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Honor tiles are the winds and dragons taken together. There are four Wind Tiles — East, South, West, North — and three Dragon Tiles — White, Red and Green — with four of each (3.4.15); Terminal tiles are the ones and nines of a suit, together with the honor tiles (3.4.16); Flower tiles are used: ...
Why people argue about this
People often assume that Flower tiles are included in the Terminal tiles category, which leads to misunderstandings about which tiles count as Terminal for scoring purposes. However, the official ruling clearly states that Flower tiles are used separately from both Honor and Terminal tiles, causing some players to misinterpret their significance in the game's scoring system.
Four players per table, each table playing as an independent group (3.5.2); Seating is the placement of players around the table by table number, determined by drawing lots or arranged in advance under the tournament regulations (3.4.7); Lots are drawn publicly, fairly and impartially; where a te...
Every claim on a discard must be verbalized (3.6.1); Say "Chi" to chow, "Pung" to pung, "Kong" (or "Gang") to kong, "Hu" to declare mahjong, and "Hua" when taking a flower replacement (3.6.1); Players must not call out the names of tiles when discarding, and are forbidden to discuss, gossip, or c...
Why people argue about this
People often assume that they can whisper their calls of tiles when discarding, thinking it's just a minor oversight in the official guidelines. However, the rule explicitly forbids discussing or gossiping about the tiles at all, which leads to misunderstandings and arguments over whether players are breaking this crucial aspect of the game.
Three conditions must all hold to declare "Hu": the hand is one of the permissible structures; its fan total at least 8 points; and the winning tile was obtained by a permitted method (3.9.1); The eight-point minimum is the defining constraint of MCR — a structurally complete hand that scores les...
Why people argue about this
People often argue that they've achieved a "Hu" when their hand meets all conditions except for the eight-point minimum. They mistakenly believe that as long as their structure is valid and they have at least 8 fan points, it's enough to declare a win, overlooking the crucial last condition about obtaining the winning tile through a permitted method.
MCR and riichi are the two major competitive mahjong rule sets and are scored on entirely different principles: MCR counts fan against an eight-point threshold (3.8, 3.9.1), while riichi counts han and minipoints and has no equivalent minimum; MCR uses flower tiles and flower replacement (3.4.20)...
Why people argue about this
People often assume that since MCR uses flower tiles in its scoring system, it must be more complex than riichi. However, they misunderstand that what makes MCR different is its unique fan threshold of 3.8 points versus riichi's han and minipoints system without a similar minimum.
Every claim on a discard must be verbalized (3.6.1); Say "Chi" to chow, "Pung" to pung, "Kong" (or "Gang") to kong, "Hu" to declare mahjong, and "Hua" when taking a flower replacement (3.6.1); Players must not call out the names of tiles when discarding, and are forbidden to discuss, gossip, or c...
Why people argue about this
People often assume that silent calls are acceptable as long as they understand each other, leading to misunderstandings when opponents don't hear verbalized calls clearly. The confusion arises because the rule explicitly states that all claims must be spoken aloud for clarity and fairness in every game of Mahjong (MCR/WMO).
Events may be Individual, Team or Group Ranking (3.5.3); Three competition methods exist — Elimination, Round Robin and Mixed — and a tournament may use one and only one of them (3.5.4)
Winning (hu) is reached when, after taking a discard or drawing, the fourteen tiles form a complete structure as prescribed and the hand scores eight or more points (3.4.22); Self-drawn — winning on a fresh tile taken from the wall (3.4.23); A hand that reaches neither a declaration nor a winner ...
There are 81 scoring elements (fan) in total (3.8); They fall into nine series: Honor Tiles; Number Tiles; Pungs; Seven Pairs; Tile Types Composition (flowers excepted); All Involved; Broken; Way of Making Mahjong; and Special (3.8); Point values reflect degree of difficulty, across twelve grades...
Why people argue about this
People often argue over how to count fan in Mahjong MCR WMO because they misinterpret which tiles contribute to each series—like thinking all pairs of number tiles are worth fan, when only specific combinations and sequences do, leading to discrepancies in final scores.
Chow — three sequentially-numbered tiles of the same suit (3.4.12); Pung — three identical tiles, concealed or melded (3.4.13); Kong — an exposure of four identical tiles; also the meld itself (3.4.19)
MCR and riichi are the two major competitive mahjong rule sets and are scored on entirely different principles: MCR counts fan against an eight-point threshold (3.8, 3.9.1), while riichi counts han and minipoints and has no equivalent minimum; MCR uses flower tiles and flower replacement (3.4.20)...
