Stage 3 - Introducing Flowers, Seasons, Kongs and the Kong Box

We now start with the full complement of 144 tiles.  At this point we can learn how to build the walls correctly and how to determine where a break should be made before the dealing begins.

The Flower and Season tiles are known as bonus tiles and give the game its largest element of luck. They can make a significant difference to the score.  A kong is a set of 4 identical tiles and scores four times the pung equivalent.  

The acquisition of a kong or a bonus tile depletes the number of tiles available to form further sets. This is rectified by taking a tile from the kong box created at the end of the live wall.

The aim of the game

The winner is the player with the most points after one or more sessions.

Preparing to play

Add  the 4 Season tiles and the 4 Flower tiles.

Playing the game

Kongs and bonus tiles introduce some complications to the play, but bring us much closer to the full form of the game.  For an explanation of these rules click on the appropriate buttons.

Scoring

Calculating the basic score now needs to take account of kongs and bonus tiles.  They are scored as follows:

Kongs

                          Exposed        Concealed

Minor tiles        8  points          16  points

Major tiles      16  points         32  points

Exposed minor kong   8

Exposed major kong   16

Concealed minor kong   16

Concealed major kong   32

Flowers and Seasons

4  points for each flower or season.

There are also some additional doubles.

Learning the Game by Stages

Stage 1

       Some Basic Rules

Stage 2

       The Winds

        Some Scoring

Stage 3

       Flowers

       Seasons

       Kongs

      The Kong Box

Stage 4

       Additional Doubles

Stage 5

       Special Hands

Stage 6

       Using Tallies

Stage 7

       Playing the Goulash

Shuffle the tiles and build the walls.

Break into one wall and create the kong box.

Select out any Flower or Season tiles.

Deal out the tiles.

Finishing the game.

Flower and Season tiles.   Concealed sets.  

Converting a pung to a kong.   One for Mah-Jong.  Robbing the kong

Obtaining a new tile.   Claiming the discarded tile.

Collecting sets.

Having your own Flower     

(1 = East Wind,   2 = South Wind,  3 = West Wind,  4 = North Wind)

Having your own Season  

(1 = East Wind,   2 = South Wind,  3 = West Wind,  4 = North Wind)

Holding a complete set of Flowers   

(double twice - includes own Flower double)

Holding a complete set of Seasons   

(double twice - includes own Season double)

Original call – when a player is fishing after his first discard  (and does not alter his hand)