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MAHJONG RULES |
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Basics |
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Object |
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Game Play |
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Scoring |
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Glossary | |
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Starting with East and proceeding counterclockwise, players declare any bonus tiles they hold by placing these tiles faceup in front of them. Each bonus tile is replaced with a new tile drawn from the dead wall. If an additional bonus tile is drawn, it too is turned faceup and replaced. Again starting with East, players take turns declaring any kongs and placing them on the table. Such kongs are called "concealed" kongs, and are indicated by turning the two end tiles of the kong facedown. Any player declaring a kong takes a replacement tile.
To begin regular play, East discards a tile to bring his or her hand down to 13 tiles. (In a game played face-to-face, East would place the discard faceup inside the wall and announce what the tile is.) Any player who wants the discarded tile to complete a pong or kong or to go MahJong may now declare this, and may take the tile even if it is not their turn. The player must then expose the rest of the pong or kong (or MahJong hand, in which case the hand is over) and discard a tile.  Back to Top
If no one claims the discard to complete a pong, kong, or MahJong, the next player in turn--South, that is, who sits to East's right--may claim it to complete a chow. Except to go MahJong, only the player to the right of the discarder may claim a discard to complete a chow. If no one claims the discard, the next player draws a new tile from the wall and discards a tile. Play continues in this manner counterclockwise, with each player drawing a tile and discarding a tile (which may be the one just drawn) each turn. If a discard is claimed for a pong or kong, the turn passes to the player to the right of the player who claimed the discard, even if this means that one or two players lose their turns. If more than one player claims a tile, preference is given to a player who needs it to go MahJong. If one player needs it for a pong or kong and another player for a chow, the player who is completing the pong or kong has priority. Back to Top
A discard may only be taken to complete a MahJong, pong, kong, or chow. If no one claims a discard, that tile is dead for the rest of the game. In other words, a discard must be used at once or not at all. Discards are kept faceup during the game; to view them at Yahoo!, click on the "Discards" button. A player who collects a kong or draws a bonus tile at any time during the game exposes it and draws a replacement tile, just as at the start. A player with an exposed pong may not claim a discard to convert it into a kong. A player who needs only one tile to go MahJong may take, as if it were a discard, the fourth tile of a kong that another player has added to an exposed pong. This is known as "robbing the kong." (A player who needs only one more tile for MahJong normally announces this fact by saying they are "fishing"; Yahoo! players may agree to use this rule.) Back to Top
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| Playing MahJong at Yahoo! | |||
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Self-explanatory buttons are used to start the game, as well as to discard, draw a tile, or claim a discard to make a MahJong, pong, kong, or chow. Note that there are three chow buttons. When you claim a discard to make a chow, the button you choose indicates which one you will meld. The buttons show a sequence, running low to high from left to right, and the word CHOW represents the discard. For example, if you claim a 4 and can make either a 3-4-5 or 4-5-6, choose the []CHOW[] button to make the 3-4-5 or the CHOW[][] button to make the 4-5-6.
Discards may be reviewed by clicking the Discard button in the upper left of the screen. To the right of that button, the number of tiles left, the prevailing wind, and the hand number are indicated. In creating a MahJong table at Yahoo!, a player may choose whether to use flowers and seasons, whether to recognize a sacred discard, and to set a limit for points that may be scored in one hand. (Because an option to play a 16-tile version of the game is not currently implemented, the "Standard" version will always be selected.) Back to Top
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