Beijing mahjong rules

Despite being a variant of the national capital, it is rather idiosyncratic just like many regional rules and virtually unknown in the rest of the country. It is unusual to have bias against pung and chow, not that extreme like Japanese "Reach" which has accumulating penalties, though.

Equipments

136 tiles of three suits (characters, circles, bamboos) and honors (four winds and three dragons). The eight flower tiles (four seasons and four flowers) are not used.
Two dice.

Prior agreements

The players agree on what patterns to be recoginsed, how much doubles certain patterns worth, what optional rules to use, and how much a point is worth. A common arrangements include 1, 2, 4 (a point is 1 RMB) and 2, 4, 8 (2 RMB per point).

Seating

It is taken seriously as a very influential element of players' luck and therefore done in a formal fashion. Its details may differ from one group to another.
One of the players, e.g. the youngest, picks four tiles of east, south, west and north, one tile for each direction, places them face down and shuffles them well.
Another player, e.g. the eldest, throws the two dice, counts himself/herself as one, the player to his/her right as two, and so on counter-clockwise, and who is sitting in the seat of the sum of the two dice draws a tile he/she likes, followed by each player counter-clockwise. Alternatively, the shuffled tile are placed face down in a row, flanked by an odd-numbered and an even numbered tile at each end to determine from which end the tiles are taken. Yet another way is to take a tile at will after the shuffling without throwing the dice. Who picks east remains seated, or moves to the seat chosen as east by any appropriate means. The south player moves to the right of the east, west opposite, and north left.

Building walls

All the tiles are turned face down and shuffled well by the four players. Each player builds a wall of 17 tile wide and two tile high with all tiles facing down. The four walls are placed around the center of the table to form a rectangle, or the right ends are pushed forward to make the shape slightly rotated counter-clockwise.

Banker (庄家)

The first banker is the east player. The banker stays when he/she wins or when a hand ends in a draw, and moves to the right side neighbour of the banker when a non-banker wins. A game is four banker rotations.

Breaking a wall

The banker throws two dice and the player in the position of the sum counts the same (the sum) number of stacked pairs from the right end of his/her wall to left and breaks open a gap between the last counted pair and next one. The wall is used clockwise from the gap unlike everything else in the game, that is counter-clockwise. The top tile of the head pair is used before the bottom one, followed by the next pair. Tiles drawn after kong are taken from the tail of the wall.

Deal

Starting from the banker and counter-clockwise, each player takes four tiles at once from the head of the wall in turn, repeated three times to have twelve tiles in hand. The tiles are arranged in a row and placed face down. Then the banker takes first and fifth tile, i.e. top tiles of the first and third pairs from the head of the wall, and each of the remaining three players takes one tile in turn.

Wild tiles (混儿)

After the banker has 14 tiles and the other players 13, the banker takes the first tile from the head of the wall, and places it face up on the wall near its tail for everyone to see. The face up tile is the wild indicator and the four tiles of the same suit and one greater in number are the wild tiles. If it is a nine, one's of the same suit are wild; if it is a wind, next in the order of East-South-West-North are wild, if it is a dragon, next in the order of Red-Green-White. A wild tile can be substituted for any tile in a winning hand. A player cannot make an open set or a kong containing one or more wild tiles. A player cannot discard a wild tile, or he/she forfeits the right to win in that hand.  A player cannot win by claiming a discarded wild tile, either, but he/she can complete a set or a pair of eyes containing a wild tile to win.

After the deal and the selection of wild tiles, the players turn his/her tiles up for him/her to see and no one else.

Play of tiles

Starting from the banker and counter-clockwise, the players repeat the following in turn until one of the players wins or the hand ends in a draw.

• Unless it is the first turn of the banker who already has one extra tile in his/her hand, the current player draws the first tile of the wall from its head.
• If the player cannot win or does not want to do so, he/she discards a tile in front of him/her. Discarded tiles are placed haphazardly in the center of the table so that one has to remember who discarded what.

Winning hand

A winning hand is either

• an eye and four sets, or
• seven pairs.

An eye or a pair is two identical tiles. A set is a run, a pung or a kong. A run is three tiles of a suit in numerical order. A pung is three identical tiles. A kong is four identical tiles melded with a kong call.
A player can substitute wild tiles for any tiles in a winning hand so long as they are not part of open sets or kong.

Chow (吃)

If two tiles in player's hand and a tile just discarded by his/her left side neighbour would be a run when put together, he/she can make an open (or exposed, as opposed to closed or concealed) run from these tiles by saying 'chow', discarding a tile, laying down the two tiles face up to the left of his/her hand together with the claimed tile. A player cannot add or remove tiles to or from open runs. An open run cannot contain fortune tiles. After a chow, turn moves to the right side neighbour of who has done the chow.

Pung (碰)

If a player has two identical tiles in his/her hand and the same tile is just discarded by any other player, he/she can make an open pung by saying 'pung', discarding a tile, laying down the two tiles face up to the left of his/her hand together with the claimed tile. A player cannot remove tiles from open pung. An open pung cannot contain fortune tiles.
If two players say pung and chow simultaneously, the pung wins over the chow. After a pung, turn moves to the right side neighbour of who has done the pung.

