Being Alert!

Keeping alert is important for winning the game and not discarding critical tiles that your opponents need for a win! It is not uncommon to play mahjong with your buddies and friends throughout the night! It’s a great way to socialise and have fun! =)

Studies have shown that humans are the least attentive between 3am and 6am in the morning. An interesting point to share is that military attack operations are often carried out during this time where the enemies are most likely to be caught off guard. =p

Will you be caught off guard? Whether or not you are playing overnight, do remember the following few tips and keep alert!    

• When a player discards Terminal tiles and Honor tiles at an early stage of the game, he or she is most likely trying to complete a low-scoring hand quickly. Do not waste your time assembling a high-scoring hand.
  
  
• If possible, do not discard tiles of the same suit that your Lower House is saving and claiming. 
  
  
• When a player has revealed two or more Triplets, he or she is probably trying to assemble an All Triplets (PONG) Hand.
  
  
• When a player has revealed two or more sets of the same suit (with or without Honour tiles), he or she is probably trying to assemble a Pure One-Suit or a Mixed One-Suit Hand.
  
  
• When a player discards Honour tiles late in the game, he or she is probably matching a high-scoring hand.
  
  
• When a player discards tiles of two suits only, he or she is saving the other non discarded suit and the Honour tiles.  

  

How to WIN and PLAY Mahjong!

The idea behind mah-jong is simple. It involves just forming groups of three and one pair to win! IT IS THAT SIMPLE. =) (It gets more challenging when you want to play well!  =p)


So, how go about forming groups of three and a pair??

PAIR (2 of a kind)

To win, a pair of the same tiles is needed. This is commonly known as the ‘eye’. (Maybe it is due to a person having a pair of eyes?)

Moving on, a group of three can be formed by either PONG or CHI.

PONG (3 of a kind)

The concept of PONG is easy to understand as well. PONG is having 3 of the same tiles! You can take the PONG from any player who discards! By taking the extra tile from any player, you will have to reveal the completed PONG. (So that others will know that you indeed have a PONG!) Remember to shout out “PONG” happily to disturb the flow of the game as now it becomes your turn. Discard one tile as usual after your turn.

 However, if you draw all the 3 tiles, they can remain hidden.  

Examples of PONG

GANG/KUNG (4 of a kind)

GANG/KUNG is an extended and slightly more ‘powerful’ version of the PONG, where the player has 4 of the same tiles! In this illustration, GANG/KUNG is considered a group of “three” tiles needed for forming the groups of three and a pair for winning. It is slightly more ‘powerful’ as people will have to pay you a small token when u GANG/KUNG. (Obviously, It is a more rare event than PONG!)

Examples of GANG/KUNG

CHI

Another way of forming the group of three is to have a CHI. A CHI is to have 3 suited tiles of the same suit in running order. From example,

Examples of 3 suited tiles of the same suit in running order

How to get the 3 tiles in sequence?  First, you could draw all 3 tiles yourself! These tiles do not need to be revealed =) Second, you can get ‘help’ from the player before you turn. If you have 2 out of the 3 tiles in sequence and the player before you throws out the tile that will complete your sequence, you can take his discarded tile. Reveal your 2 tiles and take his discarded tile and confidently shout out “CHI”! =) Some examples are shown below

 Examples of taking “CHI” from the previous player

Winning the game!

After each turn, each player will be keeping 13 tiles. To win, 14 tiles are needed which consist of the 4 groups of three and a pair!  Where does the extra tile come from? This extra tile comes from (1) any player discarding one tile after every turn (2) drawing of a new tile during your turn.   

When you have gathered the 4 groups of three and a pair, u can WIN! Shout out “HU” and give an ‘evil’ grin to other players. Haha.

Examples of a winning hand

*Note that to win/ “HU” usually a minimum of 1 TAI/FAN is needed. For more information on how to get TAIs/FANs, please refer to  http://en.wikipedia.org./wiki/Scoring_in_Mahjong, which is a decent guide to understand the concept of TAI/FAN and scoring.

Summary: Form 4 groups of three and a pair to WIN! =)

Tiles needed for Mahjong!

Generally, the rules of playing Mahjong in Singapore is similar to that played in other countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, US, Japan, China. However, the 2 main differences are in the scoring method and the extra animals tiles. The extra animal tiles of Cat, Rat, Rooster, and Centipede add to the local flavour of the game and provide extra opportunities for a bigger win.

There are three main subgroup of tiles; Suited tiles, Honour tiles and Flower tiles.

Suited Tiles

Suited tiles can be arranged in running order from 1 to 9. This is similar to normal playing cards, where there is ace to ten. However, there are only three suits in Mahjong: circle, bamboo, and character. While in normal playing cards, there four suits: clubs, diamonds, hearts and spaces. There are 4 repetition of each tiles, similar to the normal playing cards.

Honour Tiles

Unlike the suited tiles, the honour tiles cannot be arranged in running order. They consist of wind and dragon tiles.

Flower Tiles

Flower tiles can enhance the winnings collected when the player successfully gamed (HU or calling mah-jong!)