ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCORE SETTLING
In the four layouts following, the illustrations represent all the hands together as they are laid down after one of the players wins. They serve to clear up "settling" of the scores and also bring out important points in the playing of the hands. In each case the score of the four players is given in total and practice in the calculating of scores can be obtained by beginners by scoring these hands and comparing their results with the given scores.
East Wind "Mah-Jongged" with a total score of 608 points. He collects double this amount from each of the other three winds because he is East Wind, and winning, collects double. This makes 1216 from each player or a total of 3648. He then throws his hand into the discard and the other three players settle, the high hand collecting the difference between his hand and the remaining two. In the illustration, West Wind is the high hand and he collects 336 from South Wind and 484 from North Wind, the difference between his hand and those of South and North Winds, respectively. He then discards his hand and leaves the South and North Winds to settle. They do this by South Wind collecting 48 points from North; both discard their tiles, and the scores are settled. It might be best here to analyze the above layout to see how the play went. East Wind's hand appeared harmless enough because he had most of it concealed, only exposing two sets. On this account, none of the other opponents would hesitate about discarding the eight of bamboo which allowed him to Mah-Jongg. North and South Winds having poor hands themselves might have held the eight of bamboo and not have taken a chance on it "putting him out" if they had been warned how near he was to winning, for West Wind had an exceptionally fine hand with the best part of it concealed and he won back from North and South Winds more than half of his payment to East, the winner.
North and South Winds fell in a conflict of suits, one of the most frequent occurrences of the game and one which spoils a great many otherwise good hands. They were both attempting to complete "all dot" hands and each has two conflicting pairs, namely, 5 and 6 of dots. Either of them to win can only have one pair in their hand, and each was holding the other from any chance of winning.
When two players play for the same suit, it is best for both to give up any idea of obtaining all of one suit, and fill in the hand with one or two sets of winds or dragons. Very often one can get three doubles in this way when it would be impossible to complete a hand of all one suit.
NORTH WIND MAH-JONGGS
North Wind Mah-Jonggs with 22 points as his total score. He collects 22 points apiece from North Wind and South Wind. East, however, must pay him double or 44, being banker and losing. This gives North Wind a total of 88. The other three then settle. West Wind with a total of 2816; collects the difference between his hand and East Wind's which is 2814, doubled because he won from East Wind and East Wind must pay double when he loses. This gives West Wind 5628 from East Wind, and just the difference in their hands from South Wind which is 2808. Then South Wind in settling with East Wind collects the difference, 4, double or 8. This layout demonstrates the point that it is not always necessary to Mah-Jongg or win, in order to take in the highest number of points. North Wind "Mah-Jongged" and collected only 88 points, whereas West Wind collected a total of 8,436 points. What evidently took place in this hand goes as follows: West Wind was exceptionally fortunate in the draw and soon had three sets of winds and dragons exposed, or on the table. The other three players seeing in this a dangerous hand, "ran for cover," this consisting of gathering all the sequences possible together, and mixing the suits. By doing this a player can very quickly complete his hand and win, although his score will be low when he does win. However, the one who does "Mah-Jongg," no matter how low his score may be, collects that amount, and escapes any exceptionally high scoring hands which the other players may hold. In this case it was North Wind who won out and avoided paying many points to West Wind by doing so.
NORTH WIND MAH-JONGGS
In the above layout, North Wind winning, scores 416; West Wind 64; South Wind 10, and East Wind 56; North Wind then takes 832 from East Wind, and 416 from West and South Winds. West Wind collects 54 from South Wind and 16 from East Wind; East Wind then collects 46 doubled or 92 from South Wind.
In this game both North and West Winds played for all dot hands; North Wind foreseeing this early in the game filled in his hand with winds and dragons, in this way winning out over West Wind; East Wind starting with a pair of green dragons kept them until he had all characters except the pair. Then came the time for him to decide on whether he would discard the pair and try to fill an all character hand, or use the dragons. He decided on the latter because looking at North Wind's exposed tiles he saw that North Wind was dangerously near to winning. He filled his dragons and attempted to win as quickly as possible, almost succeeding and needing only one tile to complete his hand.
