Written by a Singaporean, it goes beyond a simple description of the game. You will learn the evolution of mahjong from its origin in China to how it has taken roots in Asia; different winning formations used; how points and bonuses are awarded; rules and penalties; strategies and tactics that work; how body language plays a part in winning; how to avoid swindlers; and the taboos and spooks of mahjong. The book is specially written for English-speaking individuals who wish to have a comprehensive understanding of the mahjong game. Written with simple, clear and easy-to-follow instructions and accompanied by full-color illustrations and pictures, this is the best guide for all mahjong players anywhere in the world.
AMAZING MAHJONG
Amazing Mahjong: Learn to maximise your winning potential and have fun, is the first Mahjong book that offers an in-depth coverage on Singapore mahjong and its comparison to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan mahjong.
This Book Is Ideal For: • •
• •
The Most Comprehensive Guide For New and Experienced Mahjong Players
CELIA CHING
•
Foreigners who want to play mahjong as a way to integrate into a Chinese community Singaporeans who wish to learn about Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Japan mahjong as a way to integrate with new citizens Beginners who wish to shorten the learning curve and reduce the cost of learning Current players who wish to uncover mahjong secrets and advance their skills Aspiring players who wish to pitch their skills in the Chinese National Mahjong Competition
Written by a Singaporean, it goes beyond a simple description of the game. You will learn the evolution of mahjong from its origin in China to how it has taken roots in Asia; different winning formations used; how points and bonuses are awarded; rules and penalties; strategies and tactics that work; how body language plays a part in winning; how to avoid swindlers; and the taboos and spooks of mahjong. The book is specially written for English-speaking individuals who wish to have a comprehensive understanding of the mahjong game. Written with simple, clear and easy-to-follow instructions and accompanied by full-color illustrations and pictures, this is the best guide for all mahjong players anywhere in the world.
AMAZING MAHJONG
Amazing Mahjong: Learn to maximise your winning potential and have fun, is the first Mahjong book that offers an in-depth coverage on Singapore mahjong and its comparison to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan mahjong.
This Book Is Ideal For: • •
• •
The Most Comprehensive Guide For New and Experienced Mahjong Players
CELIA CHING
•
Foreigners who want to play mahjong as a way to integrate into a Chinese community Singaporeans who wish to learn about Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Japan mahjong as a way to integrate with new citizens Beginners who wish to shorten the learning curve and reduce the cost of learning Current players who wish to uncover mahjong secrets and advance their skills Aspiring players who wish to pitch their skills in the Chinese National Mahjong Competition
Amazing Mahjong Learn to maximise your winning potential and have fun
Celia Ching
ii First Published October 2010 Published by: Celia Ching ISBN 978-981-08-7218-2 Copyright © 2010 by Celia Ching Typeset and cover design by: Rank Publishing (www.rankbooks.com) All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means — graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information retrieval systems — without written permission of the author. Conditions of Sale: This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Disclaimer: While every reasonable care is taken to ensure the accuracy of information printed, no responsibility can be accepted for any loss or inconvenience caused by any error or omission. Printed in Singapore
iii
About The Author Celia Ching
C
elia is born in September 1964 and is the second generation off-spring of early Chinese emigrants to Southeast Asia. Both her paternal and
maternal grandparents emigrated from Huizhou (惠州)of the Guangdong province to settle in Malaysia. They are a type of Hakka（客家) known as Hailufeng (海陆丰)people. Her father was born in Kuala Lumpur and her mother was born in Johor. The Singapore Citizenship Ordinance provided both her parents Singapore citizenship in 1959. Celia is their seventh child. Celia grew up with seven other siblings comprising four brothers and three sisters. The family lived in Hougang（后港), an area with a relatively large population of Teochew. As a result, both the Hakka and Teochew dialects were spoken inter-changeably in the family. All the children of the Ching family had a great childhood even though none had been spared from the cane. They climbed trees, caught spiders and fishes, played in the monsoon drains, collected bullet shells, plucked fruits, made kites and a host of activities that are forbidden to children today. Chinese New Year was the highlight of each year, when the family gathered to play. Celia’s parents sent half of their kids to a Chinese school and the remaining half to an English school. Celia is the only girl in the family sent to an English school. In 1987, she graduated from the National University of Singapore, where she majored in Economics and Sociology. Celia owns a market research consultancy firm and resides in Singapore.
