Mahjong Melds Essentials

Mahjong is a game that gets played with 144 tiles. Each player aims to form a legal hand using their 13 tiles, whilst the dealer gets 14. The main goal is to get a legal hand, known as a meld. Many players new to Mahjong might find it tricky to form these melds, so we've put together this guide to break it all down for you.

Mahjong melds can seem a bit complex at first, but don't worry, we'll explain everything you need to know. Keep reading to get the full gist of it. Let's jump right in!

Understanding Melds in Mahjong

Your hand in Mahjong is made up of melds, which are simply groups of Mahjong tiles that can form a pong, a kong, a chow, or eyes. You can form melds by either drawing a tile from the wall or by claiming another player's discarded tile. Depending on how a meld is formed, there are specific Mahjong rules that dictate which player gets priority for a discard and whether that meld needs to be shown openly or kept hidden.

Pong: The Triple Threat

• A pong is simply a set of three identical tiles.
• A pong can be made up of any suited tiles (like bamboos, dots, or characters) or honor tiles.
• You can't use bonus tiles (like flowers or seasons) to form a pong, as these are set aside and you won't have three identical ones.
• Remember, the three tiles must be exactly the same.
• A pong can either be kept hidden in your hand or revealed (exposed).

Kong: The Four of a Kind

A kong is the same as a pong, but with four identical tiles instead of three. It's a powerful meld! There are three ways to form a kong:

• Hidden Kong: If you have three identical tiles and draw the fourth one from the wall to complete your set of four, you can declare a hidden kong. To show it, you'll typically reveal the meld, placing two tiles in the center and two on either end, with specific orientations.
• Exposed Kong: You can claim a discarded tile from another player to complete a kong if you already have three identical tiles in your hand. You then display these three tiles face-up, and the claimed discard can be placed either face down next to them or on top of the center tile.
• Exposed Kong from an Exposed Pong: If you have an exposed pong and later draw the fourth identical tile from the wall, you can declare a kong. You'd usually place the fourth tile on top of the pong's centerpiece or arrange all four tiles face-up in a row. However, you cannot claim a discarded fourth tile from another player's merged pong; it must be drawn from the wall.

Key Kong Rules to Note

• After you declare a kong, you must draw an extra tile from the wall and then discard one tile as usual.
• The fourth tile that completes a kong doesn't count towards your hand size of 13 tiles. Your hand remains at 13, even though you now have a meld of four tiles.
• Just like with a pong, you can't form a kong with bonus tiles, as there aren't four identical bonus tiles available.
• Kongs are worth gathering to gain extra points and prevent opponents from the option to get certain tiles.

Chow

• A chow is created by melding three matching tiles in a row.
• The meld needs to be in the same suit and in exact numerical order.
• Players cannot skip numbers or meld from 8 or 9 to 1 or 2.
• Because they have no numerical value, honor tiles and bonus tiles cannot be utilized to create chows.
• Only the player whose turn came just before their own can steal a discard to build a chow. The person who forms a chow with a seized piece gets the lowest priority for that tile.
• Any other player may take control of that tile in place of the other player if they need it to produce a pong or a kong to win.
• The chow is either hidden or visible, like a pong.

Eyes

Eyes, also known as a pair, are two identical tiles essential to a lawful winning hand. A piece cannot be taken to create a pair of eyes unless the player concurrently completes a valid winning hand.

Interruption of Play

The game can be interrupted by four events. They are the following:

Flower or Season

The last tile of the wall is drawn as a replacement tile whenever a player draws a flower or season, ensuring that they have the 14 pieces required before their discard.

Melding Another Player’s Discard

Other players may take a tile that has been discarded by one player to finish a meld. The advantages of stealing tiles include constructing a winning hand more quickly and earning extra points. At the same time, the drawbacks include having to expose a portion of one's hand to other players and being unable to alter a declared meld.

Moreover, the player must specify the type of meld to be proclaimed when declaring it through a discard before exposing the meld by setting the three or four face-up tiles.

Winning A Hand

Play is stopped when a hand is won in order to evaluate the hand's viability. Following confirmation, the player receives the hand's worth in accordance with the rules of the particular game.

Winning a Hand From a Discard

A player declares victory and reveals their winning hand if, at any time throughout the game, they can utilize another player's discard to finish a legal hand. The hand is over at this point, and mahjong scoring starts.

Based on established table rules, there are several methods to handle the scenario if more than one player can utilize a discard to win the hand. The winner may be determined by adding up the points each player would have gained from the discard, selecting the person who is closest to the discarder in turn order, or concurrently awarding wins to many players.

Winning a Hand From the Wall

A player can also succeed by drawing a tile that finishes a valid hand. This can also be referred to as winning from the wall. Winning from the wall in Hong Kong Mahjong doubles the basic points that each loser must pay.

Winning a Hand By False Win

The declaring of a winning hand is technically permissible at any time. The player must have a full and legitimate hand, though. If not, the player is punished.

• The punishment is based on the table rules.
• The player can hand the other players their points back.
• The player who announces the fake win is also subject to a potential punishment of having to play the remainder of the hand with their tiles face up.
• Some strategies impose punishment at the conclusion of the whole contest.

Robbing a Kong

A play known as robbing the kong is an uncommon yet high-scoring element of Hong Kong mahjong. If a player attempts to declare a kong by adding a fourth piece to a melded pong, but another player can use that piece to finish the hand, the winning player has precedence and may remove that piece from the person who was attempting to declare the kong.

Conclusion

Playing Mahjong is not about just learning the rules or tiles. Knowing about the melds, how to make them, and the different types of melds in mahjong is necessary in order to have a successful game.

Mahjong is not as difficult as it seems. It's just there is so much to learn about the game. But when players have a whole understanding, they undoubtedly have fun.