🀄 Welcone to Taiwanese Mahjong!🀄

A Beginner's Survival Guide — If We Learned It, So Can You

Welcome! Mahjong looks intimidating at first (at least it did to us) — all those tiles, the vocabulary, the thinking! — but the core game is actually pretty simple. By the time you finish this guide, you'll know enough to play. The rest you'll pick up as you go along (and by watching everyone else play and (skillfully, luckily or accidentally) win).

The Big Picture

Taiwanese Mahjong is a tile-based game for 4 players. Think of it like Gin Rummy, but with tiles instead of cards. Your goal is to be the first to build a complete winning hand of 17 tiles made up of 5 sets of 3 and 1 pair.

Each player starts with 16 tiles. On your turn, you draw a tile (thus having 17 tiles in hand), decide if you want it or not, then discard 1 (returning to 16 tiles) unless the 17th tile gives you Mahjong (completes 1 of your 5 sets of 3 or your pair). When discarding, players often say the tile number and suit (see below). 

You're constantly building toward a winning hand — called Mahjong — and trying to get there before anyone else does.

Here’s a learning video for another version of Mahjong - the big difference is that he’s only using 13 tiles for Mahjong.

The Tiles

There are 144 tiles in a Taiwanese Mahjong set, organized into a few suits:

• Characters (萬 / Wan): Tiles numbered 1–9 with Chinese characters. Often called “char” or “crack.”

• Circles (餅 / Bing): Tiles numbered 1–9 with circle/dot designs. Often called “dot.”

• Bamboo (條 / Tiao): Tiles numbered 1–9 with bamboo stalk designs. (Note that 1Bamboo is a bird.) Often called “bam.”

• Winds (風牌): East, South, West, North — 4 of each.

• Dragons (箭牌): Red, Green, and White — 4 of each.

• Flowers & Seasons (花牌): 8 bonus tiles. When you draw 1, set it aside face-up and immediately draw a replacement tile.

Note that Winds and Dragons are often considered “trash” and disposed of early in the game. However if you draw a pair, they may be worth keeping; if you draw 3 of a kind, definitely keep them! (By the way, having 1 of each of the winds (NEWS) is not a set; it means nothing.)

The Setup

Trust us when we say there is a lot of formality and process to the setup (e.g., who sits where, who “hosts” and which wall (or pile) you draw from). It’s all intended to make the game fair. But we’re going to keep Setup simple in this guide. Here’s how to get started: 

1. Take a seat. 

2. Each person rolls the dice by pressing the green button directly in front of them. The person with the highest score is the “host” or dealer.  

3. The host then rolls the dice again by pressing the green button directly in front of them. The number that comes up is used to determine where to start handing out tiles. The host starts counting off each person counterclockwise until they reach the number they rolled. So if they rolled a 3, then the 3rd person to their left is where the wall of tiles will be used to start dealing out the tiles. If they rolled a 5, then the host’s wall of tiles is used. If an 11 is rolled, then the tile wall in front of the person directly across from the host is used. Hope this makes sense. 

4. Once the starting tile wall is determined, the person in front of the wall uses the dice number rolled by the host to count off the same number of stacked tiles starting from the left. So if the host rolled a 3, then 3 stacks of tiles are held in place and left to be the “replacement wall;” dealing out the tiles would start with the 4th stack. If 13 was rolled, then 13 stacks are held in place and dealing out tiles starts from the 14th stack. When dealing, the first 2 stacks (or 4 tiles) go to the dealer, then the next 2 stacks (or 4 tiles) go to the next person to the left of the dealer/host, then the next 2 stacks to the person to the left of that person, and so one until everyone receives a total of 16 tiles (4 stacks of 4). The dealer takes one more so that they have 17 in their hand. 

5. People then sort their tiles, typically in numerical order by suit. If you have any tiles called “flowers” (these are recognizable because they are kind of pretty looking AND they have a number in one upper corner and a symbol in the other upper corner), you tell the host and you will put these flowers aside. When the host says to, you will take replacement tiles from the replacement wall so that you start the game with 16 tiles. If you have 2 flowers, you would put them aside (they would count as extra points if you are scoring the game), giving you 14 in your hand but then you would take 2 tiles from the replacement wall so you’re back to having 16. The host will take any replacement tiles first, then the person to their left takes their replacement tiles, then the person to their left and so on. At the end of replacing the flowers, the dealer has 17 tiles and everyone else has 16. 