NORTH WIND MAH-JONGGS
North Wind "Mah-Jongged," collects 304 from East and 152 from West and South respectively. Then—East Wind collects 16 doubled or 32 from West and 32 doubled or 64 from South. West Wind wins 16 from South who is the loser all around. East Wind's difficulty above was that he decided on all bamboo hand at the start of the game without having a sufficient number of pairs in that suit. The result was that by the time that he drew the pairs and was ready to pung discards the other players had already discarded a number of tiles which he needed in his hand. They were then dead. The result of all this can be seen in his hand above; he has still two pairs and a sequence to fill and the particular tiles needed to do this (the 4, 5 and 8 of bamboo) have probably all been discarded early in the game by the other players. The point thus illustrated being: It is not advisable to attempt the completing of a suit which all the other players are discarding unless sufficient pairs are held from the start to withstand their attacks.
PART TWO
PLAYING WITH A LIMIT
PLAYING WITH A LIMIT
Pung-Chow, as it has been described in the foregoing pages, represents the game as it is played with unlimited hands, that is where no limits are set on the number of points permissible in the score of a hand. It is impractical, however, to play with unlimited hands in a game where a stake has been set due to the inconsistencies of the winning hand scores; one may win with a hand of 200,000 points, whereas the ordinary or average winning hand numbers approximately only 500 to 1,000.
On this account the Chinese use a lower scoring system and set limits on the hands whenever placing stakes on the game, with a view of limiting losses between all players.
This setting of a limit changes the game considerably, for while the procedure of the play is similar to that of the unlimited hand, the scoring is almost totally different and the actual playing of the hand is changed.
A player in a limited hand gains nothing by completing a hand scoring high in the thousands when held down to the limit which is comparatively low. This changes entirely the playing of hands, making each player's object no longer to score as high a hand as possible and win, but to score as closely to the limit as possible and win, which in practice amounts to completing the hand as quickly as possible, mixing sequences and sets of all suits and taking all good scoring sets as they come, planning for none.
It can be seen that there is a larger element of fortune or "luck" in this method of playing than there is in playing the unlimited hand, though in either case the best player will win consistently.
THE PROCEDURE OF PLAY
In playing this sort of a game the wind indicators in their container, the Cheung Huen or wind box, are always used, and their use changes the method of commencing the game.
To start the game when using the wind markers the seats are preliminarily chosen and any one of the four players throws the two dice once, the result of this throw deciding which player is to throw again for playing position. Counting of players being done in a counter-clockwise direction as previously explained.
The players thus designated will shuffle the wind indicators thoroughly face downward and places any one of them still face downward on top of wind box. He then arranges the whole lot in a perpendicular straight line in front of them all face downward, placing the box with the wind indicator still on top of it in any order he pleases. (See Illustration No. 1.)
Illustration No. 1
In this illustration, C first threw the dice; the number was seven, deciding A as the player who was to throw again for playing position or seat. A has shuffled the markers and arranged them perpendicularly in front of him, placing the wind box in second position. He had the privilege of placing it in 1st, 3rd or 4th position if he had chosen. He then throws with the dice, an 8; this designates D as the player to take the first indicator; A the second (also the wind box), B the third, and C the fourth.
He then throws the two dice and the number thrown will decide which player is to pick up the indicator farthest from him (or the first indicator in the accompanying illustration) counting in the usual manner one player at a time in counter-clockwise direction, starting with himself as 1. The player indicated will pick up the first indicator, the player on his right the second indicator, the player opposite the third and the player to his left the east.
The wind box goes to the player picking up the indicator on top of it who then places it in front of him to mark the seat of East Wind. The players then look at their indicators; the one drawing the East Wind indicator becomes East Wind, and occupies the seat marked by the wind box. The remaining three players seat themselves about the table according to their draw or wind marker, i.e., draw of West Wind indicator opposite to East, North Wind to the left and South Wind to the right of him (East).
