Mahjong rules for beginners
This is mahjong as a four-player game of skill — not mahjong solitaire. Each player builds a hand of fourteen tiles into four sets and a pair, drawing from the wall and claiming other players’ discards.
BN-games teaches it step by step: a trainer with six guided lessons, a coach that suggests a discard and explains why, and a glossary of tiles, sets and calls. When you are ready, play Chinese Classical mahjong — with kongs, traditional scoring and East/South matches — or open an online table for friends, with bots filling any empty seat.
Tile Families
Mahjong tiles come in three numbered suits plus two kinds of honour tiles.
Characters (萬, "man") run 1 to 9. Circles (筒, "pin") run 1 to 9, drawn as rings of dots. Bamboo (索, "sou") run 1 to 9, drawn as green sticks.
Honours have no rank. The four winds are East, South, West, and North. The three dragons are Red, Green, and White. Each of the 34 distinct tiles appears four times, for 136 tiles in all.
Sets
A winning hand is fourteen tiles arranged as four sets plus one pair.
A run is three consecutive tiles of the same suit, such as 3-4-5 of circles — honours never form runs. A triplet is three identical tiles, such as three East winds. A pair is two identical tiles, and every winning hand needs exactly one.
Calls
When another player discards a tile you need, you may claim it out of turn.
Pung — claim any player's discard to complete a triplet. Chi — claim a discard to complete a run, but only from the player to your left (the seat just before your turn). Ron — claim a discard that completes your whole hand and win. Tsumo — win on a tile you drew yourself. After a Pung or Chi you take the tile, expose the set, and discard without drawing.
Turn Flow
On your turn you draw one tile from the wall. If it completes your hand you may declare Tsumo and win; otherwise you discard one tile face-up.
After a discard, any other player may claim it. When several players want the same tile, Ron beats Pung, and Pung beats Chi. If nobody claims it, the next player draws. If the wall runs out before anyone wins, the hand ends with no winner.