k....Basics of mah jong.
You have four suites: Bamboo, characters,circles and another. These are numbered 1 to 9.
You also have North, south east and west winds (labelled N,S,E,W)
You also have red dragon (strange red symbol), green dragon (strange green symbol) and white dragon (blank white tile)
and finally you have seasons and flowers (spring,summer,autumn and winter + Orchid, chrisanthimum,bamboo and another i forget)
The tiles start in a square shape (four walls) and are dealt out, 14 tiles each with 15 for the dealer.
Dealer throws one away into the center and next player picks one up from the wall etc.
Some ways to win are collecting three or four of a kind (known as pungs for 3 and kongs for 4)
An open pung is if you have two of a kind and someone throws the third one you need into the middle you can pick it up and use it for ur three (also applies to kongs).
A concealed pung/kong is if u pick up the last tile you need from the wall and is worth more.
A good way to win is a run from 1 to 9 in a specific suite and either 5 odd "honours" (winds and dragons) or 5 winds ( all n,s,e,w and another wind).
If you pick up a season or flower you can keep without having to ditch a tile. Everyone for every game has a specific season with a related flower (i.e summer and orchid) If you collect one your final score is doubled and collecting another will double yr score again.
When you need one tile to win you are "fishing". This means that if another player disgards the tile you need into the middle you can pick it up and win.
As i said there are lot of other ways to win and get doubles (I think concealed kongs are doubles as well) but will be very tricky playing in japanese) Good Luck!!