East Wind now takes charge of the wind box and the four indicators which are placed in the wind box face up with East Wind on top. The East Wind player retains the box until he loses a hand. When this occurs the box goes to the right to the player who was South, but now becomes East Wind. The East Wind indicator, however, still remaining on top as this designates that the East Wind round is being played. The East Wind round is over as soon as the fourth player to be East Wind in turn loses. He is the one to take charge of the East Wind indicator and placing the South Wind indicator on top to indicate the South Wind round, hands the box to the original East Wind who now becomes the first East Wind of the South Wind round. It will now be seen that four games make up a round and four rounds make up a set. In every case the new wind-round must commence from the original East Wind player and the box is for the purpose of indicating which round of the wind is being played and who is the East Wind in that particular hand.
It should be decided before starting how many sets are to be played. Chinese players generally play from 4 to 8 sets in an evening.
The seats having been chosen and winds positioned, the procedure of play continues exactly as has been described before. The wall is broken and the tiles drawn in the same manner, "Chowing," "Punging" and filling four of a kind are processes gone about in the same manner as they are in the other type of game.
Mah-Jongg also is attained in the same way, i.e., completing four sets and a pair.
Almost the entire difference in the two ways of playing the game is found in the scoring.
In the scoring many new combinations have been added, scoring values have been changed, and special bonuses, limit hands and new doubling honors have been introduced which must now be taken, one at a time, and explained in detail. The most important change is that the last 14 tiles in the wall are never drawn and the game ends and is a draw if it reaches this point without conclusion.
Loose tiles may be drawn of course during the play, but even a loose tile cannot be drawn if there are only 14 tiles left in the wall including the loose tiles. These last 14 tiles are usually separated a little from the rest of the wall to indicate the end.
The Limit Hand.
To keep the hands down to a reasonable amount when players are playing for stakes, the system of setting a limit as to the number of points that can be scored in a hand. This is usually 300 points; in games giving a bonus of 10 points for Mah-Jongg, and 400 in games giving a bonus of 20 points for Mah-Jongg. East Wind of course is liable for double the limit and at the same time may win as high as double the limit from each player. To non-winners settling their scores, settle the difference in the score up to the limit if neither is East Wind, and up to double the limit if either is East Wind.
The limit is of course entirely optional, and may be set by the players at the beginning of the play. A limit of 600 points between players seems the most popular at present in America.
Washing the Tiles.
It is necessary before going into "Washing the Tiles" to explain the meaning of "Heads." A Head is a one, nine, wind or a dragon, and a hand containing 9 or more different "Heads" on the original hand drawn from the wall entitles the player to "Wash Tiles." He calls out "no play" and exposes his hand, collecting according to the following table:
From each player
| 9 Heads | 50 points |
| 10 Heads | 70 points |
| 11 Heads | 100 points |
| 12 Heads | 150 points |
| 13 Heads | 200 points |
When washing the tiles takes place, the tiles must be reshuffled and the wall built over. East Wind retains the "Cheung" (wind box) and not collecting double when he "washes tiles" does not have to pay any of the other players double when they "wash tiles." It must be remembered that in order to wash the tiles the heads must be different, that the hand must be the original 13 tiles (14 in case of East Wind) and no drawing is permitted.
BONUS SCORES
1. For Mah-Jongg or completing a hand a bonus is given and this is generally 10 points unless specially agreed upon to be so.
2. For winning hand of absolutely no scoring value than Mah-Jongg, 10 points is given as a bonus.
3. For winning tile drawn by the player himself from the last tile which may be drawn in the wall doubles the total score once (i.e., the 15th tile from the end of the wall).
4. Winning on a draw from a loose tile doubles total score once.
5. To win on first card played a bonus of half the limit hand is given. Washing cards have preference over this wind.
6. For completing the hand with the fourth card of an exposed set of three of a kind—for example, if a player has an exposed set of 3 of a kind and he draws or pungs the fourth tile, and if this very tile is the winning tile, he may double the total score once.
LIMIT HANDS
A player holding a winning hand of any one of the following combinations receives from each of the players the full amount agreed upon.
1. A winning hand of single heads one only of each with a pair of heads different from the rest representing the final pair.
Illustration No. 2
2. A winning hand containing sets of heads only with a pair of heads as the final pair.
Illustration No. 3
3. A winning hand of four different sets of winds and any kind of a final pair. In China this hand is called the four happinesses and superstition has it that one holding this hand has much good fortune coming to him having the four happinesses at his door.
