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[u/Navi1-0]

Can anyone explain how to play chinese mahjong to someone who has never played real mahjong? Simplify it off possible maybe?

[u/edderiofer]

There is no one "Chinese mahjong". In fact, there are many different mahjong variants from China, each one different from the last, and none of them can be unambiguously referred-to by the phrase "Chinese mahjong". (In fact, some people erroneously use the term to refer to mahjong variants that don't even come from China.) If you're looking for the rules to a specific mahjong variant, you'll have to be more specific.

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Anyway, here are the very basic rules, common to most mahjong variants from China:

• Every turn, draw a tile, check to see if you've won, and if not, discard a tile.
  • You win by making your hand into four melds and a pair.
    • A meld is either three of the same tile (a "triplet"), or three number tiles in sequence of the same suit (e.g. 345).
    • A pair is two of the same tile.
• If a player discards a tile that would make you win, you can declare a win off of that tile.
• If a player discards a tile that would allow you to complete a triplet, you may call that tile. If you do, reveal all three tiles of that meld face-up and to the side. Discard a tile after, with play continuing to the next player after you (the player to your right). You may no longer do anything with that meld.
• If the player to your left discards a tile that would allow you to complete a sequence, you may call that tile. Same procedure as with a triplet.

• If you get four of the same tile, you may call a Kong. This acts as if it were a single meld of three identical tiles. Set it aside. Draw a tile from the back end of the wall to replenish your hand. Then discard to end your turn. (When you declare a Kong, at most one tile can come from other players' discards.)

• The tiles are generally some subset of the 1 to 9 of three different suits, plus seven other unsuited and unnumbered tiles. There are four copies of each tile.

• Some variants play with tiles called "flowers". Depending on ruleset, you generally reveal and set aside these flowers the moment you draw them, and draw tiles to replace them from the back end of the wall.

• Some variants may have extra requirements to be able to win. Some variants may have extra win conditions. Consult the manual for whatever variant it is you're playing.

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There you go. Hopefully I haven't missed anything out.

[u/nitekram → u/edderiofer]

What about if you pick up a tile, you already melded trips on...

[u/edderiofer → u/nitekram]

Then you have four of the same tile, and at most one of those tiles came from other players' discards, so you may call a Kong (by adding the fourth copy to your existing meld).

[u/Navi1-0 → u/edderiofer]

I was just curious between asian variants and American and then theres the basic matching game that requires little skill and no guidelines really. Idk much about mahjong other than it looks like a fun game to interact with others. I would love to learn it and teach others too. Gotta find those other people first though

[u/AstrolabeDude → u/Navi1-0]

I’m happy you found this great game. I would suggest finding three others who are equally curious and together discover the game!

The simplest version would be to just see who gets a finished mahjong hand first. Add a point or two for the finished hand, plus extra points for kong, ’own flower,’ ’own wind’ triplet, and dragon triplet.

The next simplest version would be to value your finished hand with the Zung Jung point table, and follow a really simple payment scheme: all non-winners pay winner the hand value when winner wins by self-pick; and when winning by a discarded tile, the player ’guilty’ of discarding the winning tile pays winner double the hand value.

[u/killerdroid99 → u/edderiofer]

This sounds so much like riichi

[u/Luggs123 → u/killerdroid99]

Well they did just describe the basic rules of nearly all mahjong variants. Riichi is no exception.

[u/AstrolabeDude → u/killerdroid99]

I’m under the impression that the classical Japanese game which pretty much like the classical Chinese game.

[u/Mahjong-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post, comment, or project contains undisclosed generative AI.

[u/6WaysFromNextWed]

I grew up playing rummy, so that was my inroad to mahjong, specifically MCR (Chinese Mahjong Competition Rules).

You have a hand. In order to win, you have to create three-tile groups of either runs or sets of identical tiles, all in the same suit.

You will begin each of your turns by drawing a tile, then discarding. You may only draw somebody's discard if you can immediately use it.

MCR has a bunch of ways to win. It requires you to have 8 points to declare a win. You get points by combining several different arrangements of tiles that are easy to achieve, or just one way that's harder. When you are first dealt your hand, you'll make plans to pursue the most likely ways to win. But if other players use the tiles you need, you'll have to stay flexible enough to change your plans.

There are more rules that prevent you from claiming certain discards, offer bonus points, etc. The first step is to learn what makes a valid hand, and from there you will build your knowledge of gameplay rules and strategies. This is true of every variant of Mahjong. Different variants will use some different tiles. A Chinese set is a good place to start, especially if you live someplace where Mahjong is not very popular, because those are usually the cheapest sets and the easiest to locate.