How To Play Mahjong In Under 15 Minutes! (Basic Rules)

[@SirGriefALot]

This is the only Mahjong tutorial I've seen that tells you what the characters are and give you ways to remember them. 👍

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for your kind comment! 😊Looking forward to making more tutorials!

[@reteraya]

I like how you gave mnemonics to remember the characters!

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you! Let me know if it has helped with the remembering process! 😉

[@AVspectre]

This is such a great overview - thank you! My wife and I have been quizzing each other and we were happy with how much we’d retained! Your memory aids were very useful. :)

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for watching and glad to hear it has helped! Will work hard to make more mahjong videos to improve your game play! 😄

[@scottcarpenter9993]

After watching several Mahjong videos, I attest that this one is the best and easiest to understand. I am a new learner. Great job, Tainted Mantis.

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for your kind comments! 😊

[@_idylicrune_5035]

Thank you so much for this video! You made everything incredibly easy to follow and understand 👍

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you and happy to hear you found it helpful! 😊 Now go win some games! 🤣

[@allisonmerz9992]

This is so helpful and easy to engage with, thanks a ton!

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for your comment! Glad you found it helpful! 😄

[@CasualHunterFelix]

Congrats on reaching 100 subs! your work deserves more recognition! 😊

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you Felix! Now the real work starts! 🤣

[@CasualHunterFelix]

@@TaintedMantis your videos have always been high production value ones, so you have been doing real work since the beginning! 😊

[@TaintedMantis]

@@CasualHunterFelix Nope, now is the real work! You know, the higher you go, the higher the expectations? 🤣But really, now that video editing software has improved so much, I'm grateful for better accessibility to make things I couldn't before.

[@CasualHunterFelix]

@@TaintedMantis wow you are quite demanding on yourself. That's the path to greatness! And your current sub increase rate is reflecting that! Congrats again! 😊

[@nerrorr6033]

Mr girlfriends parents don’t speak English well but they taught me how to play mahjong a bit and were so kind and happy to see me learning it so now I’m determined to become a master at this game for them lmao💀💀

[@TaintedMantis]

That's awesome! There's also a saying among regular mahjong players that mahjong playing is a form of character building and bonding, so it pays off in the long run! 😉💪

[@tullioserafin4511]

a very good tutorial, thank you very much for sharing! The 70’s mahjong app is my favorite mahjong app👍👍👍

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for your kind words!🥰

[@sr3756]

Very good video. Thank you. Slow and simply explained.

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for your kind comment. 🥰

[@MyGodisWatching]

This is helping thank you so much!

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for comment! A follow up tutorial coming soon!

[@howardormsby8596]

Great intro easy to follow... well done!

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for your kind comment! Hope it helps your game play! 💯

[@pjkrispin]

On your first winning hand example you have 2 character pair, 6-7-8 char, bird 2-3 bamboo, you have a dot pair but then random 7 dot and 6 and 7 bamboo. How does the 7 dot and 6 and 7 bamboo make this a winner? Sorry, I am a novice.

[@KimbaLorber]

This is excellent! I wish I didn't get hung up on the oddest things, though. Like building the walls. I got a set of tiles for the Holidays, and I can't figure out how to build the walls. It's the silliest thing to get hung up on. lol

[@TaintedMantis]

Hello and thank you for your comment! 😊 For wall building, remember to just shuffle everything face down, then build 4 rows of 18 tiles, stacked 2 tiles high so that each wall will consist of 36 tiles total. Also, aim to focus on learning to build your hand first during game play so you can practice winning! 😉

[@ManBearGote]

Great tutorial. I know the app would calculate where the wall breaks, but it would be good to give a bit more explanation for this, for IRL players. Other than that, great video on the basics.

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for your comment! Yes, the primary purpose of this tutorial is to be able to sit down at the table immediately as usually there'll be more experienced players who will cover areas to speed up the game play such as where to split the wall. I do have intentions of releasing a new tutorial that will handle slightly more complex areas such as wind direction, flowers, and wall splits later, so stay tuned! 😉

[@ManBearGote]

@@TaintedMantis that would be awesome. I have been looking around YT, albeit, not that deeply to find some explanation into breaking the wall, wind direction and seating etc, but to no avail. Even direction of play would be appreciated. I have done reading on all the topics, but visually, I can't see it. So if you do that video, I am definitely viewing it. Your New subscriber.. 😊

[@TaintedMantis]

@@ManBearGote Thank you for your support! 😊🙏 It's a game with many factors to take in, but once you get into the groove, especially when you're starting to win games by your own skills, it's a great feeling of accomplishment. Especially if one of your opponents is an excellent player! 😉

[@bikeshmaharjan5699]

Very good

[@TaintedMantis]

🀄 How To Practice Mahjong For Beginners: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6fViauHqr9mjrs

[@odessa4159]

Can you win with having a set of 4 ….. like Kong I guess ? And how many Kongs can you have ? Because if you have set of 4 then you won’t get your double at the end

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for your question. Yes, it is possible to win with all kongs in the same hand (maximum 4 Kong meld sets plus a pair of "eyes"), though that will be very rare as it'll depend on how lucky you are to be able to achieve this hand. You will still require a pair of "eyes" to win, as when the player makes a Kong meld, they are required to draw another tile from the other end of the wall (the same end where you patch your flower tiles instead of the part where you do the regular draw). I hope that answers your question!

