The History of Japanese Mahjong

Mahjong is a tile-based game that originated in China during the Qing dynasty. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-player variations found in South Korea and Japan). The game and its regional variants are widely played throughout Eastern and South Eastern Asia and have a small following in Western countries. Similar to the Western card game rummy, Mahjong is a game of skill, strategy, and calculation and involves a degree of chance.

In 1924, a soldier named Saburo Hirayama brought the game to Japan. In Tokyo, he started a mahjong club, parlor, and school. In the years after, the game dramatically increased in popularity. In this process, the game itself was simplified from the Chinese version. Then later, additional rules were adopted to increase the complexity.

Mahjong, as of 2010, is the most popular table game in Japan. As of 2008, there were approximately 7.6 million mahjong players and about 8,900 mahjong parlors in the country. The parlors did 300 billion yen in sales in 2008. There are several manga and anime devoted to dramatic and comic situations involving mahjong. Japanese video arcades have introduced mahjong arcade machines that can be connected to others over the Internet. There are also video game versions of strip mahjong.

General Rules of Mahjong

Chī

Players can make an open sequential meld by calling out "chī" (吃 or チー) using a tile discarded by the left player, who is prior in order. Players place the meld face up on the table, usually on the right side of their hands, with the discard placed sideways at the leftmost position of the meld to indicate which tile was taken from the left's discard pile.

Rīchi

Declaring rīchi means declaring a ready hand, and is a kind of yaku. A player may declare ready if a player's hand needs only one tile to complete a legal hand (tenpai), and the player has not claimed another players' discards to make open melds. When declaring ready, a player can win on a discard even when the hand didn't have a yaku because ready itself is a yaku. Upon declaring ready, the player must pay a deposit and may no longer change their hand except when forming certain closed quads.
As a possible rule, a player can choose to reveal their hand to win more points if successful, which is called ōpun rīchi (open rīchi). In that case, the player shows only the tiles that are related to waits, or reveals all the tiles in the hand depending on the rules. The declaration increases the yaku count allowing the player to score extra points.

Pon

Players can make an open meld of the same three tiles by calling out "pon" (碰 or ポン) using a tile discarded by any other player. Players place the meld face up on the table with one of those tiles placed sideways to indicate from whom the discard was taken.

Precedence Order

The precedence order to pick up a discard when two or more players need the same discard is firstly ron (winning), secondly kan or pon, and lastly chī. Kan and pon cannot happen at the same time since there are only four of each kind of tile.

Winning

There is a distinction between winning from the wall and winning from a discard. When going out, players call out "tsumo" (自摸 or ツモ, self-drawn) or "ron" (栄 or ロン, picking up a discard), and not "mahjong". In the case of tsumo, the other three players share the responsibility of paying out points, according to the scoring table. For ron, the player who discarded the tile pays all of the points.

Kan

There are three types of quads and players call out "kan" (槓 or カン) for all of those types. After calling a quad, the next adjacent dora indicator tile is flipped, and players need to draw a supplemental tile from the end of the dead wall. Depending on the rules, the number of tiles in the dead wall is kept at 14 by reserving the last available tile from the wall, or the number decreases at that time.

Closed quad:

Players can make a closed quad by calling out "kan" using the same four tiles in their hand. They reveal the meld on the table usually with the two inside tiles faced up and the two outside tiles faced down. A closed quad doesn't use another player's discard, but a player must declare and reveal a quad if they wish to draw a supplemental tile from the dead wall. Declaring a closed quad doesn't open a hand.

Open quad:

Players can make an open quad by calling out "kan" using another player's discard and the same three tiles in their hand. They reveal the meld on the table with all four tiles faced up, with one of those tiles placed sideways to indicate from whom the discard was taken. Players cannot make this type of meld using an open meld of three tiles.

Added open quad:

Players can make an added open quad (kakan; 加槓) by calling out "kan." They can add a self-drawn tile or a tile already in their hand to an open meld of the same three tiles. The tile is usually added sideways on top of the sideways tile in the open meld.

Abortive Draws

In Japanese mahjong, rules allow abortive draws to be declared while tiles are still available. They can be declared under the following conditions:
1. Kyūshu yaochūhai tōhai (九種么九牌倒牌), or Kyūshu kyūhai (九種九牌): On a player's first turn when no meld has been called, if a player has nine different terminal (also known as major) or honor tiles, the player may declare the hand to be drawn. They could instead go for the thirteen orphans (kokushi musō) hand.
2. Sūfontsu rentā (四風子連打): On the first turn without any meld calls, if all four players discard the same Wind tile, the hand is drawn.
3. Sūcha rīchi (四家立直), or Yonin rīchi (四人立直): If all four players declare rīchi, the hand is drawn.
4. Sūkan sanra (四槓算了): The hand is drawn when a fourth quad is called, unless all the four quads were called by a single player. If all four quads were called by a single player, the hand continues. In this case, depending on the rules, calling a fifth quad makes the hand drawn, or calling a fifth quad is not allowed at all.

