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The Game involves the following steps:
1. Picking the seats
2. Creating and Breaking the wall
3. Dealing the tiles
4. Drawing the tiles
Picking the
Seats – The players initially assume their seats randomly and they pick up a wind tile
each and put them face down on the table. Then two tiles one of odd number and the other of even number are taken and placed
face up on either side of the shuffled wind tiles. The wind tiles are sandwiched between the numbered tiles. Now the two dice
(sometimes 3 dice) are thrown by a random player and the player indicated by the count on the dice is given with the dice.
This player again throws the dice and if the count on the dice is odd he picks the wind tile first at the "odd number" end
and this course of action passes in the counter clockwise direction as the players pick the subsequent tiles. If the dice count is even the same process is continued starting from the "even number" end.
The player who got "East" wind tile takes his respective seat and the remaining players occupy the seats in counter-clockwise direction (Directions can be seen in the figure above).
In a hand each player belongs to a certain wind direction and a wind tile matching the seat’s
direction is one’s "seat wind" and melding a "seat wind" would help a player score more points. The East player is referred to as
dealer and after each hand (irrespective of a hand won or a hand lost) the players change their seats hence changing their wind
directions. when we consider the player who sat in the east seat as the east player and also identify the other players with directions of the seats of their first hand then the directions of their seats
in subsequent hands can be
visualized as in the figure below.
Building and Breaking the wall
–
As of now the players have assumed their seats, the 136 (144 with flower/season tiles) tiles
are shuffled and are placed on the table faced down. Each player now selects 34(36
if the flower/season tiles are included) tiles and
places them on the table arranging them in 2 stacks of 17(18) tiles each. These tiles are moved forward
by each player forming a hollow square generally referred to as "wall". The wall can be seen in the figure
below.
The player on the “East”
throws the dice to determine the side (direction) where the breaking of the wall procedure has to start.
Now as the side is determined by the dice count, the player at this point again throws the dice
and the number of tiles (stacks) as in the dice count is counted starting from the right end and
are shifted apart slightly to show a distinction
thus breaking the wall and these tiles are generally
referred to as a "Dead wall".
The tiles on the left of the dead wall are known as "live wall".
Important
Note:
The dead wall is reserved for the replacement tiles whenever a player has concealed Kong or when he
encounters a flower or season tile. Generally in the Mahjong, whenever
a flower or season tile is dealt
or drawn from the wall, the tile has to be put aside face up and a replacement tile has to be drawn
from the dead wall. If the tile drawn from the dead wall is again a flower
or season tile, this has to be
put aside and another tile has to be drawn. When a player has a concealed Kong he can retain it to the
end of the hand or else can declare it to pick up a replacement tile.
Dealing the Tiles
–
East being the priority wind starts with taking 2 stacks that
is 4 tiles from the live wall, followed by south player taking
2 stacks, then west player taking 2 stacks and finally the north player.
This continues until all the players have 12 tiles with each of them. The players other than the
east player pick one tile each and the east player picks two tiles as he has to start
formally with the first tile discard. The East player can pick up the last two tiles in
two different ways. In one of the ways he picks two tiles after every other player picks his 12th tile. And in a different approach he picks one tile
after every one has picked his twelfth tile and another tile after every one picked his thirteenth tile (The second way of picking is shown in the figure).
Drawing the Tiles
– The player to the east side with an extra tile starts the play by discarding a tile.
This discarded tile is put face up in the middle of the wall. The player to the right of the dealer
may pick this discarded tile or can draw the tile from the wall. If the discarded tile
is not claimed the player to the dealer’s right i.e. south draws a tile and discards followed
by west drawing and discarding the tile and finally North drawing and discarding the tile. If
the discarded tile is claimed by any of the players then the player claiming it picks and discards
a tile consequently breaking the sequence and the game continues from there. |
