The Differences between American and Chinese Mahjong Rules and Other Variants

• Simpler rules: Easier for beginners to pick up.
• Minimum Points: Minimum of 3 Fan (Points) to win: Prevents No Point (Fan) or 1 Point (Fan) wins.
• Typically, players aim for "All Pungs" or "Mixed One Suit" unless they already have enough Fan or flowers that match their seat.
• Fewer winning hands: Mainly inherited from older rules, referred to as "Old Style".

• More winning hands: Relatively compared to "Old Style"

Jiangnan Mahjong

(South River (Jiangnan / 江南) Mahjong / Longgang (龙港) Mahjong)

• Emperor Mahjong Variant (Almighty Tile): One variation of Jiangnan Mahjong where each player holds one 12 tiles in their hand instead of 13 and has one imaginary tile to complete their hand. The "Emperor Tile" cannot be used to form sets or for Pung, it can only be used to complete a winning hand.
• Arranging Discards Neatly: Each player must neatly place their discarded tiles in front of themselves in order. Once a tile has been discarded, it can no longer be drawn or used for winning.
• Called Tiles are Place to Indicate Where There Were Called From: The hiddle tile is placed vertically and called tiles are placed depending on which player discarded the tile: if it was discarded by the player to the right, the tile is placed horizontally closer to that player; if discarded by the player to the left, it is placed closer to them, and if discarded by the player across, the tile is placed in the middle.

Chengdu Mahjong

(Chengdu (成都) / Sichuan Bloody Rules / SBR Mahjong)

• Uses only 108 tiles: Consisting of Bamboos, Characters, and Dots.
• Bloody Battle Variant: The game doesn't end after one player wins. Remaining players continue until three players have won or there is a deadlock.
• Missing one suit: A player must be missing one suit to win.
• No Chows: No Chows but Pungs are allowed.

Fuzhou Mahjong

(Fujian (福建) Mahjong / Fuzhou (福州) Mahjong)

• Active Joker (活動百搭): At the start of the game, one tile from the Kong wall is flipped, and that tile becomes the Joker. One of the blank white tiles can be used to substitute for the flipped tile.

• Brother Joker (帶弟百搭): The next tile after the Active Joker is the Brother Joker. If the flipped tile from the Kong wall is 3 of Characters, then the 4 of Characters becomes the Joker. The "Brother Joker" rule specifies that numbered tiles are connected in a 9-1 sequence, while honor tiles (winds and dragons) are linked in a circular manner (East, South, West, North, Red, Green, White). Therefore, if the flipped tile is 9 of Characters (九萬), 1 of Characters (一萬) becomes the Joker; if North is flipped, then Red Dragon (紅中) becomes the Joker.

• 16 Tiles: At the start of the game, each player takes 16 tiles.
• Consecutive Dealer: A consecutive dealer means the player remains the dealer after winning a round. Each consecutive win adds one fan (point multiplier). 
• Simultaneous Wins: When one player discards a tile, all three other players can declare a win simultaneously.

• Riichi: When waiting to win (must be a concealed hand), place a 1000-point chip in front to declare Riichi. Afterward, you cannot change your hand or Chi or Pon (except for a concealed Kan). Upon winning with a Riichi, check the "Dora Indicators" to reveal bonus tiles.
• Arrange discards neatly: Players must discard in order in front of them.
• Dora bonus tiles: The bonus tile depends on what is revealed from the wall. For instance, if 1 Character is shown, the bonus is 2 Character. If 8 Bamboo is shown, the bonus is 9 Bamboo.

• Charleston: After drawing tiles, players exchange three tiles with their neighbor in turn. The dealer can request an additional round of Charleston.
• No replacement after declaring a Kong: Leading to situations where a Kong leaves a "lone eye" (pair), and two Kongs leave no pair.
• Joker tile: A Joker tile can substitute any tile to complete a set.

