Four Winds Rule Collection – Chinese
Classical Four Winds Rule Collection – Chinese
ClassicalThe complete game of Mah Jong ordinarily consists of 16 hands (or deals), though the number may be increased each time the dealer (East) wins, or when a deal ends in a draw. Each hand begins with the building of the Wall, breaking it, and dealing the tiles.
Before the game starts players throw the dice several times in order to determine the seat order, the first dealer (East) and to determine the place where the Wall is to be broken.
First the four players take temporary seats arbitrarily. Any one of them throws two dice and beginning with himself as one, counts counterclockwise to the number shown by the dice. The player so indicated becomes "temporary East", and the other three seats, in counterclockwise order, temporary South, West and North.
Next temporary East mixes four wind tiles, one of each wind, face down on the table and arranges them in a row. At one end of the row he then places face up an even-numbered suit tile, and at the other end, an odd-numbered suit tile.
Temporary East then throws the two dice and counts counterclockwise, starting with himself. The player thus indicated then picks up the wind tile at the odd end of the row, if the number last thrown was an odd number, or even end of the row, if the number was an even number. The other three players, in counterclockwise order, pick up a tile from the same end. Each player then assumes the seat indicated by the tile which he has drawn.
The players retain their relative positions (though not their seat designations, as the winds rotate) until the game has been completed.
a) Any player (here A) throws the dice. Here A throws seven, so
C becomes the "temporary East". |
b) The other players are assigned temporary winds in counterclockwise
order. (Note the difference to compass winds.) |
   c) Temporary East mixes four wind tiles and arranges them in a stack. |
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d) Temporary East throws the two dice – four in this case – and counts counterclockwise, starting with himself. |
 e) The player thus indicated (player B in this case) picks up the wind tile at the even (in this case right) end of the row, since the number last thrown was an even number (four). This determines player B's seat, which is East in this case. |
   f) The other three players, in counterclockwise order, pick a tile from the same end the first wind tile was picked. Each player then assumes the seat indicated by the tile which he has drawn, i.e., player C picks up the third wind tile counting from the left (in this case North), player D picks up the second tile (West) and A picks up the first tile (South). |
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g) Each player then assumes the seat indicated by the tile which he has drawn. Note that the winds follow each other in counter-clockwise direction in order East, South, West and North (the order in which winds are customarily listed in Chinese) so they do not follow compass directions. |
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Before each hand all the tiles are placed face down on the table and thoroughly mixed by non-dealers, until East gives the command 'Pow' (meaning 'start'), after which each of the four players picks up 36 tiles and builds a row of tiles in front of him, 18 tiles long and 2 high. Each player then pushes his row forward to form a hollow square. This formation is called Wall.
To determine the breaking point of the Wall, the dealer (East) throws the two dice and counts counterclockwise round the walls, beginning with himself as one (accordingly, numbers 5 and 9 indicate East, numbers 2, 6 and 10 South, numbers 3, 7 and 11 West and numbers 4, 8 and 12 North). The player thus indicated then casts the two dice and adds the sum to the total thrown by East. He then counts off along the tiles of the top tier of his wall (a stack of two tiles at a time), starting from the right end. If the grand total exceeds 18, the count continues around the corner (to the left).
He makes a break in the wall by removing the stack of two tiles indicated by the total number thrown, and placing these tiles (also known as 'loose tiles') on top of the wall to the right of the breaking point, the uppermost tile being placed further from the breaking point. Traditionally the uppermost tile is placed on top of the fifth stack of the Dead Wall, and the lowermost on top of the third stack.
The seven stacks of tiles to the right of the breaking point – along with the two loose tiles – are known as Dead Wall (or Kong box); the remaining tiles, starting from the tiles to the left of the breaking point, constitute the live Wall. A small breach is made on the right side of the Dead Wall to separate it from the end of the live Wall. The 16 tiles of the Dead Wall are reserved as replacement tiles for Kongs (but not for Flowers and Seasons, supplements of which are taken from the open end of the live Wall). The Dead Wall is exhaustible so the used replacement tiles are not replaced with tiles from the live Wall. The replacement tiles are used so that the player on whose side the Dead Wall resides, gives players the replacement tiles when needed, always using first the rightmost "loose" tile, and picking up two new "loose tiles" from the left end of the Dead Wall after both have been used. The new loose tiles are placed on top of the remaining tiles of the Dead Wall (the position is not important, but once again the topmost tile should be placed to the right of the lowermost tile).
Note. In modern Asian Mah Jong the number of tiles in the Dead Wall is almost invariably 14, not 16, and the Wall is practically always replenishing (used supplement tiles are replaced with tiles from the tail end of the live Wall so the number of tiles in the Dead Wall always remains 14) – some versions do not use a Dead Wall, at all. In addition, the supplements for Flowers and Seasons are normally also taken from the Dead Wall and not from the open end of the Wall. Also, the players often do not see the trouble of lifting "loose tiles" on top of the Dead Wall, but if this is done, they are normally placed on top of the 1st and 3rd tile of the Dead Wall, or centered (which is equivalent to the classical method, where the loose tiles are initially placed on top of the 3rd and 5th tile), and drawn as explained above.
East starts the deal by taking the first two stacks of the tiles (i.e., four tiles) from the left of the break, then each of the other three players pick two stacks of tiles in order South, West and North. This is repeated twice so that each player has 12 tiles. East then draws the next stack of two tiles, and South, East and North in turn take one tile each. Thus the dealer has 14 tiles and the other three players each 13 tiles.
The hand starts by each player arranging the dealt tiles so that their faces are not visible to the opponents, but in such a way that the other players may count them.
If the dealt hand contains Flowers or Seasons, they are immediately melded (placed face up above and to the side of the hand) and replaced with regular tiles taken from the open end of the Wall (East replaces first his extra tiles, then South, West and North). Should a player draw further bonus tiles during this replacement procedure, he immediately takes supplement tiles for these, as well. If a player has a concealed Kong(s) in his hand he may declare it (them) at the same time he takes supplement tiles for Flowers and Seasons.
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b) East throws the two dice – eight, in this case – and counts counterclockwise round the walls. |
c) The player thus indicated (North in this case) throws the two dice – three in this case – and adds the sum to the total thrown by East (grand total being 11 in this case). He then counts off along the tiles of the top tier of his wall, starting from the right end, breaks the wall by placing the two loose tiles (A and B) on top of the Wall to the right of the breaking point. The loose tiles and 14 tiles to the right of the breaking point (gray tiles in the picture) constitute the Dead Wall. |
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 d) The players take each 2 stacks of tiles (i.e., four tiles at a time) from the start of the live Wall, in order East, South, West and North, until each player has 12 tiles. Then East picks one more stack of two tiles and West, South and North pick one tile each (see picture).  Note. A very common variation is that East picks his 13th and 14th tile as illustrated in picture above (note that these two tiles are picked at the same time and South, West and North pick their final tiles only after this). This is called chan-chan because of the sound made by the clicking of the two tiles. |
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Related topics:
Introduction
Tiles
Playing
Miscellaneous
Scoring
Payments
