Sunday, November 6, 2011

Chinese Culture: What's Hot Now: Mahjong: How To Play Mahjong

Chinese Culture: What's Hot Now
These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com
Mahjong: How To Play Mahjong
Nov 6th 2011, 10:08

While the origin of mahjong (麻將, má jiàng), along called mah-jongg in the US, is unknown, the fast-paced four-player game is popular throughout Asia. The game was first sold in the US in the 1920s and has become popular in the last decade. Mahjong is often played as a gambling game; therefore, mahjong was banned after 1949 in China but reintroduced after the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).

There are variations in game play from country to country. Many mahjong sets contain 136 or 144 tiles. There are 16 rounds in a game with a winner after each round. Learn how to play one common version (based on 136 tiles).

Difficulty: Average

Time Required: Approximately 2 hours

Here's How:

  1. Before playing mahjong, it is important to identify and understand each mahjong tile.
  2. Similar to poker, the goal in mahjong is to get the highest combination of tiles which are called sets. Players must learn what the sets are before playing mahjong.
  3. Once players can identify and understand each tile and have learned the sets, the mahjong game can be set up. To get up the game, first, place all the tiles face down on the table or game board.
  4. ‘Wash’ the tiles by each player placing the palms of his hands on the tiles and shuffling or moving them around the table.
  5. Next, each player builds a wall in front of his playing space. Click here for step-by-step photo directions for building the mahjong walls.
  6. Taking turns, each player rolls the three dice. The player with the highest total is the ‘dealer’ or ‘banker.’ The directional die is placed in front of the dealer.

    The directional die helps the players keep track of the player game wind (門風, ménfÄ"ng or 自風, zì fÄ"ng). The ‘dealer’ begins with the die East Wind (東, dōng) face up. After four rounds of serving as dealer, the player to the dealer’s left places the South Wind (南, nán) face up. The third player is the West Wind (西, xÄ«) and the last player is the North Wind (北, bÄ›i). Each player serves as the ‘dealer’ for four rounds.

  7. Using the total number the ‘dealer’ rolled with the three dice, the host counts the tiles along the wall in front of him. For example, if the ‘dealer’ rolls a 12, start with tile number one on the top row all the way to the right. Moving clockwise, count the tiles and stop at number 12. Make a space between the 12th and 13th tiles similar to cutting a deck of cards in a card game.
  8. The ‘dealer’ takes the first four tiles (13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th) from the top row and keeps them face down. Then, the person to the ‘dealer’s’ left takes the next four tiles and so on. Each player takes his turn in a clockwise motion grabbing four tiles each time until each player has 16 tiles. All tiles remain facedown and are not to be shown to other players.
  9. Once game play has started, each player looks at his or her tiles by placing them in the rack or on their sides. The tiles should remain hidden from other players.

    Any tile combinations automatically drawn, such as straights or three-of-a-kinds, should be placed face up in set order in front of the player. For example, if there is a straight using two, three, and four, the tiles should be placed in numerical order: two, three and four.

  10. The ‘dealer’ draws one tile from the wall. Then, the ‘dealer’ can choose to keep the new tile to help create a set or discard it. If the ‘dealer’ chooses to keep the new tile, then he must discard one of his original tiles. While 17 tiles are needed to win, only 16 are kept at each turn unless the player is declaring victory.
  11. The player to the ‘dealer’s’ left can either draw the next tile from the wall or take the discarded tile that the ‘dealer’ discarded. Regardless of which option the player takes, the player can choose to keep the new tile to help create a set or discard it. If the ‘dealer’ chooses to keep the new tile, then he must discard one of his original tiles. While 17 tiles are needed to win, only 16 are kept at each turn unless the player is declaring victory.
  12. Game play continues in the same manner until one player gets five sets and a pair or a four-of-a-kind, four sets, and a pair and declares victory.

    As players continue to create straights and three-of-a-kinds, they call out the name of the set and place it in front of their play area.

    Players who opt to take the last tile discarded (the tile discarded by the player to his right), can only take the tile if it completes a set.

  13. When drawing a tile either from the wall or from within the walls, if it creates a four-of-a-kind, say “gàng!” Just as with chī and pong, players can grab a tile out of turn if it gives them a four-of-a-kind.

    After placing the four-of-a-kind in from the player’s game area the player takes an additional tile from the wall. However, the tile is taken from the opposite end of the wall (the tile on the extreme left of the wall in front of the fourth player, which is the player to the right of the ‘dealer’).

  14. The game ends when all wall tiles are taken or a player declares victory with either five sets of three tiles and one pair or four sets of three, one four-of-a-kind, and one pair. If a player declares victory but is found to actually not be the winner, the situation is called (詐胡, zhà hú), the player must pay all the other players.
  15. At the end of each round, payment to the winner may be made (optional) and points for each player's hands are tabulated.

Tips:

  1. If a player makes a mistake in grabbing his tiles during step 8, for example he takes less than 16 tiles or more than 16 tiles, the player is called 相公 (xiànggong, messire or husband). This mistake should be avoided because this player will not be able to win the game because he has violated the rules. The player must continue to play the game, but he cannot win. If another player wins the game, the 相公 must pay extra money.
  2. When a player discards a tile in the center of the walls, if it completes another player’s set, that player can grab it out of turn and say “chī!” for a straight or “pong” for three-of-a-kind. Then, the player must immediately place the set that includes the newly grabbed tile (called the ‘stolen’ tile) in front of his play area. The ‘stolen’ tile should be placed in the middle of the three tile set.

    The player then discards one of his tiles. If the tile is taken out of turn, the players who were skipped lose their turns and play continues to the left of the player that called chī or pong.

  3. If the gàng happens at the end of the round, then the victorious player must have four sets of three, one four-of-a-kind, and one pair from any suit. While this would equal 18 tiles, a four-of-a-kind is counted as one set of three tiles).

What You Need:

  • A complete mahjong set of 136 or 144 tiles which includes:
  • 3 ‘simple’ suits: stones, characters, and bamboos
  • 2 ‘honor’ suits: winds and dragons
  • 1 optional suit: flowers
  • 1 directional die
  • 3 dice
  • 4 racks for players to place their tiles (optional)
  • Game board (optional)

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com.
If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

No comments:

Post a Comment