• Special Joker Tiles: There are 16 special joker tiles, including Flower (花), Yuan (元), Xi (喜), He (合), Characters (萬), Bamboos (索), Dots (筒), General (總), First Emperor (一皇), Second Emperor (二皇), Third Emperor (三皇), Fourth Emperor (四皇), First Empress (一后), Second Empress (二后), Third Empress (三后), and Fourth Empress (四后). Drawing a "Flower" adds two points, but it is not a joker. "Yuan" and "Xi" are treated as arrow or wind tiles, "He" can be used as a bonus tile; "Characters," "Bamboos," and "Dots" can substitute any tile in their respective suit. "General" can substitute any numbered tile. The "Emperor" and "Empress" act as universal jokers, classified into four levels. All special joker tiles can be used for Pung or self-draw. In a Pung situation, a player using two genuine tiles has priority. If a player uses one genuine tile and one joker for a Pung, the priority is determined by the joker's rank.

• Window Joker Variant Rule: This goes a step further than Fuzhou/Fujian Mahjong’s Active Joker. In addition to the flipped tile, the two adjacent tiles and those with the same number in other suits also become jokers. For honor tiles, five consecutive tiles in the order of West, North, Red, Green, and White are considered jokers. For example, if the flipped tile is 4 of Characters (四萬), then 3 of Characters (三萬), 4 of Characters (四萬), 5 of Characters (五萬), 4 of Dots (四筒), and 4 of Bamboos (四索) all become jokers. If the Red Dragon (紅中) is flipped, then Red Dragon (中), Green Dragon (發), White Dragon (白), East (東), and South (南) all become jokers.

• All Flower Tiles: Includes 20 flower tiles, counting Dragons (12) along with the current 8 flowers tiles as flower tiles for total of 20.
• Dice Rolling Order: Usually, two dice are used, rolled twice. The dealer rolls the dice first, and based on the number rolled, the next player in the counterclockwise direction rolls the second time. From the position of the second player to roll the dice, the starting tile is determined by counting from the right based on the second roll. For example: if the dealer rolls 6, the next player rolls 11, and the dealer starts drawing from the 12th stack in front of the second player.

• No Terminals: The entire set of tiles does not include 1s and 9s from Characters, Dots, or Bamboos, nor the dragons, winds, or any flower tiles.

• Eight Tiles Rule: To win, a player must have at least eight tiles in one suit.

• No Chows: Players are not allowed to chow tiles, only to pung (form a triplet).

Wuhan Mahjong

(武汉麻将)

• Also known as Open Mouth Fan or Red Dragon Joker Kong, its core elements are 258, jokers, Open Mouth Fan, and Double Open Mouth. The scoring system is quite complex, and the difference between a big win and a big loss can come down to one moment. As a result, players need to carefully calculate big hands while also being cautious of discards (放銃) and even accidentally taking on the full payment (承包), making the gameplay very exciting.

• No Flowers or Season Tiles: Using a total of 136 tiles.

• Calling Tiles: You can chow, pung, and kong, but you cannot chow, pung, or kong Red Dragons or Jokers.

• Red Dragon

  • Red Dragon Kong:

    • At any point during the game, a player can declare a Red Dragon Kong if they have four Red Dragons.
    • When discarded, the Red Dragon can also be declared as a kong, which is called a Red Dragon Kong, and it counts for double points (×2).

  • Restrictions:

    • Cannot be Punged or Konged: Red Dragons cannot be used to form a pung (triplet) or kong in the usual way. Players are not allowed to call a pung or kong when a Red Dragon is discarded.
    • Cannot Win with Red Dragon in Hand: If a player holds a Red Dragon in their hand, they are not allowed to win. Therefore, holding onto a Red Dragon prevents the player from completing a winning hand. Additionally, since the Red Dragon cannot be used for winning, players cannot use it to rob a kong (when another player declares a kong with Red Dragons, you cannot win by using their discard).