Kong (杠)

A kong requires a 'kong' declaration, melding and drawing a supplementary tile. A set of four identical tiles is not a kong without these actions. There are three different ways to do a kong.
a) closed kong. If a player has four identical tiles in his/her hand and it is his/her turn, he/she can make a kong by saying 'kong' and laying down three of the four tiles face down and one of them face up to the left of his/her hand.
b) filling (open) kong. If a player has a tile identical to those of his/her open pung and it is his/her turn, he/she can make a kong by saying 'kong' and adding the tile to the pung.
c) direct (open) kong. If a player has three identical tiles in his/her hand and the same tile is just discarded by any other player, he/she can make a kong by saying 'kong', laying down the three tiles face up together with the discarded tile.
After laying down the tiles, the player who is doing a kong draws a supplementary tile from the tail of the wall and discards a tile. A player cannot add or remove tiles to or from a kong, open or closed. A kong cannot contain fortune tiles. If two players say kong and chow simultaneously, the kong wins over the chow. After a kong, turn moves to the right side neighbour of who has done the kong.

Win (胡牌)

If tiles in a hand of a player and those laid down for chow, pung or kong form a winning hand together with another tile, the player can declare win by saying 'hu' (胡), or whatever all the players can understand as such, and revealing his/her hand. A hand ends when a player wins.

There are three ways to win:

• an own tile (提溜): a tile to complete the hand is drawn from the wall either from its head or tail, which is not brought into his/her hand but placed beside face up on the table;
• claiming a discarded tile (点炮): a tile to complete the hand has just been discarded by other player; or
• robbing a kong (抢杠): a tile to complete the hand is about to be added to an open pung in a (failed) attempt at a kong. The exception is one of three sets of flush, which can be completed by robbing a closed kong as well.

A player can always win by his/her own tile.
A player can win by claiming a discarded tile or robbing a kong only when he/she does not have open sets or more than two wild tiles.
A player can only win by his/her own tile when he/she has four sets or six pairs completed and calls for a pair of eyes with a wild tile.
Some play that a player who has missed a winning tile cannot win by claiming a discarded tile until his/her turn comes or is passed by a pung or a kong.

A player who discards a wild tile forfeits his/her right to win in that hand.
A player cannot win by claiming a discarded wild tile.
A player can win by completing a run or a pung containing a wild tile with a discarded tile or a robbed kong.

A win takes precedence over kong, pung or chow calls.

Draw

A certain number of stacks of tiles remain unused in a hand. It has to be agreed upon before starting. Common arrangements include:

• 7 stacks,
• 7 stacks when number of kong is 0 or 1, 8 stacks otherwise, or
• 14 tiles when there are no kong, increasing by one at each kong.

The wild indicator is not used in any hands but not counted as part of these tiles.
When there are only that amount of tiles remaining in the wall and no one has won, the hand ends in a draw.

Scoring

Each non-winner pays the winner a unit with all applicable doubles applied. The doubles are:

• Banker (庄家): When the banker wins, or when the banker pays.
• Closed (门清): When the winner does not have open sets. He/she still can win by claiming the fourth sets and scores a double for a closed hand.
• Own tile (提溜): When the winner wins by a tile drawn from the wall, either from its head or tail; or when the paying player discarded the winning tile.
• Straight (没混，无混): When the winning hand does not have any wild tiles, or all of them are used at their face value.
• Flush (龙): When the winning hand has three runs 123, 456 and 789 of a suit.
• Seven Pairs (七对): When the winning hand is seven pairs.
• Deluxe (豪华): When two pairs in seven pairs are four identical tiles, none of which are wild tiles, and not a kong. A double is awarded for each of such sets. A wild tile cannot be substituted for one of four tiles in Deluxe.
• Catch Five (捉五魁，捉五): When the winning hand is a gap calling hand with 4C and 6C calling for 5C or seven pairs calling for 5C. A wild tile cannot be substituted for a 5 Character as a winning tile or an eye calling tile in Catch Five.
• Kong Bloom (杠开，杠疵): When a hand is won be a tile drawn from the tail of the wall as part of a kong. Unlike the other doubles, the double for Kong Bloom applies to scores for kongs as well as a winning hand.

Optional doubles are:

• Wild Eye (混悠): when the winning hand has four sets or six pairs completed and calls for a pair of eyes with a wild tile. Some treat this as a sort of Straight hand and scores a double.
• Native Wild Flush (本混龙): when a wild tile whose face value is of the same suit as Flush tiles is substituted for one of the nine tiles of Flush. Some treat this as a sort of Straight hand and scores a double.

Rare events

The points for these events have to be agreed upon before starting a session of the game. They are usually given somewhat high scores, typically 20, but not excessively so because of their purely chance-based nature. They are not doubled for the banker, wall win, or discarding.

• Heavenly Win (天胡): when the banker is dealt a winning hand.
• Earthly Win (地胡): when a non-banker wins by the first discarded tile by the banker.
• Wild Kong (混杠): when a player has four wild tiles.

Kong points

The Winner can score 1 point for each open kong and 2 for closed ones he/she made in the hand. If the winner wins by Kong Bloom, these points are doubled. Many players also double them for the banker.

Irregularities

• False win. If a player declares a win when he/she cannot, he/she pays a) amount he/she falsely claimed to win, or b) predetermined amount usually set to the same as Heavenly Win, Earthly Win or Wild Kong.
• Long/Short hand. If a player has too many or too few tiles in his/her hand, he/she loses the right to win in that hand but has to keep playing.
• Discarding wild tile. A player who does so is treated just like long or short hand.

Variations

Upstairs (上楼): when a hand ends in a draw, next hand is said to be on upstairs, where all the scores are doubled. Some play an hand on upstairs too when the banker is staying three or more hands.

Void suit (断门): some require winning hand to have at least one void suit, i.e. lacking Characters, Dots or Bamboos.

Busted banker (烧庄): if each player discards the same tile without interrupted by any pung, chow or kong at the start of a hand, and the hand does not end in a draw, the banker is busted and he/she has to pay predetermined amount of points (typically 10, or a half of Heavenly/Earthly/Wild Kong) to each of the other players.

