Mahjong

:This article discusses the four-player game of Chinese origin. For the two-player tile-matching game, see Mahjong solitaire.

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Mahjong (Chinese: 麻将 or 麻雀; pinyin: májiàng; Wade-Giles: ma-chiang; other common English spellings include mahjongg, majiang, and hyphenated forms such as mah-jong or mah-jongg) is a gambling game for four players that originated in China. The Chinese word 麻将 literally means "hemp general". In Cantonese an alternate writing, 麻雀, is more common (the same kanji are used in Japanese). In Cantonese this literally means "sparrow" and is pronounced ma4 jeuk3, while in Japanese it means "hemp sparrow", and is pronounced mā-jan.

Related Topics:
Chinese - Pinyin - Wade-Giles - Gambling - Game - China - Kanji - Japanese

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In English, in addition to Mahjong, the name of the game is variously written as Mah Jong, Mahjongg, Majong or simply "M-J"; there are other, less common variations as well. The spelling "Mah-Jongg" was trademarked by Joseph Park Babcock in 1920.

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The closest Western analogue is probably the card game gin rummy. Both games involve selecting or discarding units (tiles in one case, cards in the other) to score points by forming groups or runs of similar units.

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The game pieces (tiles) and scoring rules used in the game are slightly different depending on regional variations. The game play in general is very similar in all versions, as players compete to build sets including the highest point value.

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The object of the game is to build complete suits (usually of threes) from either 13 or 16 tiles. The first person to achieve this goal is said to have won the game. The winning tile completes the set of either 14 or 17 tiles.

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