Illustration No. 4
4. The winning hand of 3 different sets of winds with a pair of the other winds as the final pair.
Illustration No. 5
5. A winning hand made up entirely of sets of four of a kind with any pair as the final pair.
Illustration No. 6
6. East Wind winning on original draw from the wall. This wind has preference over washing cards. The Chinese consider this hand as a forecast of misfortunes to come.
7. A winning hand containing the 3 sets of dragons; red, green and white. In China these are known as the 3 Doctors of Literature. The inference of course being that many tiles must be turned away before these three sets can be made up just as many students in China are turned away by competitive examinations before the three best scholars are chosen to pursue their studies at the Royal Court with the title of Doctors of Literature.
SCORING VALUES
| [A]Winning Hand. | ||
| Mah-Jongg | 10 Points | |
| No other score in hand or on table than Mah-Jong | 10 Points | |
| On Table | In Hand | |
| Of three of a kind of 2 to 8 | 2 | 6 |
| Of three of a kind of heads | 4 | 10 |
| Of four of a kind 2 to 8 | 8 | 16 |
| Of four of a kind of heads | 16 | 32 |
| Pair of 2 to 8 punged to complete hand | 0 | 2 |
| Pair of 2 to 8 drawn to complete hand | 0 | 4 |
| Pair of heads punged to complete hand | 0 | 4 |
| Pair of heads drawn to complete hand | 0 | 6 |
| Pair of the player's own wind punged by him in his own wind round to complete hand | 0 | 6 |
| Pair of the player's own wind drawn by him in his own wind round to complete hand | 0 | 8 |
| Filling a sequence in the middle on the only open end to complete hand | By Chow | 2 |
| Filling a sequence with both ends open by draw to complete hand | By Draw | 4 |
[A] Count for winning hand only.
| Other Hands | On Table | In Hand |
| Three of a kind of 2 to 8 | 2 | 4 |
| Three of a kind of heads | 4 | 8 |
| Four of a kind 2 to 8 | 8 | 16 |
| Four of a kind heads | 16 | 32 |
| One pair of a kind any dragon | . . | 2 |
| One pair of own wind | . . | 2 |
| One pair of wind of the round | . . | 2 |
| One pair of players own wind in the wind of his own wind round | . . | 4 |
EXPLANATION OF ITEMS IN THE TABLE OF SCORING VALUES
1. Pair of 2-8 punged to complete hand. A player must have four sets and a pair to win. The above scoring value is given if the pair is from 2 to 8 and if he pungs one of them to win.
2. Pair of 2-8 drawn to complete hand. This score is given as above when the player's extra pair is from 2-8, but he must match the pair by draw.
3. Pair of heads punged to complete hand. This four points is given when player pungs to match his final pair.
4. Pair of heads drawn to complete hand. This six points is given when player draws and matches his final pair.
5. Pair of player's own wind punged by him in his own wind round to complete his hand. This six points is given to a player who "pungs" to match this final pair when his final pair is his own wind and it is his own wind round.
6. Pair of the player's own wind in his own wind round drawn by him to complete his hand. This is similar to the one above except that the player draws the tile instead of punging it, thereby getting 8 points instead of 6 points.
7. Filling a sequence in the middle or on the only open end to complete hand. An example would be chowing a 6 character, have a 5 character and a 7 character, or have the 2 and chowing the 3 (only open end).
Filling a sequence with both ends open, by draw to complete hand. An example would be, having a 7 and 8 of character and drawing a 6 or a 9. In both this and the above case when the sequence is filled by draw, it must immediately be set out face up on the table to the right of player, with the draw tile drawn on top of the other two according to the illustration.
DOUBLING HONOR SCORES
1. A set of a player's own wind doubles his total score once.
2. A set of a player's own wind in his own wind round doubles his total score twice.
3. A set of red dragons doubles his total score once.
4. A set of green dragons doubles his total score once.
5. A set of white dragons doubles his total score once.
[B]6. A hand of all one suit except winds or dragons doubles his total score once.
[B]7. A winning hand having no sequences in it doubles the total score once. This hand is known as "Tei Tei Woo" (mixed sets or no sequences) among the Cantonese Chinese.