At most once: some play that a player can do pung or chow only once in a hand. There are no such restrictions on number of direct open kong even if this rule is in effect.

Additional doubles: especially in online games, all or some of Pure one suit (清一色), All pung (对对胡), Single tile hand (大钓), and Win by last tile (海底捞月) are added as double-awarding patterns. Some score additional doubles for some patterns.

Liability for discarding player (点炮包庄，大包): especially in online games, some play that a player who discarded the winning tile pays on behalf of the other two losers as well as him/herself.

陝西の麻雀

深圳と同じぐらいシンプルなルールに，偶然頼りの「馬」ではなく，「炮子(パオツ)」という賭け点制を加えて，心理戦の要素を増したゲームです．

道具

136枚の麻雀牌，花牌は使いません．サイコロ2つ．

席決め

いろいろな方法があります．

• 着席したままで，年長者などがサイコロ2つを振って東を決める．
• 全員がサイコロ2つを振り，目の大きい順に東南西北に座る．東の席は東になった人の席にするか，あるいはサイコロなどで決める．
• 東南西北各1枚計4枚を伏せて混ぜ，年長者などがサイコロ2つを振って出た目の席の人から順に反時計回りに1枚ずつ引く．東の席は前の方法と同じ．

親

最初の親は東の席の人，後は流局か親が上がったら連荘(親を続ける)，子が上がったら，親の下家(右隣り)が次の親です．

配牌など

ひとり当たり横17枚2段の牌の山を築きます．

親がサイコロ2つを振り，目の位置の人は，親の目と自分がもう一度サイコロ2つを振って出した目の合計で牌の山を分けます(2度振り)．

親は14枚，子は13枚の手牌を取ります．

進行の特記事項

手を見てから親が最初の捨て牌を捨てるまでの間に，全員が炮子(パオツ)を宣言します．炮子は最低0点，最高4点です．

上家からチー，誰からでもポン・カンできます．

カンの補充牌の取り方が独特で，牌の山の末尾が上下2枚あるとき，暗カンなら下の段，明カンなら上の段を先に使います．

捨て牌は，誰が何を捨てたか覚えておかないと分からないように，乱雑に置きます．同様の理由で，誰から何を食ったか示しません．

使わずに残す牌の枚数は，カンの回数によって大きく違います．山の残りがこの枚数になって誰も上がらなければ，流局です．

• 1つもカンがないときと3つ以上のときは13列(26枚)
• カンが1つのときは7列(14枚)
• カンが2つのときは8列(16枚)

上がり

頭と4メンツがあれば，何でも上がれます．他の不規則な上がり型を認める人もいます．
振り聴，縛りなどはありません．漏胡(上がり牌を見逃したら自分の番が来るまで上がれない)のルールを求める人もいます．
同じ捨て牌で2人以上が上がりのときは，頭ハネです．

上がり手の点数

振り込み，ツモ，搶槓，槓開(カンカイ，カンの補充牌での上がり)のどの上がり方でも，上がった人に，他の3人が点を払います．点を払う人か受け取る人が親なら2点，子なら1点です．ツモ(槓開，搶槓も含む)は点を2倍にします．
また，上がった人に，上がった人の炮子と自分の炮子を足した点を払います．ツモ(槓開，搶槓を含む)のときは，この点も2倍にします．炮子の点には親子の違いはありません．

カンの点数

カンしたら，その場ですぐにカンの点を受け渡しします．この点は上がれなくても，その後で反則しても返す必要はありません．

• 暗槓は，他の3人から2点ずつ
• ポンに牌を足すカンは，他の3人から1点ずつ
• 捨て牌を食ってのカンは，捨てた人から2点

Nanchang mahjong rules

Its unique feature is chow of honour tiles, instead of getting rid of them altogether as they have done in Sichuan. Because the game can have as many as seven wildcards, hands without them or not using them as wildcards are richly rewarded.

Equipments

136 tiles of three suits (characters, circles, bamboos), honors (four winds and three dragons). The eight flower tiles (four seasons and four flowers) are not used.
Two dice.

Seating

Use any agreed upon way. The following is an example -- one of the players, e.g. the youngest, picks four tiles of east, south, west and north, one tile for each direction, places them face down and shuffles them well.
Another player, e.g. the eldest, throws the two dice, counts himself/herself as one, the player to his/her right as two, and so on counter-clockwise, and who is sitting in the seat of the sum of the two dice draws a tile he/she likes, followed by each player counter-clockwise. Who picks east remains seated, or moves to the seat choosen as east by any appropriate means. The south player moves to the right of the east, west opposite, and north left.

Building walls

All the tiles are turned face down and shuffled well by the four players. Each player builds a wall of 17 tile wide and two tile high with all the tiles facing down. The four walls are placed around the center of the table to form a rectangle, or the right ends are pushed forward to make the shape slightly rotated counter-clockwise.

Banker

The first banker is chosen by roll of two dice by the east player. The banker stays if he/she wins or in a case of a draw. It moves to the right side neighbour of the current banker if a non-banker wins or the banker is sacked. A session of the game is four banker rotations.

Breaking wall

The banker throws two dice. The player in the position of the sum throw them again and counts the total of the rolls of the banker and him/herself from the right end of his/her wall, the stacked pair in the end as one, the next pair as two and so on clockwise, and breaks open a gap between the last counted pair and next one. The wall is used clockwise from the gap unlike everything else in the game, that is counter-clockwise. The top tile of the head pair is used before the bottom one, followed by the next pair. Tiles drawn after kong are taken from the tail of the wall.

Deal

Starting from the banker and counter-clockwise, each player takes four tiles at once from the head of the wall in turn, repeated three times to have twelve tiles in hand. The tiles are arranged in a row and placed face down. Then the banker takes first and fifth tile, i.e. top tiles of the first and third pairs from the head of the wall, and each of the remaining three players takes one tile in turn.

