Rules

Overview

The default rule preset of Four Winds 2 is European Classical, which represents the way Mah Jong was played in China several decades ago (another classical variant supported – historically truer, but a bit more complex – is Classical Chinese). The rule preset is called European, because these rules are seldom used in Asia of today, while in Europe they are still popular, since the most Mah Jong tile sets sold in the European countries come with a booklet that introduces (more or less) classical rules.

The classical rules serve well as an introduction to Mah Jong: the rules and scoring are simple and they are generally recognized around the world. Though the modern Asian rules differ significantly from the classical (especially the scoring and paying method is different), and American Mah Jong has introduced rules like prohibition of mixed suit (cleared-hand game), limitation in the number of Chows and Charleston, they still share the common basic concept, best embodied in the European Classical rule preset, a sort of a midway between the extremes.

In the sections below (Playing, Scoring, Payments) the fundamentals of the game of Mah Jong are described in details by using the rules of the European Classical rule preset. Variations, along with the over 20 different pre-defined rule presets and instructions for customizing them, are presented in the Variations section.  

Note:  As this documentation is closely tied to features of Four Winds Mah Jong, and dozens of variations it provides, a reader not familiar with any version of the game may find it a bit difficult to achieve a general view of the game. If you prefer to learn a specific version of Mah Jong in a handbook manner, you might find the online rule collection of Four Winds Mah Jong Knowledge Base more useful. 

Related topics:
Variations – Overview