Kan

There are three types of quads and players call out "kan" (槓 or カン) for all of those types. After calling a quad, the next adjacent dora indicator tile is flipped, and players need to draw a supplemental tile from the end of the dead wall. Depending on the rules, the number of tiles in the dead wall is kept at 14 by reserving the last available tile from the wall, or the number decreases at that time.

Closed quad:

Players can make a closed quad by calling out "kan" using the same four tiles in their hand. They reveal the meld on the table usually with the two inside tiles faced up and the two outside tiles faced down. A closed quad doesn't use another player's discard, but a player must declare and reveal a quad if they wish to draw a supplemental tile from the dead wall. Declaring a closed quad doesn't open a hand.

Open quad:

Players can make an open quad by calling out "kan" using another player's discard and the same three tiles in their hand. They reveal the meld on the table with all four tiles faced up, with one of those tiles placed sideways to indicate from whom the discard was taken. Players cannot make this type of meld using an open meld of three tiles.

Added open quad:

Players can make an added open quad (kakan; 加槓) by calling out "kan." They can add a self-drawn tile or a tile already in their hand to an open meld of the same three tiles. The tile is usually added sideways on top of the sideways tile in the open meld.

What's Special in Japanese Mahjong?

Yaku and yakuman

Yaku are specific combinations of tiles or conditions that yield the value of hands. Unlike many variants, a winning hand consists of four melds requires at least one yaku. When scoring, each yaku has its own han value, and the han works as a doubler. A winning hand needs at least one yaku. Yakuman is a value for limit hands which are hard to get, and in some variations multiple yakuman are applied.

Dora

Dora (ドラ) is a bonus tile that adds han value to a hand. Every kind of tile can become a dora tile. A dora tile adds the same number of han value as the number of its corresponding "dora indicator" tiles. Dora is not counted as yaku, and having it without yaku does not meet the one yaku requirement for a winning hand.

At the start of a hand, the third tile from the back end of the dead wall on the upper stack is flipped and becomes a dora indicator. Then, its succeeding tile is recognized as dora. For example, if an indicator is a Green dragon ( MJd2.png), Red dragons (MJd1.png) are counted as dora by the sequence shown below, in which the Red dragon wraps around to the White dragon (MJd3.png).

The number of dora indicators increases in the following manner: Each time a player calls a quad, the next adjacent dora indicator tile is flipped, starting with the fourth tile from the back end. The indicator is flipped immediately after the quad is called, and after that the player draws a supplemental tile for their hand from the back end of the dead wall. The number of indicators increases in that direction, which becomes five if a single player calls four quads, and that is the largest possible number on the upper stack (see four quads).

In addition, when a player goes out with a declaration of rīchi (ready hand), the tiles underneath the dora indicators are flipped after the win and become additional dora indicators, making their succeeding tiles also counted as dora which are called ura-dora (裏ドラ, underneath dora).

Red 5 tiles: A variation uses specially marked red number 5 tiles that also count as dora themselves, regardless of dora indicators. In addition, if a dora indicator is number 4 of the same suit as red 5 tiles, players acquire further han value. One red 5 tile for each suit is usually used, with some versions using two tiles for each suit. In some variations, tiles of other numbers such as 3 or 7 can be marked red.

Sacred discard

In the sacred discard rules which are also called furiten (振聴 or フリテン), a winning tile can only be drawn from the wall in the following cases:
1. A player cannot win on any discard if the same tile is currently in the player's own discard pile. The rule also applies for multiple waits, that is, if any kind of tile in the discard pile can make a required combination irrespective of having yaku or not, a player cannot win off of any discards.
2. If another player’s discard can make a required combination irrespective of having yaku or not, a player cannot win on any discard after it until the next turn or until making an open meld.
3. After declaring ready, a player can no longer win on any discard if the player has discarded a winning tile from the wall or has passed on a winning discard.
For all of these rules, if discards are not in the discard piles because they have been called to make open melds, the rules still work for such discards.

Yaku

1 / 12
2 / 12
3 / 12
4 / 12
5 / 12
6 / 12
7 / 12
8 / 12
9 / 12
10 / 12
11 / 12
12 / 12

Big four winds 大四喜

A hand consisting of four triplets/quads of winds. It can be worth one or two yakuman in some rules. Little four winds (shousuushii) and this yaku are kinds of suushiihou (四喜和).

