How to play Riichi Mahjong

Objective

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The object of Mahjong is to get the name sake of the game, "Mahjong". A mahjong consists of four melds(or sets) and a pair of tiles. A meld is one of three different tile combinations:

  • Chi: A three tile sequence of the same suit
  • Pon: Three of the same tile
  • Kan: Four of the same tile

    • NOTE: Pairs are just two of the same tile. THEY ARE NOT MELDS.

    Here are some example hands of valid and invalid hands:

    INSERT IMAGES HERE

    On Your Turn

    When it is your turn, begin by drawing a tile from the next spot on the wall. Determine if the new tile creates a mahjong. If so, declare your win. Otherwise choose a tile to discard. After you discard, the other players can call on your tile to form a Chi, Pon, Kan, or Mahjong. Conversely, if you call on someone else's discard, it is considered your draw for turn and you proceed to discard and play continues from you even if it skips over other players.

    The following are the restrictions on how to call each type of meld.

  • Chi: You must be the next player in turn order.
  • Pon: You need at least two of the same tile already.
  • Kan: You need three of the same tile already.

    • NOTE: Pairs cannot be called unless for Mahjong.

    This list is also the priority of calls. If you call Pon, it overrides anyone calling Chi. Kan overrides the previous two. And Mahjong takes highest priority (and also ends the hand).

    There are two ways to declare your Mahjong to win the hand:

  • Tsumo: You drew the tile you need.
  • Ron: An opponent discarded the tile you need.
  • INSERT ILLUSTRATIONS OF TSUMO AND RON

    • NOTE: Usually, multiple players can win via Ron if agreed upon beforehand. Otherwise priority goes in turn order.

    Tiles

    There are 5 different suits divided into two types: Numbericals and Honors. There are 4 of each tile.

    The Numbericals consist of tiles from 1-9 and are called the following:

  • Pin or Dots
  • INSERT IMAGES HERE OF PINS
  • Sou or Bamboo
  • INSERT IMAGES HERE OF SOUS
  • Han or Numbers
  • INSERT IMAGES HERE OF HANS

    • NOTE: The numbers are traditionally marked with kanji. Sets with arabic numbers exist though more common on American sets.

    The Honors do not have any numerical ordering (and therefore cannot form Chi's) and are called the following.

  • The Dragons. They consist of Red, Green, and White dragon tiles.
  • INSERT IMAGES HERE OF DRAGONS
  • The Winds. They consist of East, South, West, North. Each one corrisponds to a player's seating position.
  • INSERT IMAGES HERE OF WINDS

    • NOTE: American mahjong sets include jokers, Flowers, and Season tiles and Chinese sets include Flower and Season tiles. If you're using one of these, remove these tiles for standard Riichi play.

    Setup

    Each player is represented by a cardinal direction (that corrisponds to the winds in game); Player's wind will rotate during the game. Use any method for picking the player order and take the appropriate seat. East is always the dealer for the hand.

    Shuffle the tiles face down on the play space. Begin building the wall; The wall is like a deck in card based games and will be where you draw your tiles from throughout the game. Make 4 rows of 17 face down tiles 2 tiles high. These 4 double high rows will be the wall. The East seat player will cut the wall and begin dealing.