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WEEKLY MAHJONG

By Tom Sloper (湯姆·斯洛珀)

October 21, The Year Of The Pig
Column #340

Mahjong Competition Rules. With gratitude to Stéphane Parcollet and the Fédération Française de Mah-jong, herewith a guide to the Chinese names of the fan, in pinyin notation. Pinyin includes not only a Romanization of the word, but a pronunciation guide as well. The numbers tell you what tone to use in saying the syllable.

1-Point Fan

Pure Double Chow	Yi4 Ban1 Gao1
Mixed Double Chows	Xi2 Xiang1 Feng2
Short Straight	Lian2 Liu4
Two Terminal Chows	Lao3 Shao4 Fu4
Pung of Terminal or Honors	Yao1 Jiu3 Ke4
Melded Kong	Ming2 Kong4
One Voided Suit	Que1 Yi4 Men2
No Honors	Wu2 Zi4
Edge Wait	Bian1 Zhang1
Closed Wait	Kan3 Zhang1
Single Wait	Dan1 Diao4 Jiang4
Self Drawn	Zi4 Mo1
Flower Tiles	Hua1 Pai2

2-Point Fan

Dragon Pung	Jian4 Ke4
Prevalent Wind	Quan1 Feng1 Ke4
Seat Wind	Men2 Feng1 Ke4
Concealed Hand	Men2 Qian2 Qing1
All Chow	Ping2 Hu2
Tile Hog	Si4 Gui1 Yi1
Double Pung	Shuang1 Tong2 Ke4
Two Concealed Pungs	Shuang1 An4 Ke4
Concealed Kong	An4 Gang4
All Simple	Duan4 Yao1

4-Point Fan

Outside Hand	Quan2 Dai4 Yao1
Fully Concealed Hand	Bu4 Qiu2 Ren2
Two Melded Kong	Shuang1 Ming2 Gang4
Last Tile	Hu2 Jue2 Zhang1

6-Point Fan

All Pungs	Peng4 Peng4 Hu2
Half Flush	Hun4 Yi2 Se4
Mixed Shifted Chow	San1 Se4 San1 Bu4 Gao1
All Types	Wu3 Men2 Qi2
Melded Hand	Quan2 Qiu2 Ren2
Two Dragons	Shuang1 Jian4 Ke4

More next week. When playing in China, as I will be two weeks, it's extremely useful to know the Chinese names of the fan.

麻雀

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Question or comment about this column? Email and the discussion will be posted on the Mah-Jongg Q&A Bulletin Board.

Photos of the 2007 OEMC in Copenhagen.
Photos of the Fourth China Majiang Championship and Forum in Tianjin, 2006.
Photos of the Third China Majiang Championship and Forum in Beijing, 2005.
The official website of the Third China Majiang Championship and Forum in Beijing, 2005.
The official website of the Open European Mahjong Championship
Photos of the 2005 OEMC
Photos of the 2003 CMOC.
Photos of the 2002 WCMJ.

Want to play Chinese Official rules on your computer?

Offline (solo vs. computer opponents): Four Winds from Lagarto & Armadillo Graphics is available at http://www.4windsmj.com.
Online (play against human players around the world): Mahjongtime is at http://www.mahjongtime.com

Tom Sloper's book, The Red Dragon & The West Wind, can be ordered through Amazon.com.
FAQ 22 answers the most frequently asked questions about Chinese Official scoring.
Download the official English translation of the Majiang Competition Rules for free at http://www.chinamajiang.com/ssxx20.html.
World Champion Mai Hatsune and fellow Japanese champion player Takunori Kajimoto have written the definitive strategy guide to Mahjong Competition Rules. It's been translated into English and is available for free at http://museum.takeshobo.co.jp/kokusai/index.html.
For more help with your MCR strategy, see www.tilehog.net.
Another useful MCR strategy tool is at http://www.mahjong-o-matic.com.
If you can read Chinese, the full and complete official rules are at http://us.mjclub.com/RulesAndScore.

© 2007 Tom Sloper. All rights reserved.