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Mahjong: Standard GameĪ standard game begins with the players choosing a dealer either by means of a high-scoring roll of the dice or by the blind drawing of wind tiles (featured in image below). Some sets may also include countersto help with scoring and racks into which players may place their tiles so they remain hidden from the other players. Mahjong: The DiceĪ mahjong set will also include a number of dice with which players determine who is to deal and where the dealing is to begin and a marker to show who is dealing and which round is being played. The honor tiles are divided between dragons (red, green and white) and winds (east, south, west and north) while the optional bonus tiles (flowers and seasons) are used mainly for the purposes of scoring and gambling. There are four copies of each of these tile in a set. In mahjong there are three suits for simples:Įach suit consists of nine tiles numbered one through nine.
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There are three categories of tiles:Īs is the case with a set of playing cards, the simples fall into suits. The most distinctive pieces in a mahjong set are undoubtedly the tiles.īased originally on paper cards, the tiles are now solid, chunky pieces with an image or character on one side (similar in a sense to a domino) and a thick backing of bamboo or, more usually these days, plastic on the other.
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The goal in mahjong is to complete a set with your tiles similar to a poker or rummy hand.Īnyone used to card games where a winning hand consists of a straight flush or a full house can easily get their head around the basic rules of mahjong. This quintessentially Chinese game is, in fact, very similar to a number of Western card games such as rummy.
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