How to Play Mahjong
Draw, discard, call pung, kong or chow — and go out on four sets and a pair.
Mahjong is the Chinese tile game of a wall and four hands, played here the streamlined Hong Kong way: one hand is one game. A hundred and thirty-six tiles — three suits, the winds and the dragons, no flowers or seasons — are shuffled into the wall; each seat is dealt thirteen, and the first to complete four sets and a pair, drawing from the wall and claiming what the others let go, wins the hand. Two to four sit at the table, against the computer at three levels or online.
Ways to play Mahjong
Two to four at the board
Play Mahjong against the computer with one, two or three others at the board. Every seat is filled, so a game always starts.
Online with friends and family
Create a board, share the code, and play together on the same board. Online games count towards your rating and My Stats.
Picked up where you left it
Close the tab mid-game and come back to it — the game is kept in your browser, on the board you were playing.
No ads, ever
No advertising, no interruption, nothing to dismiss. The same promise as every Vanikar™ game.
🎯 Objective
Be the first to complete a hand — four sets and a pair, Seven Pairs or Thirteen Orphans — and score it in fan.
🎲 Mahjong setup
- The set is 136 tiles: three suits of nine — Characters, Bamboo and Dots — four of each tile; the four winds, East, South, West and North; and the three dragons, Red, Green and White. No flowers or seasons.
- Choose how many sit, from two to four; four is the usual table. You sit East and deal, and the computer takes the other seats at the level you set.
- Every tile is shuffled into the wall whether two or four sit down. Each seat is dealt thirteen; the last fourteen tiles of the wall are the dead wall, drawn from only to replace a tile after a kong.
- Only you can see your hand. The other seats’ tiles show face down; only their discards and the sets they have laid are open.
▶ How to play Mahjong
- On your turn a tile is drawn for you from the wall. With fourteen in hand, tap a tile to lift it and tap it again — or press Discard — to throw it.
- With fourteen in hand you may instead declare a win, or a kong of four alike (or add the fourth to a pung you have laid), which brings a replacement tile from the dead wall.
- When a tile is discarded, every other seat is asked in turn, nearest the discarder first: whether it wins on the tile, then whether it pungs or kongs it, and last the next seat alone whether it chows it.
- You are asked only when you could claim, with a button for each way — Win, Pung, Kong, Chow — and Pass. The first claim taken ends the asking.
- A seat that claims a pung, kong or chow lays the set face up on the table and then discards. A kong declared from four in your hand stays concealed.
- A seat that could win may still choose to play on. When the live wall runs out with nobody out, the hand is a wash: no winner.
🎬 Watch: How to Play Mahjong
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📖 Detailed guide
The tiles and the wall
- 136 tiles: Characters, Bamboo and Dots, one to nine, four of each; East, South, West and North; the Red, Green and White dragons. No flowers, no seasons.
- Each seat is dealt thirteen. The wall holds the rest, and its last fourteen tiles are the dead wall, used only to replace a tile after a kong.
- The ones and nines of each suit and the seven honors are the orphans — the tiles Thirteen Orphans is made of.
- Your drawn tile stands apart at the end of your hand, on its own rack under the table, so you always know which one just came in.
Sets and claims
- A pung is three tiles alike; a kong four alike; a chow three in a row of one suit.
- A discard may be claimed by any seat to win or to pung or kong it, but only by the next seat to chow it. The seat nearest the discarder, and the stronger claim, wins the asking.
- A set claimed from a discard is laid face up and counts towards the four. A kong from your own hand stays concealed and still brings a replacement tile.
- Buttons appear only when you could claim — Win, Pung, Kong, Chow — with Pass beside them.
Going out and the fan
- A complete hand is four sets and a pair, counting any sets on the table; or Seven Pairs; or Thirteen Orphans — every one, nine, wind and dragon once, and one of them again.
- The win is one fan; self-drawn one more, or one more for a fully concealed hand won on a discard. All Chows is one, All Pungs three, a Half Flush three, a Full Flush six, Seven Pairs four.
- A pung or kong of a dragon, of your own wind or of East each add one. Thirteen Orphans is the limit, thirteen, and no hand scores more.
- The winner scores ten and the fan; the other seats score nothing. The winning hand is shown to everyone.
One hand, offline and online
- One hand is one game: there is no rotation of the deal and no running score across hands. A wash — the live wall spent with nobody out — is a game with no winner.
- Offline, choose two to four seats and the computer’s level — Easy, Medium or Hard. You are always East.
- Online, the table deals and draws, and tells each seat its own tiles alone; the others see only discards and laid sets.
- The result counts towards your rating and My Stats, as every board game does.
🏁 How Mahjong is won
A win is one fan; one more for drawing the winning tile yourself, or for a fully concealed hand won on a discard. All Chows is one; All Pungs three; a Half Flush three, a Full Flush six; Seven Pairs four; Thirteen Orphans the limit, thirteen. Each pung or kong of a dragon is one, of your own wind one, of East — the prevailing wind — one. No hand scores more than thirteen. The winner scores ten and the fan; everyone else nothing, and the game is over after the one hand.
❓ Mahjong — frequently asked questions
How many players do you need for Mahjong?
Mahjong is played by 2–4. Seats you do not fill are taken by the computer, so a game always starts.
Where can I play Mahjong?
In your browser at play.vanikar.games, on a computer, a tablet or a phone. Sign in with the same Vanikar™ account you use for the card games.
Is Mahjong included in my subscription?
Yes. One Card Games by Vanikar™ subscription covers the card games, Chess & Checkers and the board games, and every game released after them.
Does Mahjong have ads?
No. No Vanikar™ game has ever carried advertising, and none ever will.
How many tiles does this Mahjong use?
136: the 3 suits of 9, 4 of each tile, the 4 winds and the 3 dragons. There are no flower or season tiles, and every tile is in the wall whether 2 or 4 sit down.
Is it one hand or a full game of rounds?
One hand is one game. There is no rotation of the deal, no prevailing-wind rounds and no running score: a hand is dealt, someone goes out or the wall runs dry, and the game is over.
What are pung, kong and chow?
A pung is 3 tiles alike, a kong 4 alike, and a chow 3 in a row of 1 suit. Any seat may claim a discard to pung or kong; only the next seat may chow it.
How is a Mahjong hand scored?
In fan, the Hong Kong way: 1 for the win, 1 more self-drawn or fully concealed, and more for the pattern — All Pungs 3, a Full Flush 6, Seven Pairs 4, Thirteen Orphans the limit of 13. The winner scores 10 and the fan; the other seats nothing.