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Preface
F
or most Chinese families, including ours, mahjong and other games like the black jack, three cards, Rummy, Poker and “Fishing Red Fish”（钓红
鱼）are part of the Lunar New Year tradition in Singapore. My interest in mahjong grew only when I started working and living in Shanghai. As an expatriate whose parents, siblings and in-laws were all living in Singapore and Malaysia, I had less family commitment. This freed up a significant amount of my time for social activities such as karaoke, dining, gym and mahjong. Working in Shanghai gave me an opportunity to meet people from different countries. Several weekends of mahjong sessions with a couple of Hong Kong friends and a foundation in Singapore mahjong helped me pick up Hong Kong mahjong fairly quickly. Soon, my curiosity extended to Taiwan and Shanghai mahjong. For self-improvement, I started reading books on mahjong from Chinese authors. My curiosity extended to mahjong books written by Taiwanese and Japanese authors. It was then that I realised how little I knew about this game that I grew up with. Mahjong is an intriguing and enjoyable game. Learning about different countries’ mahjong, types of winning formations, strategies and tactics to improve the chance of winning, is a very satisfying experience. I am increasingly delighted each time I applied a tactic that worked. However, no matter how skilful a player is, luck plays a bigger role in influencing his chance of winning. That’s the mystery of mahjong!
Mahjong is extremely good for passing time. When someone has all the time in the world and does not know what to do, he could play mahjong. This is probably why the game is extremely popular among retirees and “homemakers”. However, mahjong is a very addictive game and it is not hard to imagine how some players stay glued to their chair for hours. Besides challenging players’ skills, mahjong challenges one’s ability to survive the game with the least food, toilet breaks and sleep! The beauty of this game is that players can learn self-control and discipline when they do not succumb to the temptations of mahjong. I would recommend a player to stay away from mahjong in two situations that would potentially strip off all the fun of mahjong. One is when the stake is too high and the other is when playing with complete strangers. I find this game much more enjoyable when it is used for socialising and building relationships with family members, colleagues and friends.
Why do I write this book? Although the majority of Chinese, especially in Singapore and Hong Kong, know how to play this game, a relatively large number of the younger generation as well as the English-speaking adults play with basic knowledge. Most players, myself included, start with little clue on how points are awarded and how to use strategies and tactics. This limits our winning potential and hence the enjoyment of this game. Moreover, there are hardly any book on Mahjong written in English that is readily available in Asia. English mahjong books were written in as early as 1929 and mainly in the 1980s. These books are readily available in the United States but only a few have updated information on the Chinese National Competition. There is hardly anything on Singapore Mahjong.
vi Hence, here is it, an updated version. This will be the first mahjong book, written by a Singaporean to introduce Singapore mahjong to the rest of the world. It also draws comparison to Hong Kong, Japan, Shanghai and Taiwan mahjong. Who is this book meant for? •
English speaking individuals who want to learn more about mahjong but have not found a book that covers this topic adequately in the English language.
•
Foreigners and their accompanying families who are living in a predominantly Chinese environment, such as Singapore. Mahjong is a great way to integrate into a Chinese society.
•
Singaporeans who want to learn more about Hong Kong, Japan, Shanghai and Taiwan mahjong, as a means to integrate with new citizens.
•
New players who are learning how to play through trial and error and paying good “school fees”. This book helps to shorten the learning curve and cost of learning.
•
Current players who are keen to know the secrets of mahjong in relation to strategies and tactics, comparison of mahjong across places in Asia and a brief introduction to the formations and points used in the Chinese National Mahjong Competition.
How to use this book? This book has been organised to help its readers navigate through its contents as easily as possible. The chapters include a brief background on the origin of mahjong, how to play Singapore mahjong, the different winning combinations, how points and
vii bonuses are awarded, rules and penalties and strategies and tactics to use. The content focuses on Mahjong in general and brings out unique features in Singapore and draws comparison with some countries where applicable. This helps players to enjoy different types of mahjong. Most of the contents are extracted and translated from a range of Chinese mahjong books. The illustrations and tables are printed in full colour on quality paper to enhance its aesthetic appeal and its shelf live. A glossary on mahjong jargons, both in English and Chinese, are provided for easy reference. A number of the English translations are my own, bringing them as closely to the Chinese meaning as possible. This book provides the theory and descriptions of the game. Reading this book without hands on experience would only be zi shang tan bing (纸上 谈兵) or “conducting military exercise on paper”. Hence, it is important have practical experience. Another useful source of learning is “You Tube”. There are some useful video clips on how to play mahjong and on how an automated mahjong table works. This book represents my perspective as a social player and I must confess that I do not win all the time. The book does not cover all the variations and details of the mahjong game. Any errors or limitation in this book is fully mine and I welcome any feedback to improve the next edition of this book. Enjoy…
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contents Chapter 1 The Origin of Mahjong
1
Once Upon a Time in The Ming Dynasty
3
What is in a set of Mahjong?
