How to Play Mahjong — Real 4-Player Mahjong for Beginners
Real Mahjong — the 4-player gambling game from 19th-century China — is nothing like the Mahjong Solitaire tile puzzle most people know from PC games. Real Mahjong is closer to gin rummy: you draw tiles, discard tiles, and build a winning hand. Here’s a beginner-to-intermediate guide to the actual game using the most common ruleset (Hong Kong-style).
The tiles
144 tiles total in 5 categories. Suits (108 tiles): Dots (1-9, 4 of each), Bamboo (1-9, 4 of each), Characters/Wan (1-9, 4 of each). Honor tiles (28 tiles): four Winds (East, South, West, North — 4 each), three Dragons (Red, Green, White — 4 each). Bonus tiles (8 tiles, optional): 4 Flowers (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter) and 4 Seasons. Bonus tiles never form part of your winning hand.
The setup
4 players seated as East, South, West, North (rotating). The dealer is always East. Tiles are shuffled face-down on the table, then each player builds a wall of tiles 17 long and 2 tall in front of them. The walls form a square.
Dealer rolls dice to determine where to break the wall and starts dealing. Each player gets 13 tiles. Dealer gets one extra (14).
The winning hand
A winning hand is 14 tiles consisting of: 4 sets + 1 pair. A set is one of three patterns:
Chow: three consecutive tiles in the same suit (e.g., 3-4-5 of Dots). Can’t span suits.
Pung: three identical tiles (e.g., three Green Dragons).
Kong: four identical tiles (a Pung + one extra). Treated like a Pung for scoring but counts more points.
The pair is any two identical tiles.
The flow of a turn
Each turn: draw one tile from the wall (or claim a recently-discarded tile to complete a set), then discard one tile face-up. Play passes counterclockwise.
When you complete a Chow, Pung, Kong, or your winning hand using someone else’s discard, you can claim the discard immediately — even if it’s not your turn. Calls override turn order.
Scoring (Hong Kong rules)
Hands are scored in faan (multipliers). A baseline hand (4 sets + pair, mixed) is 0 faan. You need a minimum (usually 3 faan) to win. Higher-faan hands include:
All Pungs (no Chows): 6 faan.
Half Flush (all tiles in one suit + honors): 3 faan.
Full Flush (all tiles one suit, no honors): 7 faan.
Concealed Hand (won without any claims): 1 faan.
Each player pays the winner based on faan total. Dealer pays/receives double.
What about Mahjong Solitaire?
That’s not really Mahjong — it’s a 1981 PC game called Shanghai by Brodie Lockard at Activision. It uses Mahjong tiles but plays nothing like real Mahjong. It’s a single-player pair-matching puzzle. If you want to try it, see our Mahjong Solitaire.
If you want to learn real 4-player Mahjong, dedicated apps like Mahjong Soul teach Japanese Riichi rules, and Riichi City is a popular live-multiplayer client.
More
See our games like Mahjong roundup for browser games that use similar tile-matching mechanics.
