For example, the Eldest Hand, or East, casts the dice and the spots add up to 6. The sixth player, namely South, casts dice again and the spots add up to 7. Then East takes two piles (4 tiles), EXCLUDING 13 PILES, from the right end of the row of piles in front of South. South takes the next two piles (4 tiles), then West and North take successively. Each takes thrice in order to have 12 tiles, then East takes one tile from the upper part of the pile, South takes one from the lower part and West and North take their last tile each, so that each player has 13 tiles.
There should always be 13 tiles in each hand, including melds, except in the case of:—
a. Kan (4 of a kind, which will be explained later)
b. Going Out and
c. Picking up from the pile.
However, East takes one more tile to make 14. To simplify the dealing, East takes two tiles successively after the four players have taken four tiles thrice.
At the beginning of the game, East has 14 tiles and the other three players have 13. These are placed upright in a line in front of each player with the bamboo backs shown to the opposite side. The 13 tiles are first placed at random in the order of picking up. Later they should be arranged in order to be easily understood. However, the arrangement should be avoided after making progress as others can guess what part is Bamboo or what part is composed of Letter tiles, when one picks up a tile for discarding or for melding. Much exercise is needed to play without arrangement.
Arrangement of Hands
CHAPTER VI.
HOW TO GO OUT
East, who has 14 tiles, starts the game by discarding one of his tiles. This he does by placing the discarded tile in front of his pile, facing the surface up.
Next, South picks up one tile from the end of the pile, unless he can make a Pon or a Chi (these are explained later) from the tile discarded by East. West and North pick up and discard in like manner and the play continues successively until one of the players Out, or the pile is exhausted, leaving such portion as is decided by regulation.
A hand has 14 tiles when Going Out - 4 sets of threes and a pair (2 of a kind). The pair, or 2 of a kind, is called a Pillow, or Head. The threes not gathered at random. They may be either 3 of a kind, called a Pon, or a sequence (run) of 3, called a Chi.
Pillow
There are two methods of making a Pon or a Chi.
1. When a player has two of the same kind of tiles and one of the other three players discards one of the same, he can piak up the discarded tile by saying, "Pon" He then melds the three tiles by placing them, surface up, to the right of his hand.
2. When a player makes a Pon or a Chi by drawing from the pile, he does not need to meld them but keeps them concealed in his hand.
In case of Pon, one can take from any other player's discard, but in making a Chi, one can take only from the left hand player’s discard to complete a sequence. This difference must be remembered. The Chi, subsidized from the left hand, must be melded. When Going Out, however, one can complete a Pon, a Chi, or a Pillow by taking a discard from any other player.
Pon
Chi
The Pon is mightier than the Chi. For example, East can make a Pon of 5-Won when South discards a 5-Won even though West might want it to make a Chi.
After East has made a Pon by taking the 5-Won discarded by South, he discards, then South again plays, not West. When East makes a Pon in this way, West and North are excluded from their natural turn and West can play only after South has discarded.
Going Out is the mightiest of all. If East discards a tile that North can use to Go Out by making either a Pon, or a Chi, or a Piilow, he can pick up the discarded tile, even though South might want to use the tile to make a Chi and West might want it to make a Pon.
Hand Ready to Go out
CHAPTER VII.
MELD AND REMAINING TILES
In melding a Pon, a player must meld the 3 tiles, placing them face upward to the right of his hand to show others. However, if a player picks up the 4th tile of the same kind, he can make a meld of 4 tiles. A meld of 4 of a kind is called a Kan (Kawn).
A player, who has a Pon in his hand, can pick up a discarded tile of the same kind by saying, "Kan" and melding the 4 tiles. The melding of a Kan makes one’s hand insufficient, and in order to remedy this defect one must pick an extra tile from the far end of the pile.
The game goes on until there are 14 tiles left. If there is no winner, that is, if none of the hands can Go Ont (leaving 14 tiles), the game is over and the Eldest Hand, or East, is changed.
Kan
CHAPTER VIII.
ROUND WIND AND SEAT WIND
There are four rounds of play and four games in each round, unless East, or the Eldest Hand, Goes Out, in which case he will remain East until some other player wins a game.
Each round is called by the name of one of the directions. The first round is the East Wind Fight, or the East Round, the next is the South Round, then the West Round and the North Round.
In the East Round, the East tiles are always Bonus tiles, that is, any one of the four hands that has a Pon of East tiles in the East Round, and Goes Out, receives a Bonus. In the South Round, the South tiles are Bonus tiles, followed, in the same way, by those of West and North.
A Pon of the Seat Wind gives a Bonus to the player sitting in that seat, if he Goes Out. That is, if a player, sitting in the South Seat in the East Round, has a Pon of South tiles and Goes Out, he receives a Bonus,
When the Round Wind and the Seat Wind are the same, the Pon of that Wind gives a double Bonus. For example, if a player in the South Seat makes a South Pon during the South Round, and Goes Out, he receives a double Bonus.
The Bonuses will be explained later.
CHAPTER IX.
COUNTING THE POINTS
| 1. | Melded Pon (set of 3 of a kind) | Points |
| Numeral Tiles from 2- to 8- (Won, Bamboo or Ball) | 2 | |
| Wind or Color tiles | 4 | |
| 1-s and 9-s | 4 | |
| 2. | Pon in Hand (not melded) - double Melded Pon Numeral Tiles from 2- to 8 | 4 |
| Wind or Color Tiles | 8 | |
| 1-s and 9-s | 8 | |
| 3. | Melded Kan (set of 4 of a kind) - double Pon in Hand Numeral Tiles from 2- to 8- | 8 |
| Wind or Color Tiles | 16 | |
| 1-s and 9-s | 16 | |
| 4. | Kan in Hand (not melded) - double Melded Kan | |
| Numeral Tiles from 2- to 8- | 16 | |
| Wind or Color Tiles | 32 | |
| 1-s and 9-s | 32 | |
| 5. | Pillow or Head | |
| Wind or Color Tiles | 2 | |
| Double Wind Pillow | 4 | |
| Double Wind occurs when the Seat Wind and the Round Wind are the same. | ||
| 6. | Chi (sequence) | |
| A
|