Mah Jongg

Mah Jongg, a game based on games of ancient Chinese origin that was introduced into the United States in the 1920s and enjoyed enormous popularity in the succeeding decade. Mah Jongg today is usually played in the United States with tiles shaped like small dominoes that are engraved or painted with Chinese designs and Western numerals. A full set contains 152 tiles, divided into seven suits: bamboos or bams (36 tiles), circles or dots (36 tiles), characters or cracks (36 tiles), dragons (honors, 12 tiles), winds (honors, 16 tiles), jokers (8 tiles), and flowers (8 tiles). Some Mah Jongg sets include 8 seasons tiles that may be used as flower tiles if extra flower tiles are needed. Rules for the game vary among countries and cultures.

In the United States the game is usually played by four people. Formerly, each player took the name and position of one of the four winds: North, East, South, and West; now only East is so named. After the tiles are mixed, each player builds a wall 2 tiles high and about 17 tiles long. All the tiles are facedown. The walls are then pushed together to form a square. Each player takes tiles from the square until East has 14 and the other players have 13 tiles each. The object of the game is to secure combinations as shown in the Official Standard Hands and Rules (or Scorecard) of the National Mah Jongg League, Inc., of New York City. A combination, a set of three or four of a kind, consists of any set of identical tiles or any numerical sequence of the same suit. Each player in turn draws a tile from the wall and adds to her or his hand, discarding an unneeded tile. A discarded tile may, under certain conditions, be picked up by a player to complete a set. The player who first assembles combination sets is declared the winner and is paid the worth of his or her hand by the other players according to a value as shown on a Scorecard.