Chinese Mahjong Rules for Beginners

Chinese Mahjong is a family of regional rulesets, but many beginner games share the same foundation: build sets, keep a pair and manage discards.

Practice Chinese Mahjong Open the browser game to practice drawing, discarding, claiming and winning.

The basic hand shape

A common winning shape is four sets plus one pair. Sets can be chows, pungs or kongs depending on the ruleset.

A chow is three consecutive suited tiles. A pung is three identical tiles. A kong is four identical tiles.

Players draw from the wall and discard one tile. Other players may claim a discard for certain sets or for a win.

Learning when to pass is as important as learning when to claim, because exposed sets reduce flexibility.

Scoring, minimum fan, flowers, missing-suit rules and claim limits vary by region.

This site keeps multiple rulesets visible so beginners understand that “Chinese Mahjong” is not one single universal rulebook.

Four sets plus a pair is the most useful starting model.

No. Sichuan, Hong Kong and other regional styles can change scoring and winning requirements.