Collect 5 sets + 1 pair. That's it. That's the whole game.
🀈🀉🀊 · 🀔🀔🀔 · 🀚🀛🀜 · 🀀🀀🀀 · 🀖🀗🀘 · 🀄🀄
Five groups of three, plus one matching pair = a winning hand (17 tiles).
You hold 16 tiles in your hand. You win the moment your 17th tile (drawn or taken from a discard) completes the pattern above. First to do it ends the round.
Taiwan mahjong is the 16-tile version. If you've played Chinese or Japanese mahjong, it's the same idea with a bigger hand — 5 sets instead of 4.
2 The Tiles
Three suits — 1 to 9, four copies each
Characters 萬 (wan)
🀇🀈🀉🀊🀋🀌🀍🀎🀏
Circles 筒 (tong)
🀙🀚🀛🀜🀝🀞🀟🀠🀡
Bamboo 條 (tiao) — the 1 is a bird
🀐🀑🀒🀓🀔🀕🀖🀗🀘
Honors — no numbers, no runs
Winds: East, South, West, North
🀀 🀁 🀂 🀃
Dragons: Red, Green, White (blank)
🀄 🀅 🀆
Honor tiles can only form triplets or pairs — never runs.
Flowers & Seasons — 8 bonus tiles
🀢🀣🀤🀥 🀦🀧🀨🀩
Not part of your hand. If you draw one, flip it face-up in front of you and draw a replacement from the end of the wall. Free points.
3 What Counts as a Set
Run 順子 shùnzi
🀚🀛🀜
Three in a row, same suit. Numbers only — no winds or dragons. Doesn't wrap (9-1-2 is not a run).
Triplet 刻子 kèzi
🀔🀔🀔
Three identical tiles. Any tile type, including winds and dragons.
Kong 槓 gàng
🀀🀀🀀🀀
Four identical tiles. Counts as one set, but you draw a bonus replacement tile from the back of the wall.
Pair 對子 duìzi
🀄🀄
Two identical tiles. You need exactly one pair — it's the "eyes" of your hand.
4 How a Turn Works
Draw one tile from the wall (or take the previous player's discard if you're calling — see below).
Look at your hand. Did that tile help? You now have 17 tiles and need to get back to 16.
Discard one tile face-up into the middle, and say its name out loud.
Play passes to the right (counter-clockwise), unless someone calls the discard.
If you drew a flower 🀢, flip it in front of you and draw again before discarding.
Which tile should I throw?
Early on, ditch lone honor tiles (winds/dragons you only have one of) — they're hard to triple up.
Keep tiles that connect: 🀚🀛 needs only a 🀙 or 🀜. A lone 🀝 helps nothing yet.
1s and 9s are safer to discard late — they complete fewer runs.
5 Calling Someone's Discard
When a tile is discarded, any player can grab it — but only if it completes a set right now. Say the call out loud before the next player draws, then show the set face-up on the table and discard a tile.
"Pung!" 碰 pèng
You have two matching tiles and someone discards the third. Anyone at the table can pung — you can steal a turn from players ahead of you.
"Kong!" 槓 gàng
You have three matching tiles and someone discards the fourth. Take it, then draw a replacement tile from the end of the wall.
"Chow!" 吃 chī
The discard completes a run for you. ⚠️ Only from the player directly on your left (the one right before your turn).
"Hu!" 胡 hú — win
The discard completes your whole hand. Beats everything.
If two people call at once
Win > Kong/Pung > Chow. A win always wins. A pung beats a chow. Two people calling a win? The one closest to the discarder's right takes it.
The trade-off: calling speeds your hand up, but a called set stays face-up on the table for everyone to see — and in most house rules an "open" hand scores less. Beginners: call freely, worry about points later.
6 Winning
Term
What it means
Hu 胡
You've completed 5 sets + 1 pair. Announce it and lay your hand face-up.
Self-draw 自摸 zìmō
You drew the winning tile yourself. All three players pay you.
Off a discard 放槍 fàngqiāng
You won on someone's discard. Only that person pays. This is why late-game discards get nervous.
Draw 流局
Wall runs out with no winner. Nobody pays; deal again with the same dealer.
Scoring, the short version
Hands are worth tai (台) — points that stack up. A basic win is worth a base amount, and extras add tai. The host will settle up; you don't need to memorize this to play. Common ones:
Each flower you flipped — 1 tai (your seat's matching flower counts too)
Triplet of dragons 🀄🀄🀄 — 1 tai
Triplet of your seat wind or the round wind — 1 tai
Self-draw — 1 tai
All one suit (whole hand in circles, say) — big
Concealed hand (never called a single discard) — bonus
Beginner strategy: don't chase fancy hands. Just get 5 sets + a pair on the table before anyone else does. A cheap win beats a beautiful hand that never finishes.
7 Setup & Table Rules
Setting up
Shuffle all 144 tiles face-down, then each player builds a wall 18 tiles long, 2 high.
Push the walls together into a square.
Seats are winds: East, South, West, North — going counter-clockwise.
East is the dealer and gets 17 tiles; everyone else gets 16. East discards first.
Flip up any flowers you were dealt and draw replacements before play starts.
Don't be that person
Say your discard out loud. Silent discards cause arguments.
Once you let go of a tile, it's gone. No take-backs.
Call fast — if the next player has drawn, you're too late.
Keep your hand upright and facing you. Don't flash tiles.
Don't touch the wall or other people's tiles.
Count before you declare a win. Declaring a bogus win is usually penalized.
Dealer rotation
If the dealer (East) wins or the hand is a draw, they stay dealer and everyone plays again. Otherwise the dealer role passes to the right and everyone's seat wind shifts.