How to Play Chinese Mahjong: Rules and Order of Play

Chinese Mahjong can be divided into seven stages every round. Once you understand the order of operations, the game flows naturally. Here is how it works from the moment you sit down to the moment someone calls mahjong.

Stage 1. Seating Arrangements (方位 fangwei)

Seating matters in Chinese Mahjong for two reasons. First, where you sit can carry feng shui significance, based on compass direction and the placement of players relative to each other. Second, random seating prevents cheating by making it harder for two players to consistently sit together and pass favorable discards. Beginners can skip the ritual and simply draw tiles or roll dice to assign seats randomly.

The seating layout follows Chinese convention, not Western map orientation. East sits at the bottom, West at the top, North on the left, and South on the right. This follows the Chinese recitation of directions: east, south, west, north. The player in the East seat becomes the first dealer.

Stage 2. Choose the Dealer (打庄 dazhuang)

The simple method is for each player to roll the dice; the highest number becomes the dealer. The traditional Chinese method designates the East seat player to roll first, then counts counterclockwise around the table to the total number on the dice. Whoever that count lands on becomes the dealer. Either way works. Once you have a dealer, play begins.

Stage 3. Shuffle and Build the Walls (叠牌 diepai)

All 144 tiles are thrown face-down into the center of the table and shuffled as loudly and vigorously as possible. Each player then builds a wall of tiles in front of them: 18 tiles long and two tiles high. The four walls pushed together form a square. This square is the draw pile for the entire round, and is called the wall.

Stage 4. Break the Walls and Deal (开牌 kaipai)

The dealer rolls the dice and counts off that number from the right side of the stack in front of them, then breaks the wall at that point. The dealer takes the first four tiles (two from the top row, two from the bottom row). Each player in turn takes four tiles until everyone has 12. The dealer then takes two additional tiles, giving them 14 total. Every other player takes one more tile each, bringing everyone else to 13. The dealer starts with a slight advantage: 14 tiles versus 13.

If any player draws a flower or season bonus tile during the deal, they place it face-up in their corner and draw a replacement from the back of the wall. Flower and season tiles count toward your score at the end but do not form part of your hand structure. After the deal, over 80 tiles remain face-down on the table. This remaining pool is called the dead wall, and players draw from it throughout the round.

Stage 5. Arrange Your Tiles (做牌 zuopai)

Now the strategizing begins. Each player arranges their tiles in a logical order to start identifying what sets are possible and what the hand might become. A simple starting approach: place obvious matches on the left and tiles you are likely to discard on the right. Watch the other players closely as they arrange their tiles. How they sort and group can hint at what they are building.

The goal is to match your 13 tiles (14 for the dealer) into a winning mahjong hand. A winning hand consists of four sets and one pair. Sets can be any of the following:

• Chow (吃牌 chipai): Three consecutive tiles of the same suit. Example: 1-2-3 of Characters. There are two kinds: a concealed chow (drawn entirely from the wall) and an exposed chow (claimed from the discard of the player whose turn was immediately before yours). To claim an exposed chow, say "chow" out loud and reveal the set.
• Pung (碰牌 pengpai): Three identical tiles. Example: three South Wind tiles. A concealed pung is drawn entirely from the wall. An exposed pung is claimed from any player's discard. Say "pung" out loud and reveal the set.
• Kong (开杠 kaigang): Four identical tiles. A concealed kong is drawn entirely from the wall; you may choose to reveal it or keep it hidden. An exposed kong is claimed from a discard. After declaring any kong, you draw one extra tile from the back of the wall. Kongs are a key element of advanced strategy: they deny opponents a tile they may need, preserve your draw rights, and can disrupt the flow of the game at a critical moment.

Stage 6. Play in Rounds and Call Mahjong (听牌 tingpai)

Starting with the dealer and moving clockwise, each player discards one tile face-up to the center of the table, then draws a new tile from the wall. On each discard, any other player may claim it to complete a pung or kong. Only the player whose turn is immediately next may claim a discard for a chow. Winning claims (mahjong) always take priority over pungs, which take priority over chows.

Play continues as players call out "chow," "pung," and "kong" to claim tiles and build their hands. Each tile you discard is visible to everyone, so be careful: experienced players will quickly read what you are building based on what you throw away. This is one of the most difficult ongoing decisions in the game: call mahjong now with the hand you have, or wait and risk someone else winning first.

When a player draws or claims the tile that completes their hand, they declare mahjong. At that point they claim their final tile to reach 14 tiles (15 for the dealer), lay their hand face-up on the table, and the round ends.

Stage 7. Scoring (算牌 suanpai)

Once all hands are visible, the winning hand is scored by counting its fans. Each combination in the hand corresponds to a fan value from the winning hands chart. A hand can be worth as little as zero fans (Chicken Hand) and as much as 88 fans (Thirteen Orphans) or other maximum-value hands.

The simple scoring method: the three losing players each pay the winner a fixed amount (100 points, $1, or whatever the table agreed to before play). The traditional Chinese method uses the fan count to calculate payment. If the winner claimed their final tile from another player's discard, that player pays the full amount while the other two pay half. If the winner drew their winning tile from the wall (a self-draw win), all three losers pay the full amount. Flower and season tiles each add one fan to the winner's score. Scoring is also where regional house rules come into play most strongly; this is normal and expected. Make up traditions of your own, have fun, and always be open to new ways to play.