Game Play
Flower Tiles
When a player draws or is dealt a flower tile it must imediately placed in front of the player and replaced with a new tile from the dead wall or the back end of the wall should the dead wall be gone. If more than one player has a flower tile at the start of the round, the flower tiles are placed down starting with the dealer and moving to the player on the dealers right. The flower tiles may or may not have a value or they may have special rules governing them in the variation that you might be playing.Joker Tiles
The Joker tiles can be found in a few variations but not all of them. The most prominent variation to have Joker tiles is American Mahjong. Depending on the variation of Mahjong being played, The joker tiles can be used for any tile in the players hand or only for a missing tile in a Meld.
As jokers are special tiles there are specific rules governing their discard. Some variations allow the Joker tile to take on the identity of any tile while other allow the Joker to only take on the identity of the previously discarded tile. Like the Flower tiles the Joker tiles may or may not have an impact on players score.
Melds
Melds are part of a players hand in Mahjong. There are four different types of Melds which are explained below. A meld can be formed during a deal or on a draw, but more often they are formed on a discard. When a Meld is formed on a discarded tile the player must announce the Meld and reviel it to the other players before drawing the needed discarded tile.
It is possible for multiple players to want the same discarded tile. In this event there are special rules to govern this situation.
- A player forming a winning hand takes precidence over all other hands.
- A player forming a Pong or Kong is the next to take precidence.
- A player forming a Chow is the last to have a chance at a discarded tile.
The different types of Melds are:
Pong
A Pong is a group of three identical tiles.
Kong
A Kong is a group of four identical tiles. A kong can either be a conceield Kong (formed during the deal or a draw) or an exposed Kong (form by drawing a discarded tile). A prudent strategy may be to keep a conceiled Kong, concealed as it is not possible to split a Kong once it has be declared. A player may wish to split a Kong for use in a Chow.
Chow
A Chow is a group of three suited tiles in sequential order. A Chow can only be declaired of the discard of the player to the left unless the Chow is being formed for the win.
Eye
The Eye is not a meld but is required to complete a hand. The Eye is a pair of identical tiles.Ready Hands
Ready Hands are hands that are one tile away from winning. These hands are also known as "on the pot". Depending on the varient of mahjong being played, Ready hand must either be declared or not declared. In some Mahjong varients that have the player declaring their ready hand, either the player will be rewararded for winning the hand or punished for loosing.