After the banker grabs fourteen tiles and the others thirteen, the players turn his/her tiles up for him/her to see and no one else.

Fine tiles

After all the players grab their tiles, the banker throws the dice again, counts the rolled number from the tail of the wall, the tail pair as one and *counter-clockwise*, and flips open the top tile of the last counted stack. The face up tile is the fine tile indicator. The other three tile of the indicator become first "fine" (精) tiles and the four tiles of the same suit and one greater in number second fine tiles. If the indicator is a 9, the second fine tiles are 1s of the same suit. If it is a Wind, next one in the order of East-South-West-North is the second ones. If it is a Dragon, next one in the order of Red-Green-White is the second fine tiles. A fine tile can be substituted for any tiles in a winning hand. There are no distinctions between the first and the second ones except for their bonus points.

Winning hand

A winning hand is

• a pair (called "eyes") and four sets,
• seven pairs, or
• fourteen independent tiles.

A set is a run, a pung, or a kong. A run is three tiles of a suit in numerical order, three different wind tiles, or three different dragon tiles. Note that, unlike any other variants of the game, three different honour tiles of a kind can form runs just like suit tiles. A run of dragons is red, green, and white. A run of winds is three different directions, like East, South and North. A pung is three identical tiles. A kong is four identical tiles melded with a 'kong' call.

Play of the hand 

Starting from the banker and counter-clockwise, each player performs these actions in turn:

• (drawing) Except in the first turn of the banker who has one extra tile in his/her hand, the current player draws a tile from the head of the wall; if he/she draws a flower tile, he/she melds it and draw a supplementary tile from the tail of the wall;
• (discarding) Unless he/she has a winning hand and wants to win, he/she discards one tile that has not been melded from his hand.

A player can discard a fine tile. A discarded fine tile is not a wildcard any longer and only taken at its face value when it is claimed for a chow, a pung, a kong or a win.

Sacking the banker (抄庄)

When all the players discard the same tile in the first round in a hand without any chow, pung, or kong, the banker is sacked. The hand continues until a player wins or it ends in a draw, when the banker has to pay each of the other three players 5 points for being sacked.

Chow

If two tiles in player's hand and a tile just discarded by his/her left side neighbour would be a run when put together, he/she can make a run from these tiles by saying 'chow', discarding a tile, laying down the two tiles face up to the left of his/her hand, and adding the discarded tile to them. A player can chow runs of honour tiles as well as those of suits. A player can chow runs containing fine tiles as long as they are used at their face values. No tiles can be added to or taken from a chow'ed run. After a chow, turn moves to the right side neighbour of the player who has done the chow.

Pung

If a player has two identical tiles in his/her hand and the same tile is just discarded by any other player, he/she can make a pung by saying 'pung', discarding a tile, laying down the two tiles face up to the left of his/her hand, and adding the discarded tile to them. A player can do pung containing fine tiles so long as they are used at their face values. No tiles can be taken away from a pung'ed set. After a pung, turn moves to the right side neighbour of the player who has done the pung.

Kong

If a player has four identical tiles in his/her hand and it is his/her turn, he/she can make a kong by saying 'kong' and laying down the four tiles to the left of his/her hand, with three of them face down and one face up. If a player has a tile identical to those of his/her laid down pung and it is his/her turn, he/she can make a kong by saying 'kong' and adding the tile to the pung. If a player has three identical tiles in his/her hand and the same tile is just discarded by any other player, he/she can make a kong by saying 'kong', laying down the three tiles face up and adding the discarded tile to them. In all of its three variations, the player who does kong draws a supplementary tile from the tail of the wall and discards a tile. A player can do kong containing fine tiles so long as they are used at their face values. No tiles can be added to or taken from a kong'ed set. After a kong, turn moves to the right side neighbour of the player who has done the kong.
Some play that a player can draw the fine indicator as a kong supplement tile instead of skipping it.

Win

If tiles in a hand of a player and laid down for chow, pung or kong form a winning hand together with another tile, the player can declare win. A hand ends when a player wins. The winning tile is a tile drawn from the wall, either from its head or tail, just discarded by other player, or a tile to be added to a pung in a (failed) attempt at a kong. The last way is called robbing a kong. There is only one winner in a hand. If more than one players declare win by a same discarded tile, one whose turn is closest to the player discarding the winning tile wins. A player cannot win by claiming a tile before his/her turn comes if he/she missed a winning tile. A turn is regarded to have come if it is passed by a pung or a kong.

Dead wall and draw

If no players win when there are 17 stacks of the tiles left in the wall, the hand ends in a draw. Some always leave 34 tiles unused, while some leave 17 full stacks when the last pair is intact and 16 and half when the top tile of the last pair is used as a kong supplement.

Scoring

A winner receives one point from each of the other  players, with all applicable doubles applied.

