Originated in ancient China, Mahjong, also spelled as Majiang in Pinyin, is a tile game that is just fun and high stakes as playing a game of Texas poker. Mahjong game tactics is similar to solitaire and chess. It's based on a set of metaphysics, algorithms, and luck all in one. It's quite popular in Mainland China.

There are over 20 variations of Mahjong, not only played in China but some variants have formed in other countries. The most popular variants played in China are Classical Chinese Mahjong, the Shanghai Mahjong, Sichuan Mahjong, and Guangdong Mahjong.

Mahjong Language Use

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出牌chū pái: play a card

摸牌mō pái: get a card

洗牌xǐ pái: shuffle the tiles

庄家zhuāngjiā: the host, double win and double lose

上家shàngjiā: your left side

下家xiàjiā: your right side

骰子shǎizi: dice

坐庄zuòzhuāng: keep host

条tiáo: Tube

筒tǒng: Odds

万wàn: Million

幺yāo: number 1 and 9, winds, and yuan cards

对子duìzi: a pair, AA

付子fùzi: a set, such as (123, 456, 234, 789)

碰pèng: Peng, three identical tiles, triplet AAA

杠gāng: Gang, four identical tiles, quadruplet AAAA

停牌tíngpá: Ting, just need one more card to win, or Hu's eve

和hú: Hu-won

诈和zhàhú: false win

1. How to get started?

Get started with the basic rules about Mahjong. The First rule of importance is the location you decide to play. Choose a sturdy table and comfortable chairs. You will want to have preferably three or four friends (opponents) to play with you.

To begin playing, you must first shuffle the tiles face down on the table and each player then builds a wall of 13 tiles long by two tiles high. Two players will have 14 tiles in their wall, but that's normal. It should look something like this.

2. Shuffle and deal tiles

At the beginning of the game all tiles are placed face down on the table and are shuffled. The Mahjong pieces are stacked into lines. Nowadays this is usually done with a machine.

Everyone should roll dice to determine who goes first or the winner of the last round goes first. Just like card games do not reveal your tiles while shuffling. Each player pulls tiles four at a time until you have twelve tiles.

3. Stack and draw tiles

Each player then stacks a row of 18 tiles, two tiles high in front of them (for a total of 36 tiles). Players then push each side of their stack together to form a square wall.

Regular players usually place their stacks in a slightly diagonal position. The dealer throws three dice in the square wall and sums up the total. Counting anti-clockwise so that the dealer is 1 (or 5, 9, 13, 17).

Some common difficulties for foreign friends is the inability to recognize every tile, but once mastered and the game rules are understood, Mahjong is a fun-thrilling game. Contact Mandarin House to know more information.