Mahjong Online

How to Play Mahjong Online

Whilst there are a number of variations of Mahjong online, for example Hong Kong Mahjong, American Style Mahjong, Japanese Modern Mahjong and European Classical Mahjong, the best place to start for learning how to play Mahjong online is with basic Mahjong.

This guide is aimed at beginners to playing Mahjong online and give a very brief outline of the game and also how to play mahjong. See our recommended sites for more in depth detail of how to play.

The 144 tiles in online Mahjong consist of 36 different kinds of tiles; 4 of each type. There are also 3 suits; dots, characters, and bamboo, each of which are numbered 1-9. In addition to these there are 4 Wind titles which each represent a different direction; 3 Dragon tiles; red, green, and white, of which there are four of each; and flower cards which are only sometimes used which consist of 2 sets of tiles marked 1-4.

You are aiming to get four sets of three tiles, or a sequence of the same suit plus a pair, all adding up to 14 tiles. To begin, each player picks a wind tile and sits in the seat corresponding to his direction; the seating will be done for you automatically in an online Mahjong site.

Mahjong play begins by picking 36 tiles from the 144 tiles face down on the table, and arranging them in a two storied line of 18. These rows are linked together to make a rectangle shape. A dice is thrown by East to determine which side will start play. Once this has been done, the dice is thrown again and the outcomes of the two throws are added together.

The starter counts from his walls right corner this number and makes a break-in point in the rectangle. East takes 2 stacks from the left of the breaking point, then South, West and North do the same in that order. This is repeated twice following which, East takes another two, whilst the others take an additional one each, so the dealer has 14 tiles and all others have 13. Beginning with East all players replace any flower tiles with regular tiles from the wall.

Now the game can begin. Beginning with East, each Mahjong player picks up a tile and discards one face up that he doesn’t want; if a tile is thrown down any player can pick it up whether it’s his go or not, but he must reveal the set he is building up. In the case of creating a Chow, a set of three sequenced tiles of the same suit, tiles can only be picked up from one’s left. Other forms of combination are Pung, 3 identical tiles, and a Kong, 4 identical tiles. The winner is the first person to place down all his tiles, this is called a Mahjong. A Mahjong may consist of

This is the very basics of how to play Mahjong online – the best way to learn is to find a free play site that will enable you to see this very exciting, very complex game in action.