• Banker (庄家): x2. When the payment is made to or from the banker.
• Own tile (自摸): x2. When the winner wins by a tile drawn from the wall.
• Letting off (点炮): x2. When payment is done by who discarded the winning tile.
• Fine call (精钓): x2 (or x4 including own tile). When the winning hand has four sets or six pairs completed, calls for a pair of eyes with a fine tile, and is won by an own tile. This type of hands call for any tile but can only be won by an own tile, unless it qualifies as a German hand. If a fine call German hand is won by claiming a discarded tile or robbing a kong, it is not doubled for fine call.
• Kong bloom (杠开): x2 (or x4 including own tile). When the winner wins by a tile drawn from the tail of the wall as a Kong supplement. It is always an own tile win.
• Robbing a kong (抢杠): x2. When the winner wins by robbing a kong. It is scored as if it were an own tile win, without the double for own tile.
• All pung (大七对): x2. When the winning hand is four pung (kong) and a pair.
• Seven pairs (小七对): x2. When the winning hand is seven pairs. No open sets allowed. There are no additional doubles for four identical tiles as two pairs, unlike well-known variants like Hanzhou or Beijing.
• Independent tiles (十三烂): x2. When there are no identical tiles, runs or run-calling tiles in 14 winning tiles. No open sets allowed. Honour runs are not considered runs only for the purpose of this hand.
• Seven stars (七星): x2 (or x4 including indepenent tiles). When there are seven honour tiles in an independent tile hand. A fine tile cannot be substituted for an honour unless it is used at its face value.
• German (德国): x2+5. When there are no fine tiles in winning hand or all of them are used at their face values. The five extra points are never doubled, in other words, they are added after all doubles are applied.
• Double German (德中德): x2 (or x4+5 including German). When the winning hand is German and the three losers do not have any fine tiles in their hands (including melded sets).

Special cases

Each of the non-winner pays the winner 20 points in these cases. The doubles for own tile, banker, etc. do not apply.

• Heavenly win (天胡). When the banker is dealt a winning hand.
• Earthly win (地胡). When a non-banker wins by claiming the banker's first discarded tile.

Scoring fine tiles, kongs and other bonuses

These payments are done even when a hand ends in a draw, as well as when there is a winner. A player can receive these points even when he/she is not a winner.

Kong bonus

A player receives 2 points for each closed kong from each of the other players, and 1 point for each open kong.

Fine tile bonus

A player receives 2 points for each first fine tile and 1 for each second one in his/her hand including melded sets. If the total is more than or equal to 5 points, it is called "limit breaker" (冲关) and the bonus is multiplied by (total - 3), so:
 5: 5 x 2 = 10
 6: 6 x 3 = 18
 7: 7 x 4 = 28
 8: 8 x 5 = 40
 9: 9 x 6 = 54
 10: 10 x 7 = 70

Domination (霸王)

If a player has fine tiles and the others none, it is called domination and his/her fine tile bonus is doubled.

Fine kong

If a player makes a kong of fine tiles, he/she receives 10 point bonus from each of the other players. A player still can count bonus points in each fine tile although the 10 points do not count towards limit breaker nor are they multiplied for domination or breaking the limit. There are no kong bonus for a kong of fine tiles either.

Sacked banker

A sacked banker pays 5 points to each of the other players.
Some play that the banker pays 5 points to each of the other players when a hand ends in a draw.

Mahjong rules in Yangzhou, Jiangsu -- another regional mahjong with large number of patterns

Yangzhou is where Yangzhou Fried Rice originated, it's also known as birthplace of historical beauties.

Equipments

136 tiles of three suits (characters, circles, bamboos), honors (four winds and three dragons).
Two dice.

Banker rotation and winds

Banker stays if he/she wins and it moves to his/her right side neighbour if a non-banker wins or in case of a draw. Some play that the banker stays if a hand ends in a draw.

Each player is assigned a seat wind: the banker east, his/her right side neighbour south, the player sitting across the table west and his/her left side neighbour north.
A round wind starts with east and changes to south, followed by west and lastly north when banker moves to the first banker of the game.

A session of a game is four banker rotation. Some play eight rotations.

Breaking wall

Use sum of two dice thrown by the banker to determine whose wall to break and the smallest die rather than the sum to number of stacks to leave. The banker grabs 14 tiles before starting a hand and the other players 13.

Play of tiles

• Can chow as well as pung and kong.
• If no one wins when there are no tiles left in the wall, the hand ends in a draw, or there's no dead wall.
• More than one player can win on a same discarded tile.
• A player has to wait until his/her own turn to win if he/she missed a winning tile.
• A hand must be at certain score or higher to be eligible for winning. It is set to 7, 10, 13 or 18 points, or the points of Twin Runs or 3 points more than that.

Payout scheme

• In case of win by own tile, each of three losers pay the winner the score of the winning hand,
• In case of win by discarded tile, one who discarded the winning tile pays the winner twice the score of the winning hand and the other two losers nothing.

Score of a winning hand is sum of points of all applicable patterns. Points for non-minor patterns tend to become higher in newer rules, along with minimum requirement.

• Old(?): Twin Runs = Minimum = 7, Mixed One Suit = 10
• Common: Twin Runs = 10, Minimum = 10 or 13, Mixed One Suit = 15
• New: Twin Runs = 15, Minimum = 18, Mixed One Suit = 20

1) Minor patterns

• Fully Closed (门清): 1. no open sets before winning.
• Common Win (平胡): 1. four runs. the eyes are not honors.
• Win by Own Tile (自摸): 1.
• Single Call (丫子，独吊): 1. can win with only one tile, like 1 and 3 calling 2, 1 and 2 calling 3, or eye calling hand.
• Void Suit (缺一): 1. a winning hand without one suit and honors.
• End Eyes (幺头): 1. the eyes are 1 or 9.
• No Terminals (断幺): 1. a winning hand without 1s, 9s and honors.
• Side-by-side (齐相): 1. two runs in two suits with the same numbers. e.g. 345C 345D
• Tandem (连副): 1. two runs in tandem in a suit, e.g. 345B 678B.
• High-low (老少): 1. 123 and 789 in a suit.
• Closed Pung (子格、招): 1.
• Open Kong (明杠): 1.
• Closed Kong (暗杠): 2.
• (pung of) Seat Wind (门风): 1.
• (pung of) Round Wind (圈风): 1.
• (pung of) Dragon (中,发,白): 1.

