjong(g): Part 2’. In: The Playing-Card, Vol. 35, No. 1, 2006, pp. 27–39.
  • Stanwick, Michael and Xu, Hongbing, 'Flowers and Kings: A Hypothesis of their Function in Early Ma Que'. In: The Playing-Card, Vol. 37, No. 1, 2008, pp. 29–40.
  • Stanwick, Michael and Xu, Hongbing, 'From Cards to Tiles: The Origin of Mahjong(g)'s Earliest Suit Names'. In: The Playing-Card, Vol. 41, No. 1, 2012, pp. 52–67.
  • Wilkinson, William H.,(1890): Published in 1901 as pp 184–194 of Catalogue of the Collection of Playing Cards Bequeathed to the Trustees of the British Museum, F. M. O’Donoghue.
  • Wilkinson, William H.,(1893): Published in Culin, Games of the Orient, Tuttle, 1958. First published under the title Korean Games, with Notes on the Corresponding Games of China and Japan, University of Pennsylvania, 1895.
  • Wilkinson, William H., ‘Chinese Origin of Playing Cards’, in The American Anthropologist, Volume VIII, 1895, pp. 61–78. Can also be found at;

Chinese classic

  • Babcock, Joseph Park, Babcock's Rules for Mah-jongg. Mah-jongg Sales Company of America: 1923.
  • Babcock, Smith, Hartman, Work, and Foster, The American Code Of Laws For Mah-Jongg. Standardization Committee: 1924.
  • Millington, A.D., Complete Book of Mah Jong. Weidenfeld & Nicolson: 1993. ISBN 0-297-81340-4.

Chinese official

  • Competition mahjong Official International Rulebook. Takeshobo: 2002. ISBN 4-8124-0944-6.
  • Handbook for the Competitions of the Chinese MaJiang. Organizing Committee of Chinese MaJiang: 2005.
  • Hatsune, Mai and Takunori Kajimoto, translation by Ryan Morris World-Class Mahjong with World Champion Mai Hatsune: 2005.
  • Pritchard, David B., The New mahjong. Right Way: 2004. ISBN 0-7160-2164-1.

External links

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