[B]8. A winning hand entirely of one suit, doubles the total score three times.
[B] Count for winning hand only.
PENALTIES
1. In the event of a player announcing Mah-Jongg when his hand is not complete, the player making the error must pay to each of the other 3 players half of the limit. East Wind receiving full limit or paying full limit as the case may be.
2. The one discarding a tile that permits another player to win must bear the entire losses of all other players; if the player winning had any of the following four combinations of tiles exposed at the time of discarding, unless the discarder himself had two complete doubling honors and was waiting for the winning tile or was waiting for the winning tile which would give him more than two doubling honors.
1. When nine tiles or more of the same suit are exposed and the discarded tile gives a winning hand on entirely one suit.
2. When nine heads or more are exposed and the discarded tile gives a winning hand of entirely heads.
3. When two sets of dragons are exposed and the discard of the other kind of dragon gives the third set of dragon in a winning hand.
4. When three different sets of winds are exposed and the discard of the other wind gives a winning hand.
Illustration No. 8a
Example 1. Any player discarding a one or a four of dot would complete this hand and unless he had two complete doubling honors and was waiting for the winning card or was waiting for the winning card to complete his hand, with more than 2 doubling honors, he must pay the winner for all.
Illustration No. 8b
Example 2. Any player discarding a red dragon will permit this player to win and will be penalized for his recklessness by having to pay all scores, unless his own hand fulfills the requirements set out in Example No. 1.
Illustration No. 8c
Example 3. A player discarding a white dragon is liable to the penalty above mentioned, unless his own hand fulfills the requirements given above in No. 1; anyone may discard a one of dot which, though permitting the player with the above hand to win, would not bring a penalty down upon the discarder.
Illustration No. 8d
Example 4. A player discarding an East Wind would allow this player to win and would be penalized unless excepted as in the other examples. Here as in Ex. 3, a discard to the other pair, i.e., a three of bamboo, would not be penalized.
NOTE. (a) If a player has no choice in his discard; that is if he discards the winning dot to an all dot hand when he has only dots to discard, he is not penalized.
(b) When a penalty is imposed, all scores except that of the winning hand are canceled.
EXAMPLE OF WINNING HANDS
Note: Arrow indicates tile which completed the hand in the following Examples.
No. 1
Player is East Wind; South Wind round.
| Mah-Jongg | 10 | |
| Three 8 character (concealed) | 6 | |
| Three 3 bamboo (concealed) | 6 | |
| Three Heads (1 dot) (concealed) | 10 | |
| Three 5 character (exposed) | 2 | |
| Pair of Heads drawn (1 character) | 6 | |
| 40 | Total Score | |
| For no sequences double once | 80 | Total Score |
| East Wind collects double if winning double once | 160 | From each player |
No. 2
Player is North Wind in North Wind round.
| Mah-Jongg | 10 | |
| Three of Heads (9 character) (concealed) | 10 | |
| Three of Heads (North Wind) (concealed) | 10 | |
| Three Bamboo (concealed) | 6 | |
| Three of Heads (Red Dragon) (exposed) | 4 | |
| 40 | ||
| For three red dragons double once | 80 | |
| For three of own wind in own wind round double twice | 160 | |
| 320 | ||
| For no sequence double once | 640 |
Player would collect 1280 from East Wind and 640 from other two winds. If his score 640 were over the limit he would collect double the limit from East and only the limit from South and West respectively.
No. 3
North Wind—East Wind round.
| Mah-Jongg | 10 | |
| Three Heads (red dragon) (exposed) | 4 | |
| Three 7 character (exposed) | 2 | |
| 26 | ||
| For three red dragons double once | 52 |
Player collects 104 from East Wind; 52 from South and West.
No. 4
Player is North Wind in East Wind Round.
| Mah-Jongg | 10 | |
| Three of Heads (red dragons) (exposed) | 4 | |
| Three of Heads (green dragons) (concealed) | 10 | |
| Three of Heads (nine bamboo) (concealed) | 10 | |
| Three of bamboo (concealed) | 6 | |
| Completing pair of player's own wind in his own wind round by draw | 8 | |
| 48 | ||
| For no sequences double once | 96 | |
| For three red dragons double once | 192 | |
| For three green dragons double once | 384 | Final Score |
Players collect 768 from East; 384 from West and South.