Big three dragons 大三元

A triplet or quad of each type of dragon tile.

Thirteen orphan 国士無双

The Japanese name of the yaku, kokushi musou, means "a peerless distinguished person in a country." Along with seven pairs, this is the only hand that contradicts the requirement for a hand to have four melds and a pair. In a thirteen orphans hand, the player has one of each dragon tile, one of each wind tile, a 1 and a 9 (terminal) from each suit, plus any tile that matches anything else in the hand. If a player wins in a 13-way wait for the pair, the hand is worth two yakuman, which is called daburu (double) yakuman.

Other names for this yaku are shiisan yaochuu (十三么九) which means "thirteen of smallest numbers and 9's [and honors]," or its abbreviation shiisan yao (十三么).

All honors 字一色

A hand composed exclusively of wind and dragon tiles.

All green 緑一色

A hand containing only green tiles. Green tiles are: 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 of bamboo, and green dragons. Many of the Japanese sets exclusively color those tiles as green only. The other bamboo tiles of 1, 5, 7, and 9 have red paint on them, thereby not making them all green. Although the hand can include green dragons, it does not have to.

All terminals 清老頭

A hand containing only 1’s and 9’s (terminals).

Nine gates 九蓮宝燈

A hand composed of 1-1-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-9-9 of one suit, plus any other tile of the same suit.

Regardless of the value of the extra tile, this is always a standard mahjong hand of four melds and a pair, as shown in the animation below. Worth two yakuman if the hand was waiting on nine different tiles (or otherwise called junsei chuuren poutou [純正九蓮宝燈]), and the only possibility of that is if it had 1-1-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-9-9 and was waiting on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9.

Four kans 四槓子

Four quads in one hand, which can be open or closed. Normally, a hand is a draw when four quads are made by two or more players. However, when the four quads are drawn by one player, the play continues until the player claims a win (and yakuman) or a fifth kan is made by another player.

Flush 清一色

All tiles in the hand are exclusively of one suit with no honor tiles.

Four concealed triplets 四暗刻

A hand that has four closed triplets/quads. If the hand has two pairs left when it is one tile away from winning, it can only qualify with a tile drawn off the wall as a yakuman hand. In the case of a single-tile wait for the pair, the tile can either be self-drawn or won from another player's discard, and it is worth two yakuman.

Chariot 大車輪

A hand composed of 2-2-3-3-4-4-5-5-6-6-7-7-8-8 of one suit. This hand is a local rule and not an officially recognized rule for Japanese mahjong.
Each of the numbered suits may also use special names for this hand:
Pinzu (circles), dai sharin – 大車輪 or big wheels
Souzu (bamboo), dai chikurin – 大竹林 or bamboo forest
Manzu (characters), dai suurin – 大数隣 or numerous neighbours

Heavenly hand 天和

If the 14 tiles that the dealer draws complete a hand, yakuman is awarded regardless of its contents. The “one-yaku minimum requirement” is satisfied with the self-pick yaku because the hand is closed and the fourteenth tile is considered a drawn tile.

How to Calculate Your Score in Japanese Mahjong?

The payment to the winner of a hand is calculated as follows:
1. Counting


2. If it is five han or more, it is or more and the calculation of basic points is omitted

3. Counting

4. If it is clear that the han and fu yield more than mangan, the calculation of basic points is omitted
5. Calculating the basic points based on the fu and han
6. Multiplying the basic points depending on whether the winner is the dealer or non-dealer, and whether the hand is won by tsumo or ron
7. Adding bonuses based on the number of counters
(8. Adjusting the payment by the wareme rule)
In the case of a draw, points are transferred according to the nō-ten bappu rule. In the event of a penalty, such as claiming a win with an illegal hand, then points are transferred via the chombo rule.

End of a Mahjong Game

A game ends after the last hand of the last round, which is usually the South (prevailing wind) round.

Running out

A game ends when a player's score becomes zero or less, or when it falls below zero depending on the rules. Some rules may allow continued gameplay with a player having a negative point value.

Win and finish

In the rule of win and finish (agari-yame, あがりやめ), if the dealer in the last hand of the last round wins, they can select to end the game immediately or to play an additional hand, for instance when they are the top player at the time.

Continuing into West

If the points of the top player are below 30,000 after the last hand of the last round, the game continues into the West round (西場) in some rules. This situation is called shānyū (西入; entering West). The prevailing wind becomes west. A North round (北場) may come next in the same way. Depending on the rules, it can be followed by an East round again or instead White dragon, Green dragon, Red dragon and East rounds. Any extra round ends as soon as one player has 30,000 points or more.