6
The Accessories
12
The Mahjong Table
13
Chapter 2 Let’s Play Singapore Mahjong
15
Seating Positions（定位）
17
Forming the Wall（牌墙）
20
Wind Rounds, Play Winds and Cycles（圈风，门风，轮）
21
The Dealer （庄家）
22
First/Start Round: East（起庄）
23
Separating the Wall （开牌）
23
The Back Wall（墙尾）
25
Collecting the Pieces（配牌）
26
Hand Pieces（手牌）
26
Conceal Flowers/Animal Pieces and Substitution（补花）
27
Dealer Discards a Piece to Start（出牌）
28
What Determines the First Cycle?
29
Conceal Gong and Substitution（暗杠／补杠）
29
The Sea（海）
30
The Relationship Between Chow, Pong/Gong（吃，碰/杠）
30
Conceal Gong and Substitution During the Game
32
Open Gong and Substitution（明杠／补杠）
32
Substituting a Flower/Animal During the Game
32
King Pieces（王牌）
33
Draw（荒牌）
34
Dealer and The Play Wind
34
The Next Wind Round
35
Chapter 3 Winning Formations & Bonus
37
Great Fortune Formation
41
Small Fortune Formation
45
Basic Formation
48
Windfall in the First Cycle
50
Bonus Occasions
51
Bonus Pieces
52
Bonus for Round Wind and Play Wind
54
Chapter 4 Formations’ Scoring & Payment
57
How Are Points Awarded?
59
Winning Formations/Bonus Occasions
60
Other Formations/Bonus Occasions Not In The CNMC
70
The Relationship Between Mahjong Points and Payment Rates
71
Winning Limit - Setting a Minimum and a Maximum
71
Self-pick Versus Shooting
72
Shooter Pays Double System
72
Shooter Pays All System
73
Dealer Receives/Pays Double System
75
Chinese Competition Base-points System
76
Open or Conceal Gong and “Bite” Bonus
77
Example of an Improvised Rate Card
79
xi Chapter 5 Rules & Penalties
81
Play Rules
83
Penalties or Bao （包）
84
9 Pieces （九张／九张落地）
85
Tri-Union Potential （包三元牌）
86
Five Points Potential（包大牌）
87
Last 7 and 5 Pieces （七子包杠，五子包生）
88
Fake Win or Za Hu（包咋胡）
89
Taking the Wrong Piece （拿错牌）
89
The Master or Xiang Gong (包相公)
90
Chapter 6 Table Strategy & The 3 Key Stages
93
The Down-Stream Player
96
The Up-Stream Player
97
The Opposite Player
99
The Window of Opportunity
99
An Overview of the 3 Key Stages
100
The First Stage: Hand Pieces and Framing
101
The Second Stage: Forming and Calling
103
The Final Stage: Calling
103
The 3 Key Stages of Mahjong – Summary
106
Chapter 7 Retention and Discard
109
Connection Value
111
Arrow and Wind Pieces
112
Wind Pieces – The Order of Discard
112
Numeric Pieces – The Order of Discard
113
Regular Interval Numeric Hand Pieces Such as 147, 258, 369
114
xii Dismantling Extra Numeric Hand Pieces
115
Do Not Follow
115
Chapter 8 The Orchestra of Chow, Pong & Gong
117
The Role of Chow
119
The Role of Pong
121
The Role of Gong
123
Chapter 9 The Art of Calling
127
Common Calling Mistakes
129
Types of Calling
130
Knowing What To Call
132
Simple Scenarios of Calling
132
Calling A Single Piece
133
Calling Two Pieces
134
Calling Three Pieces
136
Calling Four Pieces
137
Complicated Scenarios of Calling
138
Seven Hand Pieces
138
10 Hand Pieces
139
13 Hand Pieces
141
Numeric Patterns in Sequential Numbers
141
Calling Fortune Formations
155
Calling Dead Pieces
156
Hijack a Win or Jie Hu
157
How to Fish for a Calling Piece
157
xiii Chapter 10 Tell Tale Signs
161
Body Language
163
Eyes Don’t Lie
164
Mind Your Language
164
Arranging the Pieces
165
Flipping the Pieces
166
Hesitate to Chow
166
Hesitate to Pong
167
Placement of Picked Pieces
167
Location of a Discard Piece
167
The Type of Discard Pieces
167
The Order of Discard Pieces
168
Pick and Discard
168
Arranging and Re-Arranging Pieces During the Game
169
Focusing on the Sea and Counting the Pieces
169
Closing the Pieces
169
Secrets of the Land and Sea
169
Dead Pieces
170
Tell Tale Signs of Selective Formations
171
Chapter 11 The Inner-Game
173
The Right Mindset
175
A Competitive Spirit
177
Personalities
178
Swindlers At Work
180
The Spooks of Mahjong
184
Mahjong Taboos
186
xiv Luck Boosters
187
Skill Versus Luck in Mahjong
187
Chapter 12 Mahjong Across Asia
189
Pieces Used