Why people argue about this
People often think that MCR's fan scoring is just about reaching an 8-point threshold, but they overlook the fact that it applies a sliding scale where fans below 3 points are worth less than 1 point each, unlike riichi which doesn't have a similar minimum for han and minipoints.
A winning hand's points comprise Extra Points, Basic Points and Penalty Points (3.9.1); Scoring presupposes a declared win, and is recorded on the score sheet from the competition points as the calculating base (3.9.1); Players are ranked after competition under the ranking rules (3.10)
Four players per table, each table playing as an independent group (3.5.2); Seating is the placement of players around the table by table number, determined by drawing lots or arranged in advance under the tournament regulations (3.4.7); Lots are drawn publicly, fairly and impartially; where a te...
Why people argue about this
People often assume that seating arrangements are decided randomly without fairness checks, thinking lots drawn publicly is just a formality for fun rather than ensuring impartiality in Mahjong MCR (WMO). However, the actual rule emphasizes that these lots must be drawn fairly and openly to prevent any player from feeling disadvantaged.
Three conditions must all hold to declare "Hu": the hand is one of the permissible structures; its fan total at least 8 points; and the winning tile was obtained by a permitted method (3.9.1); The eight-point minimum is the defining constraint of MCR — a structurally complete hand that scores les...
Why people argue about this
People often assume that just having a hand with at least 8 points is enough for declaring "Hu," forgetting about the crucial condition of it being one of the permissible structures in Mahjong (MCR). They overlook the fact that even if your tiles add up to eight or more, they must fit together logically and structurally as per MCR rules.
A player holds thirteen tiles after the deal, including any melded chows, pungs and kongs (3.4.10); Those thirteen do not include kong replacement tiles or flowers (3.4.10); Tiles not yet melded when mahjong is declared are concealed; standing tiles are the concealed tiles a player has not discar...
Why people argue about this
People often assume that all concealed tiles are those left in a player's hand after declaring mahjong, forgetting about kong replacement tiles and flowers which should be considered as part of the thirteen melded tiles, leading to misunderstandings about what exactly constitutes the "hand" in this context.
Play consists of taking a tile, discarding, and the claims — chow, pung, kong — in the prescribed order of turns (3.6.2); A player is waiting when a single tile would complete their hand (3.4.21); A flower replacement is drawn from the back end of the wall, repeated until the hand holds no flower...
Honor tiles are the winds and dragons taken together. There are four Wind Tiles — East, South, West, North — and three Dragon Tiles — White, Red and Green — with four of each (3.4.15); Terminal tiles are the ones and nines of a suit, together with the honor tiles (3.4.16); Flower tiles are used: ...
Why people argue about this
People often assume that the Terminal tiles in Mahjong (MCR/WMO) are just the ones and nines of a suit without including the honor tiles like winds and dragons. However, according to the official rule, these Terminal tiles encompass all ones and nines along with the honor tiles—making it clear they're not separate from the honor set.
A go-around (lun) is complete when everyone has discarded once in turn (3.4.1); A hand (pan) is everything between a deal and either a declaration of "Hu" or nobody winning — a draw game (3.4.2); A round (quan) ends when everybody has been dealer once; there are four rounds in a complete game (3....
Why people argue about this
People often assume that a round in Mahjong MCR/WMO ends when one player wins by declaring "Hu," forgetting that there are four rounds total, each with its own dealer, regardless of who might have already won within those rounds. This confusion stems from the rule stating there are four rounds per game, not necessarily tied to individual winners or losers within those rounds.
This summary follows the WMO 2014 English edition, the current text from the body that makes the rules; The European Mahjong Association continues to name the 2006 "Green Book" as the reference for its MERS ranking tournaments, alongside its own Tournament Regulations and Referee Manual, official...
The seat wind marks each player's seat: the dealer is East, the player to the dealer's right is South, opposite is West, and to the dealer's left is North (3.4.6); The prevalent wind names the round — the first round is East, then South, West and North (3.4.5)
Why people argue about this
People often assume that the prevalent wind always starts with East, forgetting that it actually changes with each new round, starting from East in the first round and then rotating clockwise through South, West, and North. This oversight frequently leads to disputes about which player should be designated as having the prevailing wind for a given round.