The game was a sensation in
America when
it was imported from
China
in the 1920s, with the same Mahjong game taking on a number of trademarked
names, such as ''Pung Chow'' or the ''Game of Thousand Intelligences''. Part
of Mahjong nights in
America
were to decorate rooms in Chinese style and dress like Chinese.
American mahjong, which was mainly
played by women during the time, grew from this craze, and in the 1930s, after
many revisions of the rules (including some that were considered fundamentals
in other variants, such as the notion of a standard hand) led to the formation
of the National Mah Jongg League in1937, along with the first American mahjong
rulebook, ''Maajh: The American Version of the Ancient Chinese Game''.
Despite it being Chinese in origin and accepted by players of all racial
backgrounds when first introduced by Babcock, American Mahjong is considered a
Jewish game, as many American mahjong players are of Jewish descent, and the
NMJL was founded by Jewish players and considered a Jewish organization. But,
at the same time, this traditional Chinese game was banned in its homeland in
1945, when the People's Republic of
China
was founded. The new Communist government forbade any gambling activities,
which were regarded as symbols of capitalism corruption. After the Cultural
Revolution, the game was revived, and once again Mahjong has become one of the
most favorite pastimes of the Chinese people.
Gameplay
Each player is
dealt either 13 tiles for 13-tile variations or 16 tiles for 16-tile
variations. A turn involves a player's drawing of a tile from the wall (or
draw pile) and then placing it in his hand. The player then discards a tile
onto the table. This
signals the end of his turn, prompting the player
to the right to make his move. As a form of courtesy, each player is
encouraged to announce loudly the name of the tile being discarded. Many
variations require that discarded tiles be placed in an orderly fashion in
front of the player, while some require that these be placed face down.
Flower Tiles
Flower tiles, when dealt or drawn, must be
immediately replaced by a tile from the dead wall, or if no dead wall exists,
the back end of the wall. They are immediately exposed (placed in view on the
table on front of the player's tiles). At the start of each round, where two
or more players may have flower tiles, flower tiles are replaced starting with
the dealer and moving to the right.
Flower tiles may or may not have point value; and
in some variations, possession of all the flower tiles wins the round
regardless of the
actual contents of the hand.
In American Mahjong, however, Flower tiles are not
instantly exposed and replaced, as they may be melded with other Flower tiles
in the same group (in essence, they are treated as if they were another set of
honor tiles) or be used as a requirement of a winning hand. Early versions of
American Mahjong used Flower tiles as Joker tiles.
Joker Tiles
A feature of several variations, most notably
American variations of Mahjong, is the notion of wild card or Joker tiles.
They may be used as a substitute for any tile in a hand (or, in some
variations, only tiles in melds). Depending on the variation, a player may
replace a Joker tile that is part of an exposed meld belonging to any player
with the tile it represents. Rules governing discarding Joker tiles also
exist: some variations permit the Joker tile to take on the identity of any
tile, and others only permit the Joker tile to take on the identity of the
previously discarded tile (or the absence of a tile, if it is the first
discard). Joker tiles may or may not have an impact on scoring, depending on
the variation. Some special hands may require the use of Joker tiles (for
example, to represent a "fifth tile" of a certain suited or honor tile). In
American Mahjong, it is illegal to pass jokers during the
Charleston
.
Melds
When a player discards a tile, any other player
may "call" or "bid" for it in order to complete a meld (a certain set of
tiles) in his or her own hand. The disadvantage of doing this is that the
player must now expose the completed meld to the other players, giving them an
idea of what type of hand he or she is creating. This also creates an element
of strategy, as in many variations, discarding a tile that allows another
player to win the game causes the discarding player to lose points (or pay the
winner more in a game for money). Most variants (again, with the notable
exception of American Mahjong) allow three types of melds. When a meld
is declared through a discard, the player must
state the type of the meld to be declared and place the meld face-up. The
player must then discard a tile, and play continues to the right. Because of
this, turns may be skipped in the process.
Chow is a meld of three suited tiles in sequence.
Unlike other melds, an exposed Chow may only be declared off the discard of
the player on the left. American Mahjong does not have a formal chow
(that is, you cannot declare chows), but some hands may require that similar
sequences be constructed in the hand. Some
American variations may also have the knitted
sequence, where the three tiles are of three different suits. Sequences of
higher length are usually not permissible (unless it forms more than one
meld).
