Chinese mahjong for beginners

Step 1 The set 牌

136 tiles: three suits of 1 to 9, the four winds and the three dragons, four of each. No flowers, no gold. Winds and dragons are ordinary tiles here: they stay in your hand and make pairs and sets of three, never runs.

Step 2 Winning 胡

Four sets and a pair. Between turns you hold 13 tiles, and the tile you draw or claim completes the hand at 14. A gang is four tiles but still one set, so each gang adds a tile: with one gang you hold 14 between turns and win with 15. Any complete hand wins, with no minimum. Winning is never forced.

Step 3 Calls 叫

Hu beats Gang, Gang beats Peng, Peng beats Chi. If two seats call Hu on the same discard, the one closest after the discarder takes it. After a Chi or Peng you can't discard a copy of the tile you just called. Called a Chi or Peng on a tile you could have won with? Hu stays open until you throw.

The last 14 tiles are set aside at the deal and never drawn. Of the rest, the discard that leaves four can still be called. After that, those last four are draw only: each seat in turn draws one, wins on it or the turn moves on. No discards, no gangs.

Step 4 The dealer 庄

The dealer starts with 14 tiles and discards first. Play passes to the right: the seat after the dealer draws next, so the seat on your left plays just before you, and a Chi comes only from there. When the dealer wins, or the wall runs out, the dealer keeps the seat and the streak grows by one; otherwise the seat passes to the next player and the streak resets.

When the drawable wall is gone (the 14 set aside stay out), the hand is a draw: no points change hands.

Step 5 Scoring 分

Only the highest of the last three counts, added after the ×2. Every other player pays the winner the total.

This scoring is the app's own, kept short so you can count it at the table. Hong Kong and other regional games score with longer pattern lists.