These couple weeks that you’re stuck at home and bored on your coronavacation are the perfect time to bust out the old Mahjong set and bond with your family as you unofficially quarantine yourselves together! The rules may be a little daunting, but the fun is all worthwhile! I’ll walk you through the process so that you too may enjoy the excitement of traditional Chinese games!

BASIC COMPONENTS

All of the tiles in the game of Mahjong. Aren’t they lovely?

Mahjong is played with four players. There are three suits: numbers, circles (I like to call them “cookies”), and bamboos (or “pickles”). These suits are then divided into four sets of numbers 1 through 9. There are also tiles for the four directions (north, east, south, west) as well as special tiles that don’t belong to a suit. Note that the directions do not count as a suit.

SETUP

The four walls setup of a Mahjong game.

To set up a game of mahjong, all the tiles must be shuffled and arranged in 4 walls of 34 face-down tiles, 17 tiles long and 2 tiles high. They should form a large square in the center of the table.

The full rules indicate a complex system to determine how to deal the tiles, but for the purposes of this blog, I will simplify the rules. Each player rolls a pair of dice and whoever rolls the highest combined number becomes the dealer. The dealer then rolls again, using the larger number to determine which side to begin drawing from. For example, if the dealer rolled a 3, then they would count off the sides (starting from their own) and draw from the 3rd side. The players then draw in a clockwise rotation by picking up a 2×2 stack of tiles 3 times for a total of 12 tiles. The dealer then draws two more while the other players only draw one.

GAMEPLAY RULES

In order to win, you must get a mahjong: all 14 of your tiles in 4 sets with 1 pair. A set can be 3 identical tiles or 3 consecutive tiles in the same suit (for example, 4-5-6 bamboos). A pair, as you might have guessed, is two identical tiles. Each tile can only be used in one set.

The dealer begins the game with an extra tile and must discard it, then play begins to their left.

The next player may either draw a new tile or take an action. Players have two actions they can take other than drawing a new tile: peng (literally “push”) or chi (lit. “eat”). Any player during any turn may peng, that is, claiming the most recently discarded tile in order to complete a set of three identical tiles. Once completed, the player discards a tile and play resumes to their left. Chi can only be performed on the tile discarded by the player immediately before you in order to complete a run of 3 consecutive tiles. Like the peng, play resumes to their left. Peng takes priority over chi. If a player completes a peng or chi, they must lay the set face-up for the remainder of the game.

SCORING

Once a player has declared they have a mahjong (or in Chinese that they have hu le!!!!), they must reveal their hand and tally up the points. The scoring system for mahjong is extremely complicated and varies widely by region, but I will list a few basics that I am familiar with.

A different (and more complex) scoring system.

• 1 PT: getting a mahjong.
• 1 PT: drawing the final tile that completed your mahjong (instead of by peng or chi).
• 1 PT: never penging or chiing throughout the game.
• 1 PT: none of the sets include a 1 or 9.
• 1 PT: all of the sets are from the same suit.
• 1 PT: having 1 set of 4 identical tiles.
• 7 PTS: getting a dragon (tiles 1-9 all the same suit)

There are also variations to increase the difficulty and extend the length of the game, such as a requirement of at least 3 points in order to actually win.

Those are the basic rules, so now you are fully equipped to tackle this coronavacation in style! Remember kids, spread cultural awareness, not viruses!