Four Winds Rule Collection – Japanese Modern
Four Winds Rule Collection – Japanese ModernThe goal of the game is to “go out” by completing a hand composed of four sets of three tiles each, plus a pair, thus totaling fourteen tiles. A set may also be composed of four tiles, the total of fourteen being increased by one for each such set.
There are four kinds of sets (or basic tile combinations) that can be used to collect a winning hand: Chows, Pungs, Kongs and Pairs.
A regular winning hand must always contain one, and only one pair. Any hand containing four sets of Chows/Pungs and Kongs (in any combination of these sets) – and a pair – is a valid winning hand, provided that it scores at least 1 han (not including the bonus for Dora tiles).
The sets can be composed either of tiles drawn from the Wall on player's own turn, or by completing a set by claiming a tile discarded by another player. Sets composed entirely of tiles drawn from the Wall are called concealed sets. Sets completed by claiming the missing tile from another player's discard are called melded (or exposed) sets.
In addition to regular winning hands consisting of four sets and a pair, the rules acknowledge two irregular hands: Thirteen Orphans and Seven pairs.
The game is played counter-clockwise, that is, the players receive tiles from the Wall and make their discards in the following order: East, South, West, and North.
East, who at the beginning of the deal receives 14 tiles, starts the deal. If East cannot go out, he discards one of the tiles in his hand.
It is not necessary that a player names his discards.
Each player places his discards above his hand, and inside the Wall. The discards are placed in order so that other players can see what kind of tiles have been discarded by each player, and in which order.
When a tile is discarded it may be claimed by any player for Pung, Kong or Mah Jong ("going out"). If no player claims the tile for Pung, Kong or Mah Jong, it can be claimed for a Chow by the player next in turn (i.e., the player on the discarder's right: accordingly, it is said that a player can claim a tile for a Chow only from the player on his left). If no one claims the tile for a Chow, the next player in turn draws from the open end of the Wall, and discards (unless he can go out).
Tiles placed amongst the discards and not claimed by anyone are considered dead and cannot be used later during the deal.
The game continues like this, until one of the players succeeds in completing his hand and declares out, or until there are no more tiles left to play in the Wall, in which case the deal is said to end in a draw (or 'wash-out'). When a player succeeds in collecting a complete hand and declares out he exposes his hand for calculating the scores (losers keep their hands concealed). If a deal ends in a draw, the players with a calling hand are paid a fixed payment by non-calling players (see below for details). After the point calculation and payments, the next deal is started.
The complete game of Mah Jong consists of two rounds. The game starts with East round and ends with South round. Both rounds consist of at least four deals so that each of the four players has held at least once the East position (that is, acted as a dealer). The deal passes in counterclockwise order (the player who was South becomes East, the former West becomes South, North becomes West and East becomes North) after a hand is won by a non-dealer (South, West or North) or if it ends in a draw, provided that East did not have a calling hand, but is not changed if East wins, or if the deal ends in a draw and East has a calling hand. Thus a round can consist of more than four deals. It changes when the player who first held the East seat during the round has lost the deal and receives it again (thus the same player starts both rounds).
Each player starts the game with 25,000 points. The total of player's points stays always the same during the game: e.g., when the players start with 25,000 points, the total of points will be 100,000 points at any stage of the game. The player who has the highest score after the last deal of the game is played is the winner of the game.
Whenever a player discards a tile, the other three players may claim the tile either to go out, or to complete a Pung, Kong or Chow (the latter, when not being the set that completes the hand, being allowed only to the player sitting to the right of the discarder).
If two or more players claim the same tile, the order of precedence is (from the most valuable to the least valuable): winning, Kong, Pung and Chow. If two or more players claim the same tile for going out, they are all considered as winners.
Note: There are restrictions on going out on a missed or sacred discard. For more information, see Miscellaneous rules.
