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.
