A first game of British Mahjong, step by step.
British Mahjong is played by building a hand while taking one tile and discarding one tile in turn. You do not need to know all the scoring rules before you begin.
Not sure which Mahjong rules you play? Compare British, Hong Kong, Riichi, MCR and American MahjongStart by learning the rhythm: draw, decide, discard, and recognise when another player’s discard can help you.
One ordinary completed hand. Special hands can use different patterns.
Everyone has a Wind
At a four-player table, each player has a seat Wind: East, South, West or North. These are player roles that move as the game progresses.
East is special. East starts the hand and receives one extra tile in the deal so that they can make the first discard.
The deal
At the start of a hand, East receives 14 playing tiles. South, West and North receive 13 each.
Flowers and Seasons are bonus tiles, not part of the normal 13-tile playing hand. If one is dealt to you, lay it face-up and take a replacement tile from the Kong box.
The rhythm of a turn
Most turns follow the same three steps. You can discard the tile you just drew, or keep it and discard something else.
A discarded tile is normally finished with immediately. It only comes back into play if somebody is allowed to claim it straight away.
The three ordinary kinds of set
Pung
Three identical tiles. Pungs are one of the most common building blocks of a British Mahjong hand.
Kong
Four identical tiles. A Kong still fills just one set position, so declaring it means taking a replacement tile from the Kong box.
Chow
Three consecutive numbered tiles from the same suit. Under the ordinary British rules used by this scorer, a normal hand may contain no more than one Chow.
Claiming another player’s discard
If another player discards exactly the tile you need, you may sometimes claim it immediately.
If the discard completes three identical tiles, call “Pung!”, lay the set face-up, then discard a tile.
If the discard completes four identical tiles, call “Kong!”, lay it out, take a Kong-box replacement, then continue your turn.
You may normally claim a discard for a Chow only when you are the next player due to play.
If the discard completes your winning hand, declare “Mah Jong!”. There is no discard after the winning tile.
Discard completes your Pung or Kong? Claim it.
Discard completes your Chow and you are next? Claim it.
Discard completes Mah Jong? Declare Mah Jong.
Otherwise? Leave it.
What if two people want the same discard?
Mah Jong takes precedence over an ordinary set claim. If more than one player can declare Mah Jong from the same discard, precedence follows the normal anti-clockwise order from the discarder.
Concealed and exposed sets
A set is concealed when you make it from your original tiles and tiles you draw yourself. A set is exposed when you claim another player’s discard to complete it and lay it face-up.
Flowers and Seasons interrupt the normal draw
Flowers and Seasons are bonus tiles. They do not stay in your playing hand. Lay them face-up and take a replacement tile from the Kong box. If the replacement is another bonus tile, repeat the process.
Plum · Spring
Orchid · Summer
Chrysanthemum · Autumn
Bamboo · Winter
What is the Kong box?
The Kong box is a small reserved group of tiles at the end of the wall. It supplies replacement tiles after a Flower, Season or declared Kong.
Normal turn-by-turn draws
Replacement tiles only
How a hand ends
A hand usually ends when somebody declares Mah Jong. For an ordinary hand, that normally means four sets and a pair.
- Play stops.
- All players lay out their hands.
- The winner is scored first.
- The other hands are scored.
- Payments are settled.
The scorer can handle those calculations for you.
What if nobody wins?
If the live wall runs out before anyone declares Mah Jong, the hand is drawn. A hand can also be drawn if a replacement tile is required but the Kong box is empty.
How the Winds move between hands
East stays East. The seat Winds do not move.
South becomes East, West becomes South, North becomes West, and East becomes North.
East stays East.
Seat Wind and prevailing Wind are different
Your seat Wind identifies your current player position. The prevailing Wind applies to the whole table and changes more slowly.
They can be the same, but they are not the same thing. East always starts the hand regardless of the prevailing Wind. The game scorer tracks both for you.
The five things to remember for your first game
- 01Build four sets and a pair.
- 02On your turn: draw one, discard one.
- 03Pungs and Kongs are matching tiles; a Chow is a three-tile run.
- 04Flowers, Seasons and Kongs get replacement tiles from the Kong box.
- 05East starts, and East stays East if East wins.
That is enough to start playing. The scorer can help with the parts that are harder to remember.
Setting up a physical table
Shuffle all tiles face-down, build four walls, determine the seat Winds and prevailing Wind, break the wall using the table’s dice procedure, reserve the Kong box, and deal 14 tiles to East and 13 to the other players.
Replace any dealt Flowers and Seasons before East makes the first discard. The exact wall-breaking procedure is best followed from the full British-rules source rather than compressed into this first-game guide.