The Tiles
There are 136 tiles consisting of 3 main suits and 4 other ‘Honour' and bonus suits.
3 main suits are:
Bamboo (also known as lines, sticks)
Dots (also known as circles)
Characters

All 3 suits have 1 to 9 differently numbered tiles, 4 of each number
2-8 numbered tiles are simple. 1 and 9 are terminals.
The honour and bonus suits are for scoring and are as follows:
The Winds – North, South, East and West.
- Dragons
- Season
- Flowers
(Seasons and flowers are not played – if a player draws such tiles they are just given a new tile to play.)

How to Play
The Aim of Mah Jong is to win by completing a set comprising of 14 tiles. This would consist of:
1. 4 sets of 3 tiles
2. A pair of 2 identical tiles

Sets of 3 tiles can be from the following:-
A sequence - 3 consecutive tiles of one suit eg. (Holes) 1-2-3 , 2-3-4 , etc
A triplet - which is 3 identical tiles of one suit eg (bamboo) 1-1-1 , 2-2-2 , etc OR
A four (four identical tiles- the fourth is seen as an ‘extra' tile)

The pair must be any two identical tiles eg. Red dragon x 2

Players take turns being each Wind. East always initially has 14 tiles so he discards one. To discard a tile
– you must left click on the tile you wish to discard. It is placed in the middle face up, so players can see
its value. If you wish to claim a tile another player has discarded you must left click on that tile within 4 seconds of being discarded. If you claim a tile that may be used for more than one combination in your hand, you will be shown the possible combinations - left click on the combination you want.

Once a tile is claimed or discarded it is not possible to retract that move. Play is anticlockwise so each player
in turn draws a tile from the wall. A tile is drawn automatically for you when it’s your turn. All discarded tiles are
displayed at the bottom of the screen.

If any player wants a discarded tile the following could arise.

CHOW
– making a set in sequence. If a player has 2 tiles and need the discarded tile from the player on the
left to complete a 3 sequence set then that player can ‘CHOW’ the discarded tile instead of picking from
the wall. The sequence of 3 must then be faced or shown to the other players. A player can ONLY ‘CHOW’
when it’s their turn and can only pick up the last tile discarded by the player on their left. I.e. in order of play.

As stated, order of play is consecutive, one player after another in an anticlockwise order but if a player NOT directly next to the discarder claims a discarded tile then order of play is disrupted temporarily.

Order of play can be temporarily disrupted by the following situations:

PUNG – Making a set of triplets. If a player has an identical pair and if ANY player discards an identical tile then that player can ‘PUNG’ and claim the discarded tile instead of drawing from the wall. Like chow if you claim any discarded tile your set of 3 must be faced up and shown to the other players and a tile must be discarded. If the player who ‘PUNGS’ is not in sequence with order of play then the players between the discarder and the player who ‘PUNG’ are skipped and miss their turn.

KONG – making a four
If a player has a triplet and claims the discarded tile as the fourth. With a kong, an extra tile is drawn from the dead wall to compensate for the extra tile in the set. Like Pung, if the player is not in sequence with order of play then the players between the discarder and the player who ‘KONG’ are skipped and miss their turn.
Therefore, CHOW does NOT disrupt order of play as its only from the player on your right who can claim it but a player who ‘PUNG’ or ‘KONG’ may do so.

MAH JONG – When you need only one tile. You may claim the winning tile from any player regardless of whether it is for a pair or for a sequence.

Order of Importance and priority of declarations -
1. MAH JONG is the most important
2. PUNG/KONG
3. CHOW least important

If 2 players want the same tile, one as a sequence and the other a triplet then the player who declares ‘PUNG’ gets it. But with any declaration, after a player has claimed a tile AND discarded another, the tile is his. So although the above rules apply players must act promptly if they want the tile.

It is impossible for 2 players to declare CHOW simultaneously because one can only declare CHOW for a tile discarded by the player on the left. (Also impossible for 2 players to declare PUNG because only 4 tiles of each kind in each set.

If 2 or 3 players declare the winning tile for the same discarded tile, the rule will be the first i.e. the quickest who declares it, gets the tile.

SCORING:
An aggregate of eight consecutive games of Mah Jong constitutes a round and possibly, if applicable, a score for the top ten scoreboard (single play only and not multi-play)

There are many variations as to calculate the scores for mah jong but for our game rules we have simplified them for convenience.

Each player starts with 2000 points. Only the winner of each round will be awarded points. If none of the players have gone mah jong then for that round everyone has 0 points (apart from any invalid claims) and counts as one game.

Scoring is divided into several parts. Calculating the Points then the Doubles. .

The procedure for calculating the total in a hand is as follows:

1.First add up points from tiles (pungs, kongs, and bonus tiles)
2. Multiply for all applicable special hands eg. clean hand, pure hand etc
3. Add 20pts for winning the round
4. Subtract, if any, the penalties (invalid claims)
5. Double total – applicable if player discarded winning tile/drawn from the wall.

1. Calculating the Points can vary according to the kind of sets the winning hand makes (eg. chow, pung or kong), whether they are concealed or revealed and whether they are simple or terminal( simple sets include values 2-8 and terminal sets include values 1 or 9) See table below for points breakdown.

2. Special Hands/Doubles

Pung or Kong of own Wind. For having three or more of your own wind tiles you are awarded x2.

Clean Hand. A winning hand whereby all tiles are the same suit or of an honour suit. It does not matter if they are concealed or revealed. This hand is awarded x2 but it will not apply, if there is more than one chow in that hand.

Fully Concealed Hand. A winning hand whereby no tiles are revealed is awarded x3Pure Hand. A winning hand whereby all tiles are completely of the same suit is awarded x4. Similar to Clean Hand it does not matter if they are concealed or revealed and you are limited to one chow in your hand to qualify.

Honors Hand. A winning hand whereby all tiles are honour tiles is awarded x4.

3. For winning the round the player gets 20 points

4. You can lose points by making invalid claims for a discarded tile (-4).

5. The player who discards the winning tile pays double the total while the other two pay single but if the winning tile is drawn from the wall everyone pays double the total.

How to…. With the Mouse

Discard a tile...... Left-click on the tile you want to discard.
Claim a tile......... Left-click on the tile another player discarded.
Expose a Kong.. Left click on 'kong' button
Mah Jong............ Will automatically declare

There is a time limit for claiming a discarded tile of 4 seconds

When a tile is drawn from the wall this tile is lifted above the rest of your or your competitors hand

There is a ticker that tracks the number of tiles left for the game.