If a player holds in his hand a serial pair (two tiles forming a part of a sequence of three tiles, e.g. , Bamboo 3-4 or Character 2-4), and the player on his left discards a tile that completes the serial pair, the former can claim the discard by saying 'Chow'. He then exposes the two tiles in his hand and places them, along with the claimed tile, above his hand, arranged as a sequence.
It is customary in Japanese games to mark the tile that was claimed by placing it at right angles to the other two.
Note that concealed Chows are not declared but kept in hand, thus retaining flexibility that allows re-arranging of tiles to alternative sets.
If a player can go out by completing a Chow, he should not say "Chow", but instead declare "Out" (going out by completing a Chow set is not considered "Chowing", but going out, so there are no claiming restrictions).
Note that Chows cannot wrap around (e.g., it is not legal to compose a Chow of Bamboo 9-1-2).
If a player holds in his hand two identical tiles and another player discards a tile that completes the set to Pung, the former can claim the discard by saying 'Pung'. He then exposes the two tiles in his hand and places them, along with the claimed tile, above his hand, arranged as a triplet. After that the player discards and if the tile is not claimed, the next player in turn draws from the open end of the Wall. Accordingly, it is possible that one or two players between the discarder and the claimer lose their turn.
It is customary in modern rules that the discarder of the completing tile is marked somehow, e.g., by rotating the claimed tile so that it indicates the discarder (e.g., if the tile was claimed from the player on the left, the first tile of the triplet is rotated; if it was claimed from the opposite player, the second tile is rotated; and if it is claimed from the player on the right, the rightmost tile is rotated).
Note that concealed Pungs are not declared but kept in hand, thus retaining flexibility that allows re-arranging of Pungs to alternative sets.
If a player can go out by completing a Pung, he should not say "Pung", but instead declare "Out".
There are three kinds of Kongs (sets composed of four identical tiles).
If a player holds in his hand three identical tiles and another player discards a tile that completes the set to Kong, the former can claim the discard by saying 'Kong'. He then exposes the three tiles in his hand and places them, along with the claimed tile, above his hand, arranged as a quadruplet. After that the player gets a supplement tile from the Dead Wall, and if he cannot go out on it, discards a tile of his choice, and if the tile is not claimed, the next player in turn draws from the open end of the Wall. Accordingly, it is possible that one or two players between the discarder and the claimer lose their turn.
It is customary in modern rules that the discarder of the completing tile is marked somehow, e.g., by rotating the claimed tile so that it indicates the discarder (e.g., if the tile was claimed from the player on the left, the first tile of the triplet is rotated; if it was claimed from the opposite player, the second tile is rotated; and if it is claimed from the player on the right, the rightmost tile is rotated).
Contrary to practice sometimes used in Chinese classical Mah Jong, the fourth tile is not turned face down (as Japanese games do not make distinction between claimed Kongs and Kongs promoted from melded Pungs; the only Kongs considered as concealed sets are concealed Kongs).
If a player has earlier melded a Pung (an exposed triplet), and he draws the fourth identical tile from the Wall, he is allowed to promote the melded Pung into a melded Kong (a player cannot claim another player's discard to promote a melded Pung into a melded Kong, since no set can contain more than one tile from discards). He is not forced to make immediate declaration but is free to declare Kong any time it is his turn (that is, after having drawn from the Wall or from the Dead Wall, as a consequence of declaring a Kong, but not after having claimed a tile for a Chow or Pung).
After the declaration the player shows the fourth identical tile in his hand and places it face up beside the previously melded Pung, arranging the tiles as a quadruplet.
After the declaration the player gets a supplement tile from the Dead Wall, and if he cannot go out on it, discards a tile of his choice and if the tile is not claimed, the next player in turn draws from the open end of the Wall.
If a player holds in his hand three identical tiles and he draws the fourth identical tile from the Wall, or receives it as a supplement tile from the Dead Wall, he can declare a concealed Kong. He is not forced to make the declaration immediately after the fourth tile is drawn, but is free to declare Kong any time it is his turn (contrary to Chinese classical rules, also after having claimed a tile for a Chow or Pung).
