Mahjong is a game that was established in the mid-1800s in Southern China and has captivated people across the globe, spawning variations of the game in many countries. The original Mahjong is played by 4 players (North, West, South and East). However, as time has gone on demand for how to play two player Mahjong variants have increased.
Table of Contents
Traditional Mahjong
In order to play 2 player Mahjong you also need to understand the four player classical variant, here’s a short breakdown of the original game;
- A total of 144 tiles.
- Each player is dealt 13 tiles.
- The aim is to acquire 4 suits and a pair.
- Every turn a player discards one tile and picks up from either the discarded tiles in the middle or from the so-called ‘wall’ of tiles.
- The suits are as follows;
- Chow- Three consecutive tiles.
- Pong- A group of three matching tiles.
- Kong- A group of 4 matching tiles.
- A pair being two of the same pieces.
- The most common tiles are bamboo, characters and dots (all numbered 1-9).
- Honour tiles include Wind and Dragon (Four sets of four Wind and three sets of four Dragon tiles.)
- The winner traditionally shouts ‘Sik Wu!’ upon winning
Two Player Mahjong Variations
Now that we’ve recapped that original game, let’s begin dissecting 2-player variations from across the globe!
Riichi Mahjong
First off, let’s remain in the Far East with Japan’s Riichi Mahjong. This game, although usually played with 4 players, has a 2-player variation with a unique difference. This version of Mahjong is divided up into two stages, stages A and B.
Stage A – This initial stage limits two players to 18 turns each, again aiming to complete 4 suits and a pair. If, by the final turn neither player declares “Tenpai” or “Riichi” (declared if only one or two tiles are needed to complete a hand) then the match ends in a draw.
If, however, one of the players declares “tenpai’ or ‘Richii” by the 18th turn then the match proceeds to stage B.
Stage B – So “Tenpai’ or “Richii” has been declared. The player who has made this call becomes the ‘offensive’ player, with the other player becoming the ‘defensive’. To begin this round, the ‘defensive’ player shall pick two tiles from the discarded he believes will complete the ‘offensive’ player’s hand. If he is correct then the ‘defensive’ player wins. However, if incorrect, the ‘offensive’ player can draw 5 new tiles from the wall, if the winning tile is among the 5 then the ‘offensive’ player takes the victory. If not, then this stage repeats itself until the winning tile has been chosen. The game will only end in the draw if the ‘defensive’ keeps predicting the wrong tile and the ‘offensive’ player fails to find the winning tile from the remaining wall.
This 2-player variation offers something very different from respective global Mahjong games with its 2-stage format, but offers a perfect two-player variation for you to try!
‘British Rules’ Mahjong
Unlike the Japanese variation, this game is fairly similar to the traditional Chinese version. However, given this is a two-player variation, players choose between East and West before commencing the game. Also, in terms of suits, chow is omitted from this version so you cannot play 3 sequenced tiles. In order to win rules follow similar traditional Mahjong rules and a winning hand will consist of 4 doubles/ suits or reaches 500 points.
The point system is one of the greatest variations in this version of Mahjong, here’s a breakdown of the point system;
- Pair – 2 points.
- Pair of Honours – 3 points.
- Pong – 4 points.
- Kong – 5 points
- Pong of Honours – 6 points.
- Kong of Honurs – 10 points.
- For going ‘Mahjong’- 20 points
- If the winning tile was drawn from the wall – 2 points
This is the more basic scoring system and its best to view it in two parts as after accumulating your basic score, the next part is checking if each player can score doubles based on the following conditions;
- If a player has a pung or kong of their won wind (East or West depending on what you were assigned before the game).
- A Pung or Kong of the opposition’s wind (East or West for two-player).
- A Pung or Kong of Dragons.
If a player has any of the above in their hand, then they can double their score of that particular suit (Pung or Kong).
There are definitely more similarities between the British version and traditional Chinese playing style than the aforementioned Japanese “Riichi Mahjong.” This is due to the European Classical versions of the game being closely based to the Chinese traditional game. Therefore, variations of Mahjong across the European continent will have some degree of reflection of the Chinese version.
American Style Mahjong
This style, much like the variations before starts with a dealer and an opponent, with the dealer holding 14 tiles taken from the wall and 13 tiles for the opposition player. The East always discards the first tile until all the tiles are taken from the wall until a player announces ‘Mahjong!’
Although this seems very similar to its British counterpart, things differ when it comes to scoring as the American variation follows the scoring method from the NMJL (National Mahjong League), which publishes a rulebook annually, sometimes providing changes to the law. The essential rules from the NMJL are as follows;
- The minimum score of a winning hand is 25 points.
- If a player calls Mahjong, the player who discarded the tile that resulted in the winning hand player must pay twice the number of points.
For those familiar with 4-player American style Mahjong then you’d be familiar with The Charleston, consisting of a first and second phase whereby players pass three tiles to the player on their right/left. However, in American style two-player variation this whole phase of play is omitted given this is only really effective with more players. This is only really the main difference between the 4-player and 2-player American Mahjong as well as also the omission of Chow suits that is common across all two-player variations.
Conclusion
While Mahjong is a traditionally 4 player game you can also play with two players too. We have discussed three different ways to do this: Riichi Mahjong, British Rules Mahjong, and American style Mahjong. My favourite is British rules, but some might say I have a bias!
About the Author
This article was written by Dan Bayley, a close friend of the site. Having lived in China for 4 years he knows a thing or two about Mahjong and other Chinese board games. Dan is primarily intrested in teaching and helping people learn languages, like Mandarin Chinese. He has a Pinterest page to help people do just that. Check it out below:
