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Instructions for playing Mahjong

  • You may play on your own, share your device or play with friends. To score a game click the button.
  • If sharing, click in this box before you start a game.
  • You start a game by clicking the button.
  • You are East. The others have been dealt 13 tiles but you have been dealt 14.
  • The object of the game is to collect 3 sets and one pair of tiles of the same suit. A set may contain 3 (a pung) or 4 (a kong) of the same denomination of tile or a run of three consecutive numbered tiles (a chow).
  • Your first move is to discard a tile. It appears in the walled area.
  • It is now the turn of South to have their go.
  • The hands are rotated 90 degrees clockwise and you play as South.
  • The game continues until a hand goes Mahjong or all the tiles in the wall are used.
  • For a demonstration click .
  • Further help is available by clicking .
  • If you have been invited to play click .
  • To play with friends click
    1. To create a game, enter up to four names and click 'Set Up Game' which will create a game for you to play. For two players enter data for East and South. You are East.
      East:
      South:
      West:
      North:
      Include blank tiles?   
    2. If there are two players, you will play East and West hands and the other player will play North and South hands.
    3. If there are three players, you will play East, the other players will play South and West hands. A robot will play North.
    4. If you would like a robot to play where there are empty seats click .
    5. Wait for them to join you. You will know when they have joined as you will be asked to discard a tile.
    6. Good luck with your game! If you have any comments or suggestions email them to the author.

Game
1
Wall
91

The Online Mahjong will work when you view your screen with the longer sides at the left and right like viewing a portrait.

Please rotate your screen ninety degrees to use the Online Mahjong.

, you will be playing .

  • The tiles in your hand which are concealed from the other players have a dark brown border.
  • The tiles which other players can see are above your hidden tiles and below the bottom of the wall. The other players' exposed tiles are just outside the wall in their sitting positions. They have a light brown border.
  • Instructions appear above your side of the wall. They begin with your name followed by a comma.
  • When it is your turn to play a beep will sound and the menu bar will appear below your tiles.
  • At the bottom of the screen is a sample of a menu bar. This is the menu bar which East will see as it has the 'Restart Game' button. Only active buttons will be shown. The 'Pause Game' button allows you to pause a game whilst you handle an interruption. There is no time limit for the length of a pause.
  • During your turn you may:
    • Pick up the discard which you do by clicking the discarded tile in the middle of the discard area or clicking the 'Get Discarded Tile' button in the menu bar. If it was not your natural turn you may decline picking the discard by clicking the 'No' button under the discard or clicking the 'No' button in the menu bar. You are given 10 seconds in which to decide to pick up the discard.
    • Swap a blank tile in an exposed rack for what it is substituting. You do this by clicking any of the exposed tiles or the 'Swap Blank Tile' button in the menu bar.
    • Get a tile from the wall by clicking anywhere on the wall or clicking the 'Get Wall Tile' button in the menu bar.
    • To end your go you discard a tile by clicking on the tile you wish to discard, unless you have gone Mahjong in which case the scores of all the players will be displayed.
    • When the timer in the bottom left corner of the wall expires your move is made for you.
    • In the bottom right hand corner of the wall is displayed the game number and the number of tiles in the wall and the number of blanks left in the wall.
  • Flowers are exposed when you pick them from the wall.
  • When a kong is formed an extra tile is taken from the wall and added to your tiles.
  • Only clean hands (a single suit) are allowed. You can only pick up a discard for one suit.
  • Special hands like 'All Pairs', 'Knitting', 'Wriggling Snake', etc, are not recognized.
  • Four blanks tiles are in play and may only be used to form pungs. They may be swapped during your go for what they are substitutes.
  • An exposed pung turns into a kong when the fourth tile is picked from the wall.
  • To go Mahjong you need to get one tile to make a pair, complete a pung, or complete a chow.
  • When you need one tile to go Mahjong your name will be highlighted to warn the others. If there is no available tile to go Mahjong the name will be in red letters else it will be in green letters.
  • The One Bamboo tile looks like:
  • When it is not your turn no entry signs appear inside the corners of the wall and the background lightens.
  • When you move the cursor over any small version of a tile a larger version will appear.
  • To see these instructions again click the 'Help' button.