Eye The pair, while not a meld (and thus, cannot
be declared or formed with a discard), is the final component to the standard
hand. It consists of two identical tiles. It is to note that American mahjong
handsmay have tile constructions that are not melds, such as "NEWS"
(having one of each wind). As they are not melds, they cannot be formed off
discards, and in some variations, cannot be constructed in part or in whole by
Joker tiles.
When two or more players call for a discarded
tile, a player taking the tile to win the hand has precedence over all others,
followed by pong or kong declarations, and lastly chows. In
American Mahjong, where it may be possible for two players needing the same
tile for melds, the meld of a higher number of identical tiles takes
precedence. If two or more players call for a meld of the same precedence (or
to win), the player closest to the right wins out (but the game may be
declared an abortive draw if two or more players call a tile for the win,
again depending on the variation). In particular, if a call to win overrides a
call to form a kong, such a move is called robbing the Kong , and may
give a scoring bonus. There is generally an informal convention as to the
amount of time allowed to make a call for a discarded tile before the next
player takes its turn. In American Mahjong, this "window of opportunity" is
explicitly stated in the rules, where in other variants, it is generally
viewed that when the next player's turn starts (i.e. the tile leaves the
wall), the opportunity has been lost.
Ready Hands
When a hand is one tile short of winning the hand
is said to be a ready hand. The player holding a ready hand is said to be
waiting for certain tiles. It is common to be waiting for two or three
tiles, and some variations award points for a hand that is waiting for one
tile. In 13-tile Mahjong, the most amount of tiles that you can wait for is 13
(the thirteen terminals, a nonstandard special hand). Some variations
of
Mahjong, most notably Japanese variations, allow a player to declare
riichi, sometimes known as reach as it is phonetically similar). A
declaration of riichi is a promise that any tile drawn by the player is
immediately discarded unless it constitutes a win. A player who declares
riichi and wins usually receives a point bonus for their hand, while a
player who declares riichi and loses is
usually penalized in some fashion. When four
players declare a riichi, the game is a draw. Declaring a nonexistent riichi
is penalized.
Draws
If only the dead wall remains and no one has won,
the round is drawn ( liu ju, Japanese Ryuukyoku ) or "goulashed". A new
round begins, and depending on the variant, game wind may change.
Winning
A player wins the round by creating a standard
mahjong hand (in Western Classical variants, this is known as creating a
Mahjong, and the process of winning is called going Mahjong) which
consists of a certain number of melds, four for 13-tile variations and five
for 16-tile variations, and a pair. Some variations may also require that
winning hands be of some point value. Variations may also have special
nonstandard hands that a player can make (in this
sense, American Mahjong is a variant where only special hands exist).
Turns and Rounds
If the dealer wins the game, they will stay as the
dealer. Otherwise, the player to the right becomes dealer and the player's
wind becomes the Game Wind, in the sequence East-South-West-North. After the
wind returns to East (i.e. each player has been the dealer), a round is
complete and the Prevailing Wind will change, again in the sequence
East-South-West-North. A full game of
mahjong ends after 4 rounds, i.e. when the North
Prevailing Wind round is over. It is often regarded as an unlucky act to stop
the game play at the West round, as West has a similar meaning to death in
Chinese.
Scoring
Scoring in
Mahjong involves points, with a monetary value for points agreed upon by
players. Although in many variations scoreless hands are possible, many
require that hands be of some point value in order to win the round. While the
basic game play is more or less
the same throughout mahjong, the greatest
divergence between variations lies in the scoring systems. Like the game play,
there is a generalized system of scoring, based on the method of winning and
the winning hand, from which Chinese and Japanese (among notable systems) base
their roots. American mahjong generally has greatly divergent scoring rules
(as well as greatly divergent game play rules). Because of the large
differences between the various systems of scoring (especially for Chinese
variants), groups
of players will often agree on particular scoring
rules before a game. Like with game play, many attempts have been made to
create an international standard of scoring, but most are not widely accepted.
Points (terminology of which differs from
variation to variation) are obtained by matching the winning hand and
the winning condition with a specific set of
criteria, with different criteria scoring different values. Some of these
criteria may be subsets of other criteria (for example, having a meld of one
Dragon versus having a meld of all of them), and in these cases, only the most
general criteria is scored. The points obtained may be translated into scores
for each player using some (typically exponential) functions. When gambling
with mahjong, these scores are typically directly translated into sums of
money. Some criteria may be
also in terms of both points and score.