Mahjong

The game of Mah Jong began in China & there is some debate as to when it exactly began, where, & by whom. However it began, it was being played in China in the mid to late 1800s & was brought over to US in the 1920s. Mahjong is the most popular table game in Japan. As of 2008, there were approximately 7.6 million Mahjong players in Japan and an estimated 8,900 Mahjong parlors did 300 billion Japanese Yen in sales.

The game is played with a set of 144 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols, although some regional variations may omit some tiles and/or add unique tiles. In most variations, each player begins by receiving 13 tiles. In turn players draw and discard tiles until they complete a legal hand using the 14th drawn tile to form 4 groups (meld) and a pair (eye). There are fairly standard rules about how a piece is drawn, how a piece is robbed from another player, the use of simples (numbered tiles) and honors (winds and dragons), the kinds of melds allowed, how to deal the tiles and the order of play. Despite these similarities, there are many regional variations to the rules including rather different scoring systems, criteria for legal winning hands and even private table rules which distinguish some variations as notably different styles of mahjong.

The history of Mahjong can go on and on, but we found that a video on YouTube explains the basics in game play well in 6 minutes. Have a look on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRCb_LOkEmQ.

For a more detailed read, Wikipedia has a very good explanation of the history of Mahjong.

Specifications:
- Tile size: 2.5cm x 3.5cm x 1.9cm
- Die size: 1.4cm x 1.4cm x 1.4cm
- Total set weighs approx. 4.6kg
- Tile Back colour: Green

Contents:
- 144 tiles
- 2 Dice
- 1 Wind marker/holder

NOTE: As shown in the photos, these tiles do not feature numeric numbers on the corner. Please be prepared to learn how to read the tiles including the Chinese characters. Tip would be to study up on Google or print a print out of the translation.