191
Different Practices
192
Hong Kong Mahjong
195
Japan Mahjong
196
Shanghai Mahjong
197
Singapore Mahjong
200
Taiwan Mahjong
202
Other Variations
204
Computer-Simulated Mahjong
204
Glossary
205
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There are different versions on the history of Mahjong and its evolution. The invention of the dices dates as far back as the Tang Dynasty (唐朝), the symbols and jargons came about during the Ming Dynasty（明朝）and the creation of mahjong pieces happened in the late Ching Dynasty (清朝).
Once Upon a Time in The Ming Dynasty According to most sources, mahjong originates in the Ming Dynasty and there are mainly three stories on its origin. •
The first story has an interesting history surrounding a Sparrow Killing activity (打麻雀）in a place call Taichang in the Jiangsu province (太昌， 江苏省）. Once upon a time, sparrows were invading the rice warehouses owned by the imperial family living in the Jiangsu province. To get rid of the menace, the government issued guns to the guarding soldiers to shoot at sparrows that came close to the grains. To keep an account of the resources used in this activity, the “circle” (筒）symbol represents the number of guns issued, the “bamboo” (索）symbol indicates the number of ropes used to bundle up dead sparrows and the “ten thousands”（万） records the amount awarded to soldiers based on the number of birds killed. The “Red Middle”(中)means that the sparrows had been hit, the “White Board” (白板）means an empty shot had been fired and the “Fortune”(发）means to issue reward. The orientations of East（东）, South（南）, West (西）and North（北）were directions to aim at for the shooting.
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The second story is a very simple one that relates to a man named, Wan Bingtiao（万饼条）. Wan created mahjong based on his name, where Wan refers to the ten thousands, Bing (literally means “biscuit”) refers to the circles and Tiao (literally means “strand”) refers to the bamboos.
•
The third story relates to the famous Chinese Admiral Zheng He (郑 和), who was sent by the Ming Emperor to sail to the Indian Ocean. Due to his seniority, he was able to bring his wife with him for the trip. However, the soldiers who sailed with him began to feel homesick and bored after months of sailing. To overcome his soldiers’ homesickness and boredom, Zheng He, his general and his wife, invented mahjong or Majiang (麻将) from wooden chips. The Chinese characters, 麻将 literally means General Ma, who commanded the soldiers at sea. The respective symbols and jargons in the stories above were initially
adapted into a card game known as Ma Diao（马吊）played during the Ming Dynasty. The game had a total of 40 cards in one deck. Towards the early Ching Dynasty, Ma Diao evolved into another game known as Mo He Pai (默和牌）, also a card game but with 60 cards. As new ways to play were introduced into the game, the number of cards was doubled to 120 and the way it was played is very similar to mahjong. Soon, the large number of cards became cumbersome for the players to hold. Engraved cow bones fitted onto bamboo backing tiles were then used to replace the paper cards. In those days, each player had a rack to hold these bone-bamboo mahjong pieces and the rack is similar to that used in Scrabble. From then on, mahjong became a game popular among royalties, including the Empress Dowager, Ci Xi（慈禧）. The Ningbo province of China, has laid claim that mahjong was invented by a Ningbo Chinese man by the name of Chen Zhengyao (陈政钥）, towards the tail end of the Ching dynasty. Chen created the rules for determining players’ orientations with the use of dices and formalised the way to chow
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and gong. Chen also taught a British ambassador how to play mahjong and promoted mahjong to countries outside China.