No. 5
Winning hand of "Single Heads." One of the "Limit" Hands, player collecting double the limit from East and only the limit from the others.
No. 6
Winning hand containing sets of heads only; this is a "Limit Hand," winner collecting double the limit from East and only the limit from the other two players.
No. 7
Winning hand containing all three sets of dragons and any other set and pair. This is a "Limit Hand," winner collecting double from East and the limit from the other two players. In all limit hand cases, East Wind, if winner, collects double limit from All players.
No. 8
Player is South Wind in South Wind Round.
| Mah-Jongg | 10 | |
| Three Heads (white dragons) (concealed) | 10 | |
| Three 4 dot (exposed) | 2 | |
| Three Heads (9 dot) (exposed) | 4 | |
| Filling sequence in middle by draw to win | 4 | |
| Pair of own wind in own wind round | 4 | |
| 34 | Total Score | |
| For three white dragons double once | 68 | |
| For all one suit except winds and dragons double once | 136 | Final Score |
Players collect 272 from East, 136 from North and West.
No. 9
Player is East Wind in South Wind round.
| Mah-Jongg | 10 | |
| Three 4 bamboo (exposed) | 10 | |
| Three 6 bamboo (exposed) | 2 | |
| Pair of Heads, completed by draw | 4 | |
| 20 | Total Score | |
| For all one suit double three times | 40 | |
| 80 | ||
| 160 | Final Score |
Double because East Wind collects double when winning 320 from each player.
No. 10
Player's West Wind—East Wind round.
| Mah-Jongg | 10 | |
| Four Heads (red dragons) (exposed) | 16 | |
| Three 4 characters (exposed) | 2 | |
| Filling a sequence on the only open end | 4 | |
| 32 | Total Score | |
| For four red dragons double once | 64 | Final Score |
Player collects 128 from East and 64 from West and South.
TWO AND THREE-HANDED GAMES
Three or even two may play Pung Chow, though the game is essentially a four-handed affair. It is played by two or three people in exactly the same way that it is played by four, each player building up his own side of the wall and then combining to build the fourth side.
This fourth side is regarded as the dummy wall. In the building and breaking down of the wall, East Wind acts for the dummy, throwing the dice for it whenever indicated. The three players then draw their original hand and ignore the dummy the rest of the game, playing in regular routine and omitting the dummy's turn of play.
When two play alone, each builds two sides of the wall and arrange the usual wall. Then they throw the dice, East Wind throwing for either of the two dummies, both draw their original hands and draw and discard alternately until one wins.
Of course when two or three play there is less opposition or conflict and far greater possibilities in the draw than in the four-handed game. On this account, higher scores are the rule rather than the exception, making a more exciting and entertaining game but hardly one upon which stakes could be safely set.
Table of Contents
| PART I | |
| Playing Without a Limit | |
| Introduction | 7 |
| Summary of the Game | 9 |
| Description of Tiles | 11 |
| Procedure of Play | 13 |
| A—East Wind | 13 |
| B—Building and Breaking the Wall | 13 |
| C—Drawing Original Hand | 16 |
| D—Playing the Hand | 16 |
| E—To "Chow" | 18 |
| F—To "Pung" | 19 |
| Four of a Kind | 22 |
| Mah-Jongg or Mah-Diao | 24 |
| Settling the Scores | 25 |
| Suggestions for Careful Playing of Hands | 26 |
| Use of the Mandarins (Flowers and Seasons) | 29 |
| Score Card | 29 |
| Examples of Hands and how they are scored | 32 |
| Illustrations of Score Settling | 46 |
| PART II | |
| Playing with a Limit | 56 |
| Procedure of Play | 57 |
| A—The limit hand | 60 |
| B—Washing the tiles | 61 |
| Bonus Scores | 62 |
| Limit Hands | 62 |
| Scoring Values | 65 |
| Explanation of Scoring Values | 66 |
| Doubling Honor Scores | 67 |
| Penalties | 67 |
| Examples of Winning Hands | 70 |
| Two and Three-Handed Games | 76 |