One of the fascinating things about Mah Jong is how much it has developed over the years from the basic Chinese version to the number of variations we have today.

Given the multiplicity of Mah Jong rule sets, how do you know which version of Mah Jong you should play?

• Frequently Asked Questions
  Read FAQ #02 Choose a MJ rule set -- identify a rule set.

• Four Winds Knowledge Base
  An excellent resource on many of these variations is the 4 Winds Knowledge Base. This is the official website for the 4Winds Mah Jong software.

• International Mah Jong Newspaper
  The International Mah Jong Newspaper also has a good summary of rules.

• Software
  A good tool for learning different rule sets is to use a software version of Mah Jong. The most comprehensive version is 4Winds 2.0 which covers most of the versions listed below. Find out more on the Mah Jong Software page.

• Newsgroup
  The Usenet newsgroup is also a wonderful resource, but remember to check the Frequently Asked Questions before you post. You can find out more on my newsgroup page

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The following is largely based on the FAQ, and represents the variations in which I am interested.

Of course, our American cousins had to re-write the rules, have bigger sets, form their own associations and admittedly write some great Mah Jong software ;-)

Chracteristics:

• Uses 152 tiles (8 jokers added).
• Flowers are used in the hand (you can pong and kong them).
• Many (about 50) special hands (tile combinations) -- card changes every year.
• Score by looking it up on the card (available from NMJL and/or AMJA).
• Only the winner is paid.

Online rules:

• American MJ Association
• National MJ League

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This is the basic game from which all others are derivations. This is the main rule set that I learned as a child and which our family play (with a few alterations).

Characteristics:

• Uses 144 tiles.
• Not many special / limit hands.
• All players score points and not just the winner, though this is an option.

Books:

• D. Kohnen, A.D. Millington, Eleanor Whitney, Thompson & Maloney
• (also most 1920s authors, now out of print; see books FAQ #03).

Rules online:

• de la Rue, 1924 (on this site, PDF available)
• MJ Club
• Nanette Pasquarello's Notes
• Gibson's Games Rules

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Chinese Official

This is the version used at the World Championships in 2002 -- more details soon, plus a downloadable version.

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Characteristics:

• Uses 136 or 144 tiles.
• Not many special hands (tile combinations).
• Score by counting doubles, then convert to points.
• Only the winner is paid.

Books:

• Perlmen & Chan, Constantino, Li, Tsui
• (see books FAQ #03).

Rules online:

• Nine Dragons Hong Kong
• Hakka

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An attempt to standardize Mah Jong rules based on the playing style of Hong Kong Old Style.

Rules online:

• http://www.cofatsui.com/mahjong.html

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Characteristics:

• Uses 136 tiles.
  
• Flowers come with the tile sets, but are not used in play.
  
• Several special hands (tile combinations).
  
• Only the winner is paid.
  

Books:

• Kanai and Farrell, Whitney, Carkner (see books FAQ).

Online rules:

• Alan Kwan Classical & Modern

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Characteristics:

• Uses 136 tiles.
• Flowers come with the tile sets, but are not used in play.
• Hold 13 tiles in the hand, go out on 14 tiles.
• Many special hands (tile combinations).
• Score most easily by memorizing chart. Base points times fan.
• Only the winner is paid.

Online rules:

• Modern Japanese Rules
• Shanghai: 2nd Dynasty Riichi
• Alan Kwan Classical & Modern
• Alan Kwan Modern Scoring

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Characteristics:

• 104 tiles are used ( Characters, Dots, Winds, Dragons and 4 flowers)
• There is no melded chow. Only secret chow!! That means you can't use a discarded tile to make chow.
• 3 as well as 4 people can play mahjong.
• You can't use a tile to win, if the tile is discarded by you before!!
• Every player must discard their tiles in front of themselves inside the wall. That's how they know which discarded tile they can't take.
• You must make at least basic 2 fans unless you finish totally secret hand.
• Korean mahjong one game is composed of 8 rounds( East, South, West and North X 2 ). Hence, One game should be at least 32 games !!! This is a traditional rule.

Online rules:

• Korean Rules

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May use a large number of tiles with a variety of flowers which can be used to capture other players' flowers.

Online rules:

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Taiwanese

Taiwanese Mah Jong is played with larger hands!

Characteristics:

• Uses 144 tiles.
• Hold 16 tiles in the hand, go out on 17 tiles.
• Several special hands (tile combinations).
• Score by counting doubles, then convert to points.
• Only the winner is paid.

Rules online:

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Western Mah Jong is very similar to Chinese Classical, with more special (limit) hands available which vary from author to author.

Characteristics:

• Uses 144 or more tiles (jokers are optional and may vary in number).
• Many special hands (tile combinations) which vary slightly from book to book.
• All players earn points (not only the winner).
• "Goulash" may be played (BMJA) which replaces 2 Bamboos with jokers, and then a "Charleston" is played.

Books:

• Strauser & Evans, Thompson & Maloney, Whitney, Know The Game (BMJA)

Online rules:

• de la Rue, 1924 (on this site, PDF available)
• Nanette Pasquarello's Notes
• Gibson's Games Rules
• Buzzard

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As Alan Kwan says on his site: "I have mix-and-matched several Mah-jong scoring systems and put together my house scoring system. If you think Cantonese Old Style lacks variety, Shanghai New Style is too complex, and something must be wrong with Taiwanese style, please check this one out to see whether you like it or not."

Zung Jung has been developed based on a number of existing scoring systems, in particular Modern Japanese.

Online rules:

• Zung Jung v.2.4

  Alan's site also includes a scoring card system designed by him which I created for him in PDF format.

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