For example, the jargons
used in Japanese mahjong are similar to the Ningbo native language. Today, Ningbo’s mahjong museum is a tourism highlight to the city. During the Cultural Revolution in China, from 1966 to 1976, mahjong was abolished along with “old customs”, “old cultures”, “old habits” and “old ideas”. However, the movement did not destroy the game. Due to its popularity, mahjong was reinstated and became a national sport in November 1998. New rules and formations were introduced to promote the use of skills rather than luck. However, many years before the Cultural Revolution, Chinese had been migrating to different parts of the world. The majority of the early Chinese emigrants to Southeast Asia, including my grandparents, came mainly from the southern parts of China such as Fujian（福建）, Guangdong （广东） and Hainan (海南) . Along with their migration, they brought along a diversity of cultures that explain the different dialects, beliefs, religions and cuisine in countries like Singapore and Malaysia. Mahjong is one of the games that early Chinese brought along to the societies that they settled in. Due to their proximity, Singapore and Malaysia mahjong are very similar. As the years went by, Singapore players invented and adapted new rules to playing mahjong. This evolution process gave birth to our uniquely Singapore Mahjong. The future of Singapore Mahjong would include new adaptations from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan as players interact and integrate within the region.
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What is in a Set of Mahjong? A set of Mahjong comprises mahjong tiles packed in a brief case and comes complete with accessories like dice and chips. The mahjong pieces comprise the following: • Character pieces • Numeric pieces • Flower pieces • Animal pieces (only used in Singapore and Malaysia) • Joker pieces • Blank or spare pieces Singapore mahjong plays with all the character and numeric pieces, two sets of flower pieces and all four animal pieces.
When shopping for a set
of Singapore mahjong, it is important to check that the animal pieces are available.
Characters（字牌） There are two types of character pieces, namely winds（风牌）and arrows (箭牌). • The winds refer to the orientations of East,South,West and North or dong nan xi bei （东南西北）. There are a total of 16 (or 4x4) such pieces. • “Arrow” is literally translated from its Chinese terminology, jian（箭）. The arrow pieces are commonly known as “Dragons” among Westerners. These pieces comprise the Red Middle（红中）, the White Board（白板） and the Green Fortune（青发）. There are a total of 12 (or 3x4) such pieces.
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Numeric（数牌） There are three kinds of numeric pieces, namely Circles or tong zi (筒子), Bamboos or suo zi（索子）and Ten Thousands or wan zi (万子). Each kind, such as the circles, comes in a numeric sequence from one to nine. There are four identical pieces of each number. Hence, there are a total of 36 (or 9 x 4) pieces of each kind.
Circles
Bamboos
Ten Thousands
Flowers（花牌） Newer mahjong sets contain two simplified sets of four flower pieces. One set has the Chinese numerals of 一二三四 (all in Red) and the other set has the standard numerals of 1234 (all in Blue) as illustrated below.
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Flower Pieces in Older Mahjong Sets In older sets of mahjong, the flower pieces do not just depict flowers. Each set of four pieces has a theme based on the seasons, plants, arts and occupations: • Four seasons:
spring（春）, summer（夏）, autumn（秋）and winter
(冬). • Four plants:
cherry blossom（梅）, orchid （兰）, bamboo (竹) and
chrysanthemum（菊). The four plants are also known as “Four Gentlemen” or si jun zi（四君子）in Chinese literature and they are key subjects of traditional Chinese paintings. They represent virtues of justice, integrity, purity and discipline in thoughts and emotions. • Four arts: musical instrument (琴), board games (棋), calligraphy (书)and brush painting (画). In China’s ancient times, these activities reflect a person’s cultural and inner qualities. • Four occupations: fishing (渔), forestry (樵), farming (耕) and teaching (读). When China was primarily an agricultural society, these were the four key occupations. They were also used to depict the kind of life for government officials upon retirement.
Seasons
Plants
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Arts
Occupations
Animals（动物牌） Used only in Singapore and Malaysia mahjong, the four animal pieces are the cat（猫）, the mouse（鼠）, the rooster（鸡）and the centipede（蜈蚣）.