He then exposes the four tiles in his hand and places them above his hand, arranged as a quadruplet. The first and fourth tile are turned face down to mark the set concealed.
A concealed Kong must always be declared. It is not possible to have a non-melded Kong set in hand (as there would then be too few tiles to make four sets and a pair).
Some players mark concealed Kongs by turning the two middle tiles face down, instead:
Note: In patterns like Three concealed triplets only concealed Kongs (but not claimed Kongs nor Kongs promoted from melded Pungs) are considered as concealed triplets.
When a player needs only one tile to go out, he is said to be "calling" the winning tile. The winning tile can be obtained either by drawing from the Wall (in which case the player is said to go out self-drawn), from the Dead Wall as result of declaring a Kong (in which case the player is said to got out self-drawn on a supplement tile), or by claiming another player's discard (without any restrictions). The fourth possible way to go out is robbing a Kong.
A winning hand must be worth 1 han when completed. The bonus for Dora tiles is ignored when evaluating the hand for this minimum requirement.
There is no need to declare a calling hand.
If a player promotes a melded Pung into a melded Kong by using a fourth identical tile he has drawn from the Wall (or Dead Wall), a player with a calling hand can rob that tile and use it to complete his hand and go out (as jokers are not used in these rules, the completing set is always a Chow). The player who tried to compose the Kong is considered a discarder of the winning tile.
Other kinds of Kongs cannot be robbed.
Note that the player whose Kong is robbed should not take a supplement tile, but if he has done so, a tile that allows him to make further declarations of Kongs, or a tile that allows him to go out, the Kong may not be robbed. On the other hand, if the player has taken the supplement tile and his Kong is robbed, he should replace the supplement tile.
If there are no tiles left in the Wall and no one has succeeded to go out, the hand is declared a draw.
The deal is not ended until the next player who is in turn cannot make his draw from the Wall. E.g., if a player draws the last tile of the Wall, he must still make a discard (which gives other players a chance to go out on the last discard). The last discard can also be claimed to a set without going out, but in this case the claimer must in turn make a discard. This continues until a tile is claimed for going out or remains unclaimed, in which case the deal ends in a draw.
The Dead Wall must always be able to be replenished to include 14 tiles, which would not be possible in a situation where there are no more tiles left in the Wall. Accordingly, if there are no tiles left in the Wall, and a player needs a supplement tile as a replacement for having declared a Kong, the supplement tile is not given, but the deal ends immediately.
If there are players with a calling hand (hands which need only one tile to be structurally legal winning hands – the minimum point requirement is ignored in evaluating player's calling stage), a total of 3,000 points is paid by non-calling players to players with a calling hand. Accordingly, if there is only one player who has a calling hand, each loser pays 1,000 points to him. If there are two players with a calling hand, each of the two losers pays 1,500 points to the two calling players. If there are three calling players, the non-calling player pays each calling player 1,000 points.
To determine the scoring all players with a calling hand must display their hands after a deal is over.
The deal passes after a draw, unless East had a calling hand (in which case the deal is retained).
When a player's calling state is examined in the context of draw (as regards passing the deal or payments for calling hands), the minimum point requirement is ignored: the only requirement is that a hand is such that it can be completed into a structurally legal winning hand with just one tile (no matter how valuable it is or whether there are tiles left that let it actually be completed, etc.). Some players apply stricter rules, requiring that a calling hand, when completed, must be such that it meets the minimum point requirement (this interpretation often results in complex exclusion rules that specify patterns that should be ignored when calculating the minimum points).
Note: The rules vary significantly as regards passing the deal after a draw. E.g., some rules might specify different rules for East round and other rounds, or specify that deal is normally passed but retained only if the current deal was a continued deal, etc. Note that in classical Japanese rules deal always passes after a draw while in classical Chinese rules deal never passes after a draw. Draws are much more common in Japanese than in Chinese Mah Jong, which explains the variations in the draw rules.
Related topics:
Introduction
Tiles
Preliminaries
Miscellaneous
Scoring
Payments