2) 2/3-3/4 of Mixed = 7/10/15

• Twin Runs (一板). two identical runs. e.g. 678B 678B

3) Mixed = 10/15/20

• Mixed One Suit (混一色)
• All Pung (对对胡)
• Three Runs Side-by-side (三副同). e.g. 345D 345C 345B
• Two Tandems Side-by-side (双连双喜，双飘). e.g. 123B 456B 123C 456C
• Two High-low Side-by-side (双飘). e.g. 123B 789B 123C 789C
• Straight Flush (一条龙). 1 through 9 of a suit forming three runs.

4) 2--2.5 times Mixed = 20/30/50

• Four Runs Side-by-side (四副同). e.g. 345D 345B 345C 345D
• Double Twin Runs (双板板). e.g. 456C 456C 234D 234D

5) Pure = four times Mixed = 40/60/80

• Pure One Suit (清一色)
• Triplet Runs (铁板). three identical runs. e.g. 234D 234D 234D
• Double Twins Side-by-side (双板双喜). e.g. 456C 456C 456B 456B
• Double Twins High-low (双板双老). e.g. 123D 123D 789D 789D
• Double Twins in Tandem (双板双连). e.g. 345B 345B 678B 678B

6) Multiples of Pure

• All Honors (风清): pure x 4 (or pure x 2)
• Quadruplet Runs (钢板): pure x 8 (or pure x 2). four identical runs. e.g. 123C 123C 123C 123C

7) Combination patterns with bonus points

Only applicable to the 18 point minimum (15 point twins, 20 point mixed) rules.

• Straight Flush with Twins (板龙): 50. e.g. 123C 456C 789C 456C
• Mixed One Suit with All Pung (混对对): 50.
• Mixed One Suit with Straight Flush (混龙): 50.
• Mixed One Suit with Straight Flush and Twins (混板龙): 80.
• Pure One Suit with All Pung (清对对): 130.
• Pure One Suit with Straight Flush (清龙): 130.
• Pure One Suit with Straight Flush and Twins (清板龙): 160.

Exceptions to the payout scheme

A "liable" player has to pay for him/herself as well as the other two losers.

• Who gives the third open set that is a chow to a player winning with pure one suit has to pay for the other losers as well as him/herself.
• If a player chows tiles of the same suit three times, he/she must aim for pure one suit.

Mahjong rules in Fenghua, Zhejiang -- regional mahjong with fairly large number of patterns

Fenghua is a city near Ningbo and famous as the birthplace of Chiang Kai-shek. Its mahjong is unusual in that it has fairly large number of scoring patterns with emphasis on irregular ones like seven pairs and  independent tiles.

Equipments

144 tiles of three suits (characters, circles, bamboos), honors (four winds and three dragons) and eight flower tiles (four seasons and four flowers).
Two dice.

Seating

It is done as in any other variants of the game. Its details may differ from one group to another.

One of the players, e.g. the youngest, picks four tiles of east, south, west and north, one tile for each direction, places them face down and shuffles them well.
Another player, e.g. the eldest, throws the two dice, counts himself/herself as one, the player to his/her right as two, and so on counter-clockwise, and who is sitting in the seat of the sum of the two dice draws a tile he/she likes, followed by each player counter-clockwise. Alternatively, the shuffled tile are placed face down in a row, flanked by an odd-numbered and an even numbered tile at each end to determine from which end the tiles are taken. Yet another way is to take a tile at will after the shuffling without throwing the dice. Who picks east remains seated, or moves to the seat chosen as east by any appropriate means. The south player moves to the right of the east, west opposite, and north left.

Walls

All the tiles are turned face down and shuffled well by the four players. Each player builds a wall of 18 tile wide and two tile high with all tiles facing down. The four wall are placed around the center of table to form a rectangle, or the right ends are pushed forward to make the shape slightly rotated counter-clockwise.

Banker (庄家), seat wind and prevailing wind

The first banker is chosen by roll of two dice by the east player. The roll is counted just like when the seats are determined or any other occasions, i.e. count who throws the dice as one, his/her right side neighbour as two and so on counter-clockwise. Banker stays if he/she wins or in case of a draw. It moves to his/her right side neighbour otherwise. A game is four banker rotations.
Each player is assigned a seat wind: the banker east, his/her right side neighbour south, the player sitting across the table west and his/her left side neighbour north.
A prevailing wind starts with east and changes to south, followed by west and lastly north when banker moves to the first banker of the game.

Breaking a wall

The banker throws two dice and the player in the position of the sum counts the largest pips of stacked pairs from the right end of his/her wall and breaks open a gap between the last counted pair and next one. The wall is used clockwise from the gap unlike everything else in the game, that is counter-clockwise. The top tile of the head pair is used before the bottom one, followed by the next pair. Tiles drawn after kong are taken from the tail of the wall.

Wild tiles (百搭)

A wild tile can be substituted for anything but flower tiles in a winning hand. The player who broke the wall counts pairs in his/her wall from the tail as one and counter-clockwise, and flips the top tile counted as the smallest pips of the dice thrown by the banker to break the wall. The face up tile will not be used in the hand. It is the wild indicator and the other three identical ones wild tiles. If it is one of the four seasons, the other three seasons are wild. If it is one of the four flowers, the other three flowers are wild. A tile cannot be used as a flower tile (which means no melding) when it is wild.

Deal

Starting from the banker and counter-clockwise, each player takes four tiles at once from the head of the wall in turn, repeated three times to have twelve tiles in hand. The tiles are arranged in a row and placed face down. Then the banker takes first and fifth tile, i.e. top tiles of the first and third pairs from the head of the wall, and each of the remaining three players takes one tile in turn.