There were limited write-ups relating to how animal pieces found their way into Singapore mahjong. However, a close friend’s sister showed me a set of antique mahjong that was custom-made in a shop located at 488 North Bridge Road when Singapore was still using a 6-digit phone number system. This set of mahjong has 28 very unusual pieces of different symbols, animals and mythical characters. Further investigations reveal that these symbols/characters resemble an ancient Chinese lottery game（猜字花）. The game assigned a numeric number as well as a meaning to each symbol. Players needed to guess the intended poem or message from a selection of 36 different symbols.
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Interestingly, the cat, mouse and rooster are among the 36 symbols. Although the centipede is not in the list, there is a symbol of the earthworm, which goes better with the rooster. It is not a surprise if the centipede had been used to replace the earthworm.
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11
Joker, Fly and Blank Pieces • Joker and “Fly” or Fei （飞） These are used mainly in Taiwanese mahjong. They work in the same way as the Joker in Rummy, where it is used to substitute any piece to make a pair, a suit, a triplet or a quad.
• Blank Pieces In some mahjong sets, there are four blank pieces. In case one or two pieces go missing, the mahjong seller would be able to carve these pieces for replacements. These pieces can also be used in the same way as the Joker or Fly and are known as the “fat pork”, to mean fat and juicy.
Other Pieces found in older sets of mahjong • “Head” Pieces or Ren Tou（人头） These pieces work like Jokers. The interesting difference is that even though a player has used a piece to form a display suit, a triplet or a quad, he can still retrieve the Head back when he picks a piece that fits with any of these suit, triplet or quad.
For example, a player shouts “pong” and uses two
Red Middle and one head to form a triplet. In a later round, he picks a Red Middle piece. He can swop the head with the Red Middle piece and keep the head for other substitution.
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• “Calling” Pieces or Ting Yong （听用）
These pieces work like the Jokers except that a player cannot use these to from a display suit, triplet or quad. These pieces can only be used to substitute a piece in the hand pieces to make a winning formation.
The Accessories • Wind indicator A wind indicator is a marked with 东南西北 and serves to remind players of the round of each game. In Singapore, this indicator is placed on the left table corner of where the dealer sits and starts the game. The indicator remains here until a complete round of mahjong is over or when the players’ seating positions change. In Hong Kong mahjong however, the wind indicator moves along with the dealer, to help identify the dealer. Similarly, the indicator is placed on the dealer’s left table corner.
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• Start here marker In more recent mahjong sets, there is a triangular marker with the Chinese characters, “start here” (起荘). This indicator originates in Hong Kong and marks the dealer who starts the game. This marker does not move until a complete round of mahjong is over or when the players’ seating positions change. Singapore players, on the other hand, may not use this marker since the wind indicator serves a similar purpose. • Dice There are usually 3 dices in a suitcase of mahjong. The dices are thrown to determine players’ seating positions and to select the dealer for the first or East round. For each round of the mahjong game, dices determine whose wall to start collecting mahjong pieces from. The dealer keeps the dices right in front of him, so that the other players can be reminded of whom the dealer is and hence their own “orientation”. For example, if Jane sits across John and Jane holds the dices, Jane is the dealer and is in the East position. John is hence in the West position. • Chips There are chips in different colours and sizes. There are exactly four sets of these chips for each player. They are usually not marked with any numbers and players have the flexibility to define the denominations of these chips based on the stake of the game. Usually, the bigger chips represent a higher denomination and the smaller ones a lower denomination, just like most countries’ currency.
The Mahjong Table The good old faithful foldable mahjong table is used in most homes and stowed away when not needed. The table has a square top and is designed to accommodate four players. On each side of the table is a small little drawer, located to the right end or in the middle, for players to store their chips. Some tables are improved with a pull out cup holder at each corner.
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In the past, white mahjong papers held down by thumb tacks were laid on top of a bare wooden table top. The paper provided a smooth surface to protect the mahjong tiles and for the pieces to glide smoothly around the table. The hassle of looking for mahjong papers and for functional thumb tacks to replace the rusty ones has long become the past. Mahjong tables are improved with a surface made from a special fabric to replace the function of the mahjong paper. Technology helped invent the automated mahjong tables. These tables are very popular in the recreation clubs. The automated mahjong tables in Japan are highly sophisticated, with markings and digital scoring devices.