Akagi's Mah Jongg Rules

After watching the anime Akagi , I wanted to play modern Japanese Mah Jongg so that I could say "Ron!" and "Riichi!" in a suitably impressive voice. However, there are many different variants, indeed every group of players seems to have their own rules, and I knew nothing about the game let alone which rules went well together.

The talented games guru Hugo Huggett obligingly watched Akagi, dug out his mah jongg set, and put together a set of rules for us to try. I think this is a well-structured form of the game, and the requirement to form a hand with at least one yaku (special shape) adds strategy.

If you want to play this version of Mah Jongg, I recommend that you print out four copies of the list of Yaku, because each player will need to refer to it frequently.

Rules (.pdf)

• General Rules (.pdf)
• Yakuman (.pdf)
• Yaku (.pdf)
• Yaku 2 (.pdf) A slightly more restrictive version of the yaku in which some of the hands must be closed.
• Scoring (.pdf)

Rules (Word 2000 .doc)

• General Rules (.doc)
• Yakuman (.doc)
• Yaku (.doc)
• Yaku 2 (.doc) A slightly more restrictive version of the yaku in which some of the hands must be closed.
• Scoring (.doc)

References

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Mahjong_scoring_rules
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Mahjong_yaku
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahjong
• http://home.netvigator.com/~tarot/Mahjong/Japanese-en.txt

Want to Play Now?

Try this online Japanese Mah Jongg game - it's good practice for a real game!

Mah Jongg rules copyright © Hugo Huggett 2009