After the banker grabs fourteen tiles and the others thirteen, the players turn his/her tiles up for him/her to see and no one else.

Melding flower tiles

Starting from the banker, each player takes all flower tiles from his/her hand, lay them down face up to the left of his/her hand and draw same number of tiles from the tail of the wall. If he/she draws flower tiles again, he/she repeats this until there are no flower tiles in his/her hand.

Play of tiles

Starting from the banker and counter-clockwise, the players repeat the following in turn until one of the players wins or the hand ends in a draw.

1. Unless it is the first turn of the banker who already has one extra tile in his/her hand, the current player draws the first tile of the wall from its head.
2. If the player has a flower tile, he/she may meld it by laying it down face up and drawing a supplementary tile.
3. If the player cannot win or does not want to do so, he/she discards a tile in front of him/her.

Winning hand

A winning hand must have all flower tiles melded if any and the other tiles form

• an eye and four sets,
• seven pairs,
• fourteen independent tiles, or
• all honours.

The eight flower tiles melded by the same player is also a winning hand regardless of the other tiles in his/her hand.
An eye or a pair is two identical tiles. A set is a run, a pung or a kong. A run is three tiles of a suit in numerical order. A pung is three identical tiles.
A kong is four identical tiles melded with a kong call.
A player can substitute wild tiles for any tiles but flower tiles in a winning hand so long as they are not part of open sets or kong. A player can complete a set containing a wild tile with a discarded tile when he/she wins.

Chow (吃)

If two tiles in player's hand and a tile just discarded by his/her left side neighbour would be a run when put together, he/she can make an open (or exposed, as opposed to closed or concealed) run from these tiles by saying 'chow', discarding a tile, laying down the two tiles face up to the left of his/her hand, and putting the claimed tile to their left end rotated 90 degrees for easy identification of liabilities. A player cannot add or remove tiles to or from open runs. An open run cannot contain wild tiles. After a chow, turn moves to the right side neighbour of who has done the chow.

Pung (碰)

If a player has two identical tiles in his/her hand and the same tile is just discarded by any other player, he/she can make an open pung by saying 'pung', discarding a tile, laying down the two tiles face up to the left of his/her hand, and putting the claimed tile to their left or right end rotated 90 degrees if the tile is claimed from the left or right side neighbour, respectively, or the three tiles put together without any tiles rotated when the tile comes from the player sitting across the table.
A player cannot remove tiles from open pung. An open pung cannot contain wild tiles.
If two players say pung and chow simultaneously, the pung wins over the chow. After a pung, turn moves to the right side neighbour of who has done the pung.

Kong (杠)

A kong requires a 'kong' declaration, melding and drawing a supplementary tile. A set of four identical tiles is not a kong without these actions. There are three different ways to do a kong.
a) closed kong. If a player has four identical tiles in his/her hand and it is his/her turn, he/she can make a kong by saying 'kong' and laying down the four tiles face down to the left of his/her hand.
b) filling (open) kong. If a player has a tile identical to those of his/her open pung and it is his/her turn, he/she can make a kong by saying 'kong' and adding the tile to the pung.
c) direct (open) kong. If a player has three identical tiles in his/her hand and the same tile is just discarded by any other player, he/she can make a kong by saying 'kong', laying down the three tiles face up and adding the discarded tile to them just like an open pung.
After laying down the tiles, the player who is doing a kong draws a supplementary tile from the tail of the wall and discards a tile. A player cannot add or remove tiles to or from a kong, open or closed. A kong cannot contain wild tiles. If two players say kong and chow simultaneously, the kong wins over the chow. After a kong, turn moves to the right side neighbour of who has done the kong.

Winning (胡牌)

If tiles in a hand of a player and those laid down for chow, pung or kong form a winning hand together with another tile, or if a player melds eight melded flower tiles, the player can declare win by saying 'hu' (胡), or whatever all the players can understand as such, and revealing his/her hand. A hand ends when a player wins.

There are three ways to win:

• own tile(自摸): a tile to complete the hand is drawn from the wall either from its head or tail, which is not brought into his/her hand but placed beside face up on the table;
• claiming a discard tile (放冲,点炮): a tile to complete the hand has just been discarded by other player; or
• robbing a kong (拉杠): a tile to complete the hand is about to be added to an open pung in a (failed) attempt at a kong.

A player can always win by his/her own tile.
Win by claiming discard is only possible when the hand scores four or more points (before rounded up). It used to be three or more points.
If a player has four sets completed and is calling for a pair of eyes with a wild tile, he/she can win by any tile but he/she must do so with his/her own tile.
There can only be one winner in a hand; when more than one non-bankers declare win by claiming banker's discard, the one whose turn is closest to the banker is the winner.
A discarded wild tile can never be claimed for winning.
A player can win by completing a run or a pung containing a wild tile with a discarded tile or a robbed kong.
A win takes precedence over kong, pung or chow calls.

Draw

The wild tile indicator is always be left unused in any cases. The tile just before it is the bottom tile. A player can pass his/her turn to refuse it. If all the players refuse it, the hand ends in a draw. If a player chooses to draw it, he/she either wins with it or discards it without exchanging it with another tile in his/her hand. If no one wins with the bottom tile, either as an own tile or as a discarded one, the hand ends in a draw.

Scoring

If a player wins, he/she receives points from the other for players. There are no payments when a hand ends in a draw.

The winner is paid according to this payout scheme, where S is score of the winning hand:

• in case of a win by own tile, each loser pays (S x 2); and
• in case of a win by claiming, who discarded the winning tile pays (S x 2) and each of the other two losers (S x 1).

