How to play Mahjong - game rules
Tile kinds
A set of Mah-Jong tiles consists of 144 pieces and includes:
- Colors - (containing "characters", "bamboos" and "circles"),
- Honors - (containing "winds" and "dragons") and
- Bonuses - (containing "seasons" and "flowers").
We offer two kinds of tile sets: a TRADITIONAL set and a EUROPEAN one.
Traditional tiles
Colors
There are three categories ("characters", "bamboos" and "circles", which are also called "balls" or "dots") and numbered from 1 to 9.
There are 4 tiles of each kind in every category, totaling 108 tiles in the set.
The tiles numbered 1 and 9 are called "the ends", and the tiles numbered from 2 to 8 - "the ordinary ones".
| CHARACTERS | ||||||||
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| BAMBOOS | ||||||||
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| CIRCLES | ||||||||
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Honors
There are two categories: "dragons" and "winds". There are three kinds of dragons: red, green and white, as well as 4 kinds of "winds" - east, south, west and north. As with "characters" there are 4 tiles of each kind, totaling 28 Honors.
| DRAGONS | ||
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| Green | Red | White |
| WINDS | |||
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| East | South | West | North |
Bonuses
There are 4 "flowers" and 4 "seasons". Both categories consist of one tile of each kind only, numbered from 1 to 4. Since there is only one tile of each kind in the set, BONUSES can be combined in pairs in any way - not only within a category but also within the whole BONUSES set. For example, SPRING can be combined in a pair with any tile within the FLOWERS category.
| SEASONS | |||
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| Spring | Summer | Autumn | Winter |
| FLOWERS | |||
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| Plum | Orchid | Chryzantemum | Bamboo |
SCORING
A player gets points for each pair taken off the table. They are calculated in the following way: the point value of each set (the chart below) is multiplied by the number of pairs still left on the table.
| CHARACTERS | 1 |
| CIRCLES | 2 |
| BAMBOOS | 3 |
| WINDS | 4 |
| DRAGONS | 5 |
| FLOWERS | 6 |
| SEASONS | 7 |
For example, when a game is started, there are 72 pairs of tiles on the table. If a pair of bamboo tiles is removed from the table, the player gets 3 (the set value) x 72 (pairs on the table) = 216 points. The next pair taken off the table is multiplied by 71, and so on, until all pairs are removed from the table. In case of a BONUSES set pair, the multiplier is the tile of the category that is scored higher. For example, a FLOWER + a SEASON collected in the first move is scored 7x72=504 points, while a FLOWER + a FLOWER will be scored 6x72=432 points.
European set of tiles
A European set of tiles is presented below. The rules for collecting and scoring are the same as in the traditional version.
Colors
There are three categories ("characters", "bamboos" and "circles", which are also called "balls" or "dots") and numbered from 1 to 9.
There are 4 tiles of each kind in every category, totaling 108 tiles in the set.
The tiles numbered 1 and 9 are called "the ends", and the tiles numbered from 2 to 8 - "the ordinary ones".
| CHARACTERS | ||||||||
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| BAMBOOS | ||||||||
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| CIRCLES | ||||||||
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Honors
There are two categories: "dragons" and "winds". There are three kinds of dragons: red, green and white, as well as 4 kinds of "winds" - east, south, west and north. As with "characters" there are 4 tiles of each kind, totaling 28 Honors.
| DRAGONS | ||
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| Green | Red | White |
| WINDS | |||
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| Spring | Summer | Autumn | Winter |
Bonuses
There are 4 "flowers" and 4 "seasons". Both categories consist of one tile of each kind only, numbered from 1 to 4. Since there is only one tile of each kind in the set, BONUSES can be combined in pairs in any way - not only within a category but also within the whole BONUSES set. For example, SPRING can be combined in a pair with any tile within the FLOWERS category.
| SEASONS | |||
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| Spring | Summer | Autumn | Winter |
| FLOWERS | |||
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| Plum | Orchid | Chryzantemum | Bamboo |
How to gain XP - summary
1. For every 5000 points in a game you get 1xp,
2. For every board solved at level:
1-3: +1xp,
4-6: +2xp,
7-9: +3xp,
10-12: +4xp,
13+: +5xp,
3. Solving a board without using shuffles and hints: 1xp,
4. Solving a board with a high score:
top 10% of scores: +1xp,
top 2% of scores: +2xp,
5. Solving a board in the shortest time:
top 10% of shortest timers: +1xp,
top 2% of shortest timers: +2xp,
6. Finishing a game in top 50% (multiplayer only), for example:
- for 7 players in the game, score is distributed as follows: +4/+3/+2/+1/0/0 (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.),
- for 12 players in the game: +6/+5/+4/+3/+2/+1/0/0/0/0/0/0.