6. The host will start the game by discarding 1 tile so that they have 16 tiles like everyone else. The person to their left then plays. 

Building Your Hand

A winning hand is made up of 5 sets of 3 and 1 pair.* That's it. Everything else is just strategy.

The 3 Types of Sets

• Chow (吃) — A Sequence: Three consecutive tiles in the SAME suit. Example: 3, 4, 5 of Circles, 7, 8, 9 of Char. (You can only form a Chow using tiles from the numbered suits — no Winds or Dragons.)

• Pong (碰) — 3 of a Kind: Three identical tiles. Example: 3 RedDragons, 3 1Bamboos, 3 5Char.

• Kong (槓) — 4 of a Kind: 4 identical tiles. A Kong scores a little extra and earns you a bonus draw.

Plus 1 pair (2 identical tiles) — this is your Mahjong 'eye.'

A Turn in a Nutshell

• Play runs counterclockwise so when the player on your left is done, it’s your turn. 

• Draw a tile from the wall (or claim the recent discard from the player to your left if it completes a set) and add to your hand.

• Look at your hand — does this help you? Keep it if so. 

• If you got a Flower, you show everyone, set it aside near your hand and take another tile from the replacement wall. 

• Discard 1 tile face-up in the center.

• Watch if anyone claims your discard (Pong, Kong, Chow, or Mahjong).

• Repeat until someone wins.

Taking Other Players' Discards

You don't have to wait for your turn to draw — you can claim a tile someone else just discarded as long as it completes a set of 3 OR gives you Mahjong. 

• Chow (a sequence in order in the same suit): Call "Chow!" — BUT only on a discard from the player to your LEFT. You use it to complete a sequence. You must show the 2 tiles you have that make the left player's discarded tile useful to you, then you discard one of your tiles, and finally you pick up the tile you want. You then place all 3 tiles "revealed" in front of you. 

• Pong (3 of a kind): Call "Pong!" to claim the discarded tile from ANYONE to complete your 3 of a kind. To take the tile, you must show the 2 tiles you have that make the discarded tile useful to you, then you discard one of your tiles, and finally you pick up the tile you want. You then place all 3 tiles "revealed" in front of you. Play continues with the player to the right of you - so other players could be skipped. 

• Kong (4 of a kind): Call "Kong!" to claim any discarded tile for 4 of a kind. You draw a bonus tile before discarding. Play begins again like Pong. 

• Mahjong (5 sets and 1 pair): Call "Mahjong!" to claim the discarded tile. You then will show all your tiles to prove you have Mahjong. 

⚠️ Important: Again, when you claim another player's discard for a Pong, Kong, or Chow, you flip those tiles face-up on the table in front of you. Everyone can see them for the rest of the game.

⚠️ Also Important: Mahjong beats everything. If 2 people want the same discarded tile — 1 to Pong, 1 to Mahjong — the winner gets priority. And if someone calls Pong and someone else calls Chow for the same discarded tile, Pong takes precedence.

Winning — Two ways to Get Mahjong! 🎉

You win when you complete your hand: 5 sets + 1 pair. Call "Mahjong!" and show your tiles.

• Winning on a discard (胡牌): Someone else discards the tile you need to get Mahjong. You claim it and win.

• Self-draw (自摸 / Zimo): You draw the winning tile yourself from the wall. This is better — it scores higher and all 3 other players would pay you. Aim for this whenever you can!

Btw, there is 1 other hand that is a winning Mahjong hand: 7 pairs and 1 triplet. But this is very rare so don’t get hung up on this. 

A Few Golden Rules

• Keep your tiles private — don't show your hand!

• Think before you discard. Once a tile is down, it's fair game for everyone.

• Pay attention to what others are discarding. If you see lots of 7s and 8s hit the table, maybe don't count on a 6-7-8 sequence.

• Flower tiles go face-up in front of you immediately — draw a replacement right away from the replacement wall. 

• When in doubt, watch what the experienced players do. Mahjong is very much a learn-by-doing game.

🃏 Coming from American Mahjong? A few key differences to know:

• No scorecard or card — winning hands are more freeform in Taiwanese style.

• You start with 16 tiles (not 13).

• Jokers don't exist in Taiwanese Mahjong.

• Flower tiles are bonus tiles, not part of your hand — draw a replacement when you get 1.

• Self-draw wins are a bigger deal. All 3 players would pay you (if we were playing for money). 

• The pace tends to be faster — once you're ready, call it out!