Mahjong- A widely popular game which roots orginate from China. It is a fun and entertaing game which involves mathamatical calculations and a bit of luck in order to win a round.

A set has 144 tiles:

-3 different suits(108 tiles) -(Bamboo sticks,Chinese Characters, and Circles) which is something similar to the Spades, Clubs and Diamonds in a normal pack of cards. Each suit has 9 cards which are numbered from 1-9.

- 4 winds( 16 tiles) depicting North, South, East and West

- 3 bonus dragon tiles( 12 tiles) Red dragon, Green Dragon and White dragon

- 8 flower bonus tiles(24 tiles)

- A wind indicator device( to determind the wind in play) and 3 dices.

Once you have all the tiles ready you will be able to start the game.

Now that you know what are the tiles involved in the game here are some easy rules to follow.

1. Get three friends of yours to sit down together for the game. It is possible to play the game with only 3 players. You will just need to remove one of the suits in the set.

2. Decide the maximum( normally 8) and minimum (normally 2) number of points ('fan') a person can win each round and the amount of money allocated to the win.

   Eg: 1 fan =$0.50,2 fan = $1.00,3 fan =$2.00,4 fan= $4.00,5 fan= $8.00 etc

3. Throw the dice. The player which has the highest number will be the dealer. His position will be (East) while the other players will be the other winds and choose their seating position.

4. Stack up your tiles with the dealer having 17 pairs while the others each having 16 pairs.

5. The dealer throws the dice again. Let's say if the number 8 is rolled- count clockwise from the dealer being (1). The person who is number 8 will have to break his "wall" by shifting the (16-8= 8) pairs forward.

6. The dealer take 2 pairs while the other players take turn taking their 2 pairs. This occurs 3 times till everyone has 12 tiles.

7. Next the dealer takes 2 more tiles so his total is 14 while the other players take 1 making their total 13.

8. Arrange your tiles in a row according to suits so nobody sees them only exposing the bonus - flower cards if you have them.

9. After everyones bonus tiles have been displayed the player who has bonus tiles will draw from the " replacement wall" -the cards that were put aside before his wall was broken and add the tiles to his set.

10. The dealer throws out his additional card ( tile No 14) and starts the game. The next player can either " eat" the dealers tile to build up his set or " fish" a new tile from the remainding walls (starting from the wall left of the dealer)

1. A winning hand must consist of a pair of idential tiles-"eyes", and any combination of " Pong", "Chow" or " Kong"

   Pong - gathering 3 idential tiles

   Kong- gathering 4 idential tiles

   Chow- a 3 card sequence Ie: 3,4,5

   * "Eye" tiles are only worth points if they are made up of dragons, the prevailing wind or your own wind

   * Note you get more points 'fan' if you build tiles of the same suite.

   * If you get a "Kong" you will have to take a tile from the replacement wall.

2. The player who discards the winning tile will have to pay the winner his earning. If the winner draws the winning card on his own all 3 players will have to pay him.

3. Calculations of Fan

   Bonus cards- 1 fan

   Prevailing win - 1 fan

   Tiles of the same suit - 3 fan

   tiles of mixed suits - 2 fan

Some combination of winning tiles

In a standard mahjong game you would have to play at least 64 games to end a set).

You start with the Player (A) seated at East. If Player (A) wins the set the prevailing wind will remain at his seat or else it will be passed to Player (b) seated on his right. After the East Wind has made it's round around the table then it will be the South wind's turn to make it's round followed by North and West.

One set is considered " complete" after all the 4 different winds have made their rounds.

In each game only 1 person can win at a time. The winner is the 1st person to get any of the Winning tiles combinations mentioned above.

Things to do before starting the game

Before starting to play each person is given a fixed number of counters. (Similar to those used at the Casino with different money denominations). Decide on the payout for the different double combinations.

1 fan = $1

2 fan = $2

3 fan = $5

4 fan = $8

5 fan = $12

Example:: each person is given $300 in chips. 1- $100, 2-$50, 5-$10, 10-$1

If Player(A) wins the game and his tiles add up to 2 fan. Player B, Player C and Player D will each pay him $2 if he wins by "eating" another player's card. The person who throws the card for you to eat must pay your double - $4 (If you are playing Singaporean Style)

For HongKong and China Style ONLY the person who throws out the winning card will have to pay you.

If Player (A) wins by pulling the card himself everyone on the table pays double - $4 each.

At the end of the set or when the speculated time has been reach everyone will calculate the amount of chips remaining and pay the winnings to the winner.