  • Konging Red Dragons:

    • If you have a concealed set of Red Dragons (four of them in your hand), you can declare a Red Dragon Kong at any time. This will give you additional points, but you will need to discard the Red Dragon after using it.
• Joker
• • In Wuhan Mahjong, a "Joker" (癩子) is determined after all four players, including the dealer, have drawn their starting tiles. The first flipped tile after drawing is the Joker. For example, if the flipped tile is 5 of Characters (五萬), 6 of Characters becomes the Joker. If 9 of Characters is flipped, 1 of Characters becomes the Joker. For honor tiles, if the North wind is flipped, skip Red Dragon and make Green Dragon (發) the Joker.
  • Jokers can be used as any other tile (wildcard) to win (a soft win, ×1), or you can win with the Joker itself (hard win, ×2).
  • Jokers can be konged and discarded as a "Joker Kong" (×2).
  • Jokers cannot be used as normal tiles to call a chow, pung, or kong, and other players cannot call a chow, pung, or kong from a Joker discard.

  If a player has two Jokers, they cannot win with a small hand (听牌). If a player has a Joker in their hand and draws another, they must discard one.

  Kongs

  • Exposed Kong: If a player has a concealed triplet (3 of the same tile) and someone discards the fourth tile, they can kong. A direct kong cannot be robbed, and it counts as an open mouth/open kong (×2).
  • Stored Kong: After a player pungs and later draws the fourth tile, they can declare a kong at an appropriate time, but this kong can be robbed (×2).
  • Exposed Kongs must be declared and shown (×2).
  • Concealed Kong: If a player draws all 4 of the same tile, they can declare a concealed kong, which does not need to be shown and cannot be robbed (×4).
  • Robbing a Kong: If a player declares a kong and another player is in the position to win with that tile, the kong can be robbed.
• Consecutive Dealer
• • The dealer passes counterclockwise, and the dealer continues if they win or if the round ends in a draw.

  Winning Rules

  • Basic Hand Structures:
    11, 123, 123, 123, 123
    11, 123, 123, 123, 111 (same for 1111)
    11, 123, 123, 111, 111
    11, 123, 111, 111, 111
    11, 111, 111, 111, 111
    Note: Except for All Honors, All Pungs, and Pure One Suit, the pair (11) must be made up of 2, 5, or 8 tiles (like 2 of Characters, 5 of Bamboos, 8 of Dots).

  • No 7 pairs hands
  • • If you have two Jokers, you cannot win with a small hand and must discard one.
    • All Winds and All Generals are special hands where all the tiles are wind tiles or 2, 5, 8 tiles. During the listening phase, any wind or general tile can be used to win.

  • If a player misses the chance to win with a discard, they can continue to win with another player's discard without waiting to draw.

  • Open Mouth Fan: Chow, pung, and exposed kong are called open mouth, and a player must perform one of these actions to win.

  • Types of Wins:

    • Small Win (屁胡): Basic win (1 point), using 2, 5, 8 tiles as the pair.
    • Big Wins (大胡): (10 points, can be cumulative)
      • All Pungs: All sets are triplets or quads.
      • All Calls: After calling 4 sets, the player holds one tile and wins with it.
      • Pure One Suit: All tiles belong to one suit.
      • All Winds: All tiles are wind tiles.
      • Last Tile: Winning by self-drawing the last available tile (海底撈).
      • Kong Win: Winning after konging a tile (槓上花).
      • Robbing a Kong: Winning by robbing another player's kong.

  Scoring Rules

  • Principle: Without full payment, if one player wins, all three other players pay points, and even if they did not discard the winning tile, they still pay.
  • Score Calculation: Score = Base points (1 or 10) × Loser's fan value × Winner's fan value. Winner's points = sum of the three losers' points.

  Small Win Scoring

  • Base points = 1, Open Mouth ×2, Concealed Kong ×4, Self-draw ×2, Hard Win ×2, Exposed Kong ×2, Discarder pays ×2.
  • Dealer/Non-dealer: If the dealer wins, non-dealers pay ×2, and if a non-dealer wins, the dealer pays ×2.

  Big Win Scoring

  • Base points = 10, cumulative scoring for multiple wins.
  • If Player B robs Player A's kong to win Pure One Suit, Player A covers all the points.

  Players need to be cautious, as big wins can lead to significant point swings, and miscalculations could result in major losses.