Mah Jong (Japanese Modern)

4 Players take seats randomly.

Player who threw the highest dice after each one throwing 2 dices is EAST.
EAST mixes the four wind-cards and places it in a row on the table.
EAST declares one of the two ends as EVEN, the other one as ODD.
EAST throws 2 dice and counts counterclockwise, starting with himself.
The resulting player grabs the first card in the EVEN end if the 2 dice show
even, or the ODD end if the 2 dice show odd. The remaining cards get picked
up counterclockwise.
The (new) EAST player has the choice where to sit.
The table's layout is N-E-S-W, counterclockwise.
The three other players reseat indicating their wind-card.
The EAST player is the dealer.
The wall is built (18 cards squared and 2 high).
EAST throws 3 dices and counts counterclockwise, starting with himself.
The resulting player breaks the wall at the thrown number from the right side.
The cards to the left are the live wall, the 7 cards to the right are the dead
wall.
Starting with EAST, each player takes 4 cards off the live wall. After 3 rounds,
EAST takes 2 (having 14 total) but the other player only one tile (having 13
total).
EAST ist the dealer and starts the game.
Each player's turn is (playing counterclockwise):
Take (draw) a card clockwise from the wall into your deck.
Discard (deal) a card from your deck by putting it visible in your discard pile in
the middle of the table.
Here, another player can call it if it's melding (mentsu) in one of 3 ways with
other cards in his deck by uttering:
chi: Only if you are the next player of the dealer. After dealing a card the turn
continues with the next player.
pon: The mentsu can not be kan'ed. After dealing a card the turn continues
with the next player.
kan: One card can be left hidden to use it for a chi. Draw a card. Flip over
another dora card (kan-dora-rule). Turn continues with the next player.
Either way, the matched cards must be put openly in one's corner of the table.
His deck is now open.
Instead of calling, a player can simply state ron if the card completes his deck.
Ron gets preference over a kan over a pon over a chi. If identical things are
called (e.g. two ron's), the next player in turn gets it.
If you need a card to complete a chi/pon/kan/yan you are in closed wait.
If you need a card to ron/tsumo, you have a ready hand.
If the wall is empty or the dealer wins, he continues being the dealer, otherwise,
the next player gets to be the dealer.
The Session (=han chan) ends after the dealer-status rotated twice around the

table.
Also see this or this and my table here:
yaku (full winning deck), either by
tsumo (card drawn by yourself, +2
bonus) or ron (by other player
discarded card)

man;
(5),

(1),
(6),

(2),
(7),

(3),
(8),

(4),

win; complete deck (composed of at

least 14 cards).
- mentsu (14-18 cards): 4 chi/pon/kan
and one yan.
- chiito itsu: seven yan's
- kokushi musou: thirteen end cards
and some extra end card
a suit/color; card with a number (1-9);
the 1 and 9 card counts as end card.

(9)

sou

a suit/color; card with a bamboo (1-9),

the 1 and 9 card counts as end card.

pin

a suit/color; card with circles (1-9); the

1 and 9 card counts as end card.
pei (north wind),

wind),

ton (east

nan (south wind),

(west wind),

yaku hai; bonus cards; word cards;

counts as end card;

xia

hatsu (green dragon),

chun (red dragon), [fully white

card] haku (white dragon)
chi

meld; mentsu; men zi 3 cards of

successing numbers

pon

meld; mentsu; men zi; 3 identical

cards (chinese: pung/pong)

kan

meld; mentsu; 4 identical cards

yan

2 identical cards; needed for two of the

3 types of yaku's

furi ten

you can not use a card from your

discard pile for ron.

dora

Bonus-Indicator; The successing card

of the card first drawn in the game. If
in a suit, the next number, wrapping
from 9 to 1. If a wind, the next wind,
wrapping from North to East, and if a
dragon, wrapping from chun to haku.

riichi

multiplier/penalty; called out loud; you

are ten pai; you can only tsumo (no ron

anymore); must discard drawed card if
it doesen't bring tsumo.
ten pai

bonus; one tile left to win. Hands are

shown when noone wins at the end of a
round. The one not in Ten Pai pays a
1000 points to the one who is.

no ten

penalty (0-1500): not being in ten pai

by the time you run out of cards to
draw.

han chan

2 directional round

kami cha

the previous player

shimo cha

the next player

min

open meld; created by a discarded tile

an

closed meld; created by a selfdrawn tile

men

closed deck; you have only closed

melds, melds with the winning card are
exceptions

itsu

multiplier (1 open/2 closed): having 1

complete suit from 1 to 9 (3 mentsu);

pin fu

multiplier (0 open/1 closed): 4 chi's and

one suit yan

chin itsu

multiplier (5 open/6 closed): all cards of

one suit.

tan yao

multiplier (1): no end cards.

chanta

multiplier (1 open/2 closed): Every

meld must have at least one end card,
and the pair must be of an end card.

hon itsu

multiplier (2 open/3 closed): two suits

are completely absent.

san an kou

multiplier (2): 3 closed pon or kan's.

man gan

yaku worth at least 2000 points

hane man

yaku worth 1.5 * man gan

baiman

yaku worth 2 * man gan; 4000 points

sanbaiman

yaku worth 3 * man gan

yaku man

special yaku (worth 4 * man gan);

cancels all multipliers; sacks the other
players like a turkey ;)

dai san gen

yaku man; pon/kans of all 3 dragons

zi li sou

yaku man; a chiito itsu or mentsu

(pon/kan) deck having only word cards.

A good learning experience is installing mah-jong 1.7 (chinese rulset only).

Opportunities to play against non-bots are mahjongtime and gravon.
If you are traveling, mahjong cards could be useful.
For those wanting to play all-out Washizu Mahjong yourself with friends, an
official product is available. Since this is out of stock right now, you could roll
your own:
A plate of 10mm thick transparent plastic. Since 1 set is 34 cards (9man + 9sou
+ 9pin + 4wind + 3dragon) and 3 sets must go on the plastic, with one card
having 30mm*20mm, it should have around 25*25cm. I think you figure it out
when I say band saw and fine sand paper.
The final set goes on some bone-colored material which is dyed with a bamboo
color.
Now the fun part. Print these on Zweckform Transparent Inkjet Film and stick
them on.