Score of a winning hand is sum of points of all applicable patterns, rounded up to nearest multiple of ten. Scores vary from one player group to another, and they use to be base on multiples of 30 (30, 60, 90...) instead of current practice of multiple of 50 up until 1990s.

• Base point (坐台): 1. Always awarded when a player wins. Combined with another point for presence or absence of wild tiles, it makes the 4 point minimum for win by claiming really a requirement for 2 additional points.
• Common win (朋胡): 1. Four runs and a pair of eyes.
• Dragon pung (中发白碰出): 1 for each.
• Pung of seat wind (位风): 1
• Pung of prevailing wind (圈风): 1
• Pung of right wind (正风): 2. When seat wind and prevailing wind coincide.
• Single call (边，嵌，单吊): 1. If the only call is gap (i.e. 68 calling for 7), eye or end (i.e. 12 calling for 3).
• Pair call (对倒): 1. two pairs calling for one of them to complete a pung and a pair of eyes.
• Win by own tile (自摸): 1
• No wild tiles (无搭): 1. A winning hand without any wild tiles.
• One wild tile (一搭): 1. A winning hand with exactly one wild tile.
• Two wild tiles (二搭): 2. A winning hand with exactly two wild tiles.
• Tame wild tiles (还搭): 1. All wild tiles are used at their face value.
• Robbing a kong (拉杠): No additional points but see the section on liabilities.
• Win by bottom tile (海底捞月): No additional points but see the section on liabilities.
• Indedependence (十三不搭(大大胡)): 50. No chow/pung/kong calls allowed. No pairs, runs, pung, kong or sets of two tiles calling for another to complete a run.
• Closed seven stars (大大胡（暗七星）): 150. Independence with each one of the seven honors in hand and the tile to complete the hand is something else.
• Open seven stars (大大胡（明七星）): 100. Independence with each one of the seven honors, one of which is claimed to complete the hand.
• Independence without a suit (大大胡（缺色): 150. An Independence hand lacking one of the suits, calling for any tile of that suit. The 150 points for closed seven stars cannot be scored with this pattern because it is implied.
• Wild all pung (大对对（有搭）): 50. Four pung (or kong) and a pair of eyes with one or more wild tiles.
• Straight all pung (大对对（无搭）): 100. Four pung (or kong) and a pair of eyes without wild tiles.
• Wild loner (大吊车（有搭）): 50. A win by completing a pair of eyes with only one wild tile in hand with four open sets. Since the hand is calling any tile, it can only be won by an own tile. 
• Straight loner (大吊车（无搭）): 100. A loner hand without wild tiles.
• Wild seven pairs (七对头（有搭）): 50. Seven pairs with wild tiles.
• Straight seven pairs (七对头（无搭）): 150. Seven pairs without wild tiles.
• Closed bomb in seven pairs (七对头（暗炸）): 100. Four identical tiles none of which are claimed. Wild tiles cannot be used for the four tiles.
• Open bomb in seven pairs (七对头（明炸）): 50. Four identical tiles one of which is claimed for the win. Wild tiles cannot be used for the four tiles.
• Mixed one suit (混一色): 70. A winning hand made of honors and a suit. The score is meant to be half of the Pure (150+10=160) with rounding up.
• Pure one suit (清一色): 150. A winning hand made of a suit.
• Heavenly win (天胡): No special points. Just celebrate a rare occasion.
• Earthly win (地胡): No special points. Just celebrate a rare occasion.
• Uncompleted all honors (乱老头): 400 or celebration. All the tiles but melded flowers are honors. They do not have to form a pair or sets. A player still can do open pung or kong.
• Completed all honors (清老头): 800 or celebration. All honors with a pair of eyes and four sets.

The following patterns do not count as part of four points requirement for win by claiming.

• Completed eight flowers (八花（搓胡）): 800 or celebration. When a player melds the eight flower tiles, keeps playing and wins by completing one of the normal winning hands.
• Uncompleted eight flowers (八花（直胡）): 400 or celebration. When a player wins by eight melded flower tiles alone.
• Budding direct kong  (直杠（不开花）): 50. A direct open kong not winning by its supplementary tile.
• Blooming direct kong  (直杠（开花）): 100. A direct open kong winning by its supplementary tile.
• Budding closed kong (暗杠（不开花）): 100. A closed kong not winning by its supplementary tile.
• Blooming closed kong (暗杠（开花）): 150. A closed kong winning by its supplementary tile.
• Budding risky kong (风险杠（不开花）): 100. A filling open kong not winning by its supplementary tile.
• Blooming risky kong (风险杠（开花）): 200. A filling open kong winning by its supplementary tile.
• Blooming flower kong (花杠杠开): 50. A win by supplementary tile of a melded flower tile.
• Three normal wild tiles (普通三百搭): 150. When wild tiles are not flower tiles.
• Three flower wild tiles (三花三百搭): 300. When wild tiles are flower tiles.
• Own flower (花): 2. A melded flower tile corresponding to winner's seat wind. 1 or Spring and Plum is East, 2 or Summer and Orchid South, 3 or Autumn and Chrysanthemum West, and 4 or Winter and Bamboo North.
• Four flowers (四花): 150. A set of four melded flower tiles of a kind (seasons or flowers).

Liability or exceptions to the payout scheme

A "liable" player has to pay for him/herself as well as the other two losers.

• If player A discarded four tiles that are claimed for open run, pung or kong by player B, A is liable if B wins.
• If player A discarded three tiles that are claimed for open run, pung or kong by player B and player B wins with Pure One Suit, Mixed One Suit or All Pung, A is liable.
• Robbing a kong. Winning hand is scored as if it were an own tile win and the player whose kong was robbed is liable.
• Claimed bottom tile. The player whose bottom tile was claimed for a win is liable.