Mahjong Styles Compared

Where the styles came from

Mahjong took shape in China in the late 1800s and reached the rest of the world in the 1920s. Each place it landed settled on its own scoring, and over a century those turned into separate games. These are five of the most widely played.

At a glance

Hong Kong

It’s what Hong Kong plays, and what Cantonese families play wherever they live. The official rules come from the Hong Kong Mahjong Association (HKMA), and many home tables add rules of their own, like counting flowers.

A hand is four sets and a pair. Sets are chows, three in a row like , or pungs, three of a kind like . You score faan for what the hand is made of and how you won, and most tables need 3 to win. It has far fewer patterns than MCR’s 81, so it’s quick to pick up. The whole faan table, with tiles for each hand, is in the scoring guide.

American

What most players in the United States play. Every spring the National Mah Jongg League publishes a card of that year’s winning hands, and you can only win with a hand on it.

American sets have eight jokers, which can stand in for a tile in a set of three or more. Before play starts, players pass tiles to each other in a ritual called the Charleston. You can’t claim a discard to make a run.

Coming from American Mahjong, Hong Kong feels loose: no card, no jokers, and any four sets and a pair can win if it’s worth enough.

Riichi

The Japanese game, and hugely popular online. It drops the flowers, and most games make one 5 in each suit red, as a bonus. A hand needs at least one scoring pattern, called a yaku, to win, and it’s scored in han and fu, which turn into points.

Two rules shape how it plays. You can declare riichi when you’re one tile from winning, which locks your hand in exchange for a bonus. And under furiten, if you’ve already discarded a tile that would finish your hand, you can’t win on anyone else’s discard. Together they make defence a big part of the game.

Taiwanese

Sixteen tiles in your hand instead of thirteen, so a winning hand is five sets and a pair. Hands are scored in tai (台), and usually there’s no minimum: every win pays a base amount, and each tai adds to it. Flowers score, and a dealer who keeps winning gets paid more each time.

Rules vary more from table to table than in any other style, so ask before you play.

Mahjong Competition Rules (MCR)

The international tournament rules, published in China in 1998 and also called Chinese Official. The hand is the familiar four sets and a pair, but there are 81 scoring patterns, and a hand needs 8 points to win. Flowers are a point each but don’t count toward the 8.

With that many patterns, it rewards planning your hand from the first draw. It’s one of the two styles played at the European championships, alongside Riichi.

Which to learn

Whichever one your friends play. If you’re choosing for yourself, Hong Kong is the quickest start: a short list of patterns, no card to buy, and no jokers.

Sources

• Hong Kong: the Hong Kong Mahjong Association rules, and the faan table in the scoring guide.
• American: the National Mah Jongg League’s annual card and rules.
• Riichi and MCR: the European Mahjong Association’s published rules for each.
• Taiwanese: no single governing body; the common sixteen-tile rules.