Da Zhi Senior High SchoolTaipei, Taiwan Ms. Debbie Li

- Mahjong is a strategy game

- The basic goal is to find out a specific card type

and prevent opponents from achieving the same

purpose.

- Playing mahjong should focus on skills,

strategies and calculations, but also involves luck.

• According to the “Game History” （ written by F

engming Cai ）， the following are two version

s of origins of Mahjong :

• 1.

It originated in “Six Bo.” of the Qin dynasty. Bot

h players have six chess pieces,including six bl

ack and six red,along with six dice ， so it is cal

led "six-Bo.“

• 2.

There is another saying that it is derived from a

sign hanging on horses. In the Chinese novel’

Golden Lotus’ ， it has a statement about fightin

g for hanging on horses. The amount of the sig

ns is 40 ， and it has four kinds of patterns

• It was a period that mahjong was popular.

• The design of it is related to a man whose na

me is 萬秉迢 （ wàn tong tiao ） .He liked th

e Chinese novel “All Men Are Brothers”very

much ， so he defined new meanings to 108 t

iles just as 108 heros written in the novel.

• The tiles Winds(Winter ， Spring ， Summer ， Fall) come from the story that 108 heros went to

the same place in all directions.

• And the patterns of mahjong included Characters

( 萬 ) 、 Stones ( 筒 ) 、 Bamboos ( 條 ),which

derived from his name wàn bing Tiao （萬秉迢 )

• Some of 108 heros are poor ， and some are

wealthy, so ( 發） and （白 ) in Dragons imply

rich and poor respectively. Afterwards ， the

tiles of flowers and seasons are added in.

• This is the development of mahjong

nowadays. Total tiles amount to 144.

• Each game set contains:

• three ‘simple’ suits (stones, characters,

and bamboos)

• two ‘ honor ’ suits (winds and dragons)

• two optional suits （ flowers and seasons ）

• Stones (also called wheels or circles)

• These tiles feature one to nine round shapes

on each tile (similar to the face of a dice).

The round shapes represent a 筒 (tóng), a

coin with a square hole in the middle.

• Characters (also called numbers, thousands or coins)

• These tiles have pattern 萬 (wàn), which

means 10,000 ， along with the Chinese

numbers from one to nine.

• Bamboos (also called sticks)

• These tiles have bamboos which represent

the strings ( 條 ) that ancient copper coins

were strung in sets of 100 ( 弔 ) or 1,000

coins ( 貫 ).

• But the number‘one’ does not have

bamboo on it. Instead, it has a bird sitting

on a bamboo, so this set is sometimes

also called ‘bird.’

• Flowers and seasons

• This set of eight tiles featuring pictures of

flowers is optional suit.

• Flowers can also help players earn extra

points.

• The eight tiles include four tiles

representing the four seasons:

winter ， spring ， summer and fall

• The other four tiles represent the four

plants: bamboo( 竹 ), chrysanthemum

( 菊 ), orchid ( 蘭花 ), and plum ( 梅 )

• Winds

• Each of the tiles features different

directions: East Wind ( 東 ) ， South Wind

( 南 ), West Wind( 西 ), and North

Wind( 北 ).

• Dragons

• This threesome has several meanings

which are derived from the ancient

imperial exam, archery, and Confucius’

cardinal virtues.

meaning

patterns

ancient imperial exam

archery Confucius’ cardinal virtues

center ( 中 )

（ its color is red ）

passing the imperial exam

a hit in archery

benevolence

wealth( 發 )

（ its color is green ）

getting rich a person will release his bow

sincerity

poor( 白 )

（ its color is blue ）

freedom from corruption

a miss in archery

filial piety

object

categories

Mahjong Poker (Texas Hold'em)

Patterns

Three different suits

numbered 1 to 9 ：Stones( 筒 )

Characters( 萬 )

Bamboos( 條 )

• Honor suits:

Winds ( 風 )

Dragons ( 中發白 )

• two optional suit ：Flowers( 花 )

Seasons ( 季 )

Four different

suits from A-K:•Spade ( 黑桃 )•Heart ( 紅心 )•Diamond ( 方塊 )•Club ( 梅花 )

object

categories

Mahjong Poker (Texas Hold'em)

Dealer/

Basic rules

The Dealer houses

the rounds by turns.

According to three

dices and one

directional dice, it

selects the first dealer.

If the dealer wins the

round, he/she is can

be the dealer next

round, doubling the

bets.

The Dealer shuffles

the cards twice

before dealing the

cards out, then, they

strip the deck. After

four rounds of

betting, the

showdown, whoever

has the best hand

wins. Board over.

object

Categories

Mahjong Poker (Texas Hold'em)

Players 2-4 usually2-9

Ranking of hands

To win each round, one must include:

A.A pair

B.Straight of three (doesn't matter how many groups of row)

To win each board,

one must build up

one of the

Combination

• Guangdong Mahjong(13 tiles)

• Guangdong Mahjong with 13 tiles is the earliest

and the most popular one.

• Its basic rules are similar to Taiwan Mahjo

ng with 16 tiles ， but it has more variation

. Therefore ， it becomes more exciting.

• When playing Mahjong with 13 tiles,we ne

ed two dice.

• Taiwan Mahjong( 16 tiles)

• Taiwan mahjong with 16 tiles is adapted from Gu

angdong’s 13 tiles Mahjong. When playing Mahj

ong with 16 tiles,we need three dice.

• The Biggest difference between

Guangdong Mahjong and Taiwan

Mahjong are : the amount of its tiles( 牌 )

and how many dice should be thrown.

• Different patterns ：

Saki :a girl who is a genius in mahjong

Kung Fu Mahjong ： The Final Duel

Mahjong skills

Mahjong song

Mahjong song