Rule variations
Special tiles – Flowers and Seasons
In the popular (and earliest classical) versions of Mah Jong the standard set of 136 tiles is often extended by 8 extra tiles – 4 Flowers and 4 Seasons (sometimes only the
flower tiles are used) – which make the element of luck more prominent in the game.
The Flowers and Seasons are not used in sets. They are put aside and replaced with a
regular tile immediately after being received from the Wall.
To include Flowers and Seasons in the game:
- Choose Preferences on the File menu.
- From the Rule Presets list, choose a customized rule preset.
- Choose General under the Rules section of the category
tree.
- Check the Flowers and Seasons box.
- From the drop-down list beside the check box, choose number of extra tiles to be used in
the game. The value of 4 excludes the Season tiles from the game.
- Specify whether the extra tiles are displayed face up or face down when placed on
the game board by checking or clearing the Display face up box.
Normally the extra tiles are displayed face up.
- Use the Supplements from Wall option to specify whether the
supplement tiles for Flowers and Seasons are taken from the Wall (instead of
Dead Wall). In earliest versions of Mah Jong supplement tiles were taken
from the Wall.
Notes:
- In the traditional rules each extra tile pays 4 bonus points and player’s own
Flower or Season gives an extra double. All Flowers or all Seasons usually pay 3 doubles
in which case the maximum number of doubles for extra tiles is 6. But many rules apply
scoring for extra tiles a bit differently. You can customize the scoring
of Flowers and Seasons by choosing Sets and Patterns under the Scoring
section of the category tree and then choosing Flowers and Seasons from
the Category drop-down list.
- If the winning hand is restricted by requirement of minimum
points/doubles/faan/han, the bonus for Flowers and Season is sometimes not
included in the calculation when determining whether the hand qualifies for a winning
hand. The bonus is added afterwards only if the hand meets the minimum score requirement.
You can change this rule in the Exceptions dialog
box.
Related topics:
Jokers
Dora tiles
Omit Bamboo tiles
Transparent tiles