How to play Japanese mahjong

An article by Taiyaki_yaro, sharing on a concise guide for people who are new to Japanese mahjong

Kuan Rong Chan, Ph.D.
Mahjong Academy

--

1. Tile names

*There are 34 kinds of tiles in mahjong.

*There are 4 identical copies of each tile, totaling 136 tiles.

*East, South, West and North are called winds.

  • White, Green and Red are called dragons.

2. Basic Routine

  • There are 4 players in Mahjong.
  • Each player has 13 tiles in their hand
  • 4 players repeat the following action in order (See Figure below):

1) Pick a tile from the stock

2) Choose an unnecessary tile

3) Discard a tile to the Boneyard.

3. The Goal

The Goal is to make 4 sets and 1 pair in your hand.

--

--

Kuan Rong Chan, Ph.D.
Mahjong Academy

Kuan Rong Chan, PhD, Senior Principal Research Scientist in Duke-NUS Medical School. Virologist | Data Scientist | Loves mahjong | Website: kuanrongchan.com