Mah-jongg, << mah jawng or mah jong, >> also spelled mah jongg or mah-jong, is a Chinese game that developed in the 1800’s. It is believed to be based on games played in China since about 500 B.C.
Mah-jongg is similar to the card game rummy. However, instead of cards, it is played with small, rectangular tiles engraved with Chinese drawings and symbols. There are 136 standard tiles, consisting of winds, dragons, and three kinds of suits—dots, craks, and bams. Suits are numbered from 1 to 9. There are four identical tiles of every kind. Most sets also have eight bonus tiles that represent flowers and seasons.
Two to six persons can play mah-jongg, but the game is best suited to four players. There are three main systems of rules—Chinese, Japanese, and American—and rules vary within each system. In general, players try to collect sets of three identical tiles (a pong), or a sequence of three tiles within a suit (a chow). Players draw from a stack of tiles called the wall, discard tiles, and in some versions of the game, exchange tiles with other players. Players can also try to form special winning combinations that are worth different numbers of points. Usually, each player begins the game with chips equaling 1,000 points. Losers give chips to the winner equal to the value of the winning hand.
