How to Play "Four Winds Mah Jong"

Some mah jong sets have eight jokers in addition to the standard 144 tiles.

Mah jong originated in China and was introduced to America in the 1920s. A mah jong set contains 144 tiles, although a special card deck can be used as well. Created by Lagarto for PC and pocket PC devices, "Four Winds Mah Jong" follows the same traditional rules as the original game. "Four Winds Mah Jong" pits the player against three computer opponents at various levels of difficulty. To play, you'll first need to purchase and download the game, then open it up in your computer.

Instructions

1. Click on the dice button to throw the dice at the beginning of the game. All four players throw the dice at the beginning to determine who will go first.

2. Wait until you receive your tiles, which will load automatically face down on the board. Once every player receives tiles, you will just be able to see yours. Each player receives 13 tiles except for the dealer, East, who starts with 14 tiles. The computer will arrange the tiles in your hand for you.

3. Pick a tile from the wall. If you are East, then you discard without picking to initiate the play for the round. Click on a tile to discard it. You want to discard any tile that will not help you compose sets or pairs. To win the game, you will need to compose four sets and one pair. The sets can be comprised of chows, pungs or kongs. A chow is a numeric sequence of three tiles in the same suit, such as 1, 2 and 3 of the bamboo suit. A pung is three of the same tiles, such as three 4s in the characters suit, while a kong is a complete set of four identical tiles. A pair can is any two identical tiles.

4. Click on a discarded tile to claim it if you can use it in your hand. If two or more players want the tile, the way that the claim is determined is as follows: First, the person completing a winning hand gets the tile, otherwise the player with the most valuable hand receives the tile. In order of importance, the hands are kong, pung, and chow. In other words, the player who can make a kong has priority over a player wanting the same tile to make a pung. The order of play continues from the person who went last, so it is possible for one player to miss a turn because someone after him claimed a tile.

5. Wait for the computer to automatically deal the next tile in order from wall. This will happen when no one else wants to click on the tile that was discarded to claim it. The wall is comprised of extra tiles that were not dealt to anyone in the beginning. Then discard a tile that you can't use.

6. Continue like this, with each player proceeding turn. Each player will either receive a tile from the wall or try to claim a discarded tile. Once you have four sets and one pair, the computer will automatically recognize that you "Go Out," or win the hand. The computer will also automatically assign you and the other players points for the hand, based on the type and value of the sets and pairs that you created during play.

Tips & Warnings

• You can view and interactive tutorial or download a tutorial at the Lagarto website (see Resources). A "Four Winds Mah Jong" game for the iPhone also exists. The game play is identical to that on at PC or Pocket PC, the only difference being that you press and drag on your iPhone screen to claim and discard tiles, rather than using your computer mouse.

References

• Four Winds Mah Jong: Introduction

Resources

• Four Winds Mah Jong: Tutorials