[@e.s.alexander512]

I've downloaded the Let's Mahhong app on my iphone but I can't work out how to exit the app when I no longer want to play, There appears to be no "exit" button I can press...or am I missing something?

[@cliffandpamdixon3675]

How are honour tiles used and scored?

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for your question!😃 Short answer: Honor tiles can be used in your hand but can only be formed into Pong melds (3 of a kind) or Kong (4 of a kind). Longer answer: On the other hand, it's a whole different beast to explain in the comment section, and scoring is slightly different as it depends on a few other factors, such as how many melds you have and what kind of hand you're building (e.g. do you have numerical runs etc), but I will try my best to answer them in a follow up video. 🀄

[@munnak3695]

You did not mention how to use the flower tiles I think. In the last few minutes when you show winning hand the flower tile is there by itself. Why? Is it part of the hand ?

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for your comment! The flower tiles are considered as bonus tiles and there are table rules where the players agree to leave them out altogether for various reasons (extra point calculations / playing with smaller bets are examples), hence the reason they were left out in this video as playing with flowers is an optional choice and not necessary needed to play the game. For table rules where they are used on the other hand, such as shown at the end of the video, you turn your flower tiles as open hand the moment you draw them, but you must always draw an extra tile from the other end of the wall as these are bonus tiles that are used by themselves. I have planned a separate video that will explain how they are used and some of the more complex scoring, so stay tuned! 👍

[@michaelmiller7743]

What if it's my turn next and the player before me discards a tile to which I call Kong. Is this my turn or is this not my turn and I then take my turn after calling Kong?

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for your question. If you are calling Kong, play as a Kong turn, no matter what position is as it'll take priority. When you are done, it'll be the next player's turn (to your right) and the normal turns continue. Let me know if this helps!

[@janciefyfe428]

Published in 2006. Book on mah jong

[@jonathaneverson3673]

So can you have a mix of 3 of a Kind and Runs? Like (1-2-3 of dots, 3x 4 of bamboo, 3x 5 of bamboo, 5-6-7 of dots and a pair of red dragons)? Or do they all have to be runs or all have to be three of a kind?

[@TaintedMantis]

It really depends on how many points you aim on scoring and the agreement on the minimum points scored (usually either 0 or 3 point minimum). If you're just starting out and are practicing making melds during play under 0 point minimum, mix is fine as the aim for 0 point (chicken hand) will be aiming on getting a win faster than that other players. If you're playing 3 point minimum rules however, and want to score higher as this is the aim, you'll want to stay with either 1 suit (example: dots only or dots + honors) or if you are mixing suits, everything 3 of a kind + pair as this will score 3 points. Let me know if this helps!

[@jonathaneverson3673]

@@TaintedMantis that does make sense. I'm still just trying to understand basic play, I'll worry on maximizing scores after I've gotten the basics down.

[@TaintedMantis]

@@jonathaneverson3673 yes, that's the way to practice. If you're using an app, just make sure you're playing on 0 point minimum rules so that you're allowed win with mixes.

[@rickrudge9349]

Thank you for the great video. About the movie scenes, I recognized the “Crazy Rich Asian” one, but what are the other movies? Thank you. 🀄️🀄️🀄️

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for watching! The movie clips featured either come from mainstream popular mahjong movies or were critical scenes where serious discussions were happening (as with "Crazy Rich Asians"): - "Mahjong Heroes": This one is a classic Hong Kong comedy about a young man who needs to learn the mahjong game in order to take over his uncle's business in the end. It's a great movie if you understand some of the cultural contexts. - "Fat Choi Spirit": Very good comedy about a mahjong gambler (played by popular actor Andy Lau) where he deals with several relationships that revolve around his compulsive playing. This one is a HK favourite movie that's centered around the game (because of all those Godly hands that make your eyes pop!). - "Lust , Caution": This one is an espionage mature movie featuring Tang Wei and Tony Leung as the leads. In this particular mahjong scene (set in Shanghai), despite the seemingly boring setting, a lot of information is actually being shown here, such as the status symbols between the women, and the way they played the mahjong game has hints of power play. - "King of Mahjong": A Singaporean take on a mahjong movie, this one is about relationships between friends, family, and a feud with an ambitious mahjong classmate. Definitely worth a watch for some of the cultural nuances that's experienced in mahjong among friends. - "Shin Janki": This one is actually a Japanese series that's based on the Japanese version of the game (Richii) set in the underground environment, which have similar core rules to HK style, but the game itself has a complex scoring system and other rules that I don't know about. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the list if you do decide to give some of these movies a watch!😊

[@rickrudge9349]

@@TaintedMantis Thank you so much. I'll look for those. 😜👍

[@vt4932]

Never played this before. Hope this video helps me to kick my gf’s ass. She is a good player.

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for your comment! Hope you'll be able to win against her soon! Let me know if you have any questions about the game! 😊

[@r2k88]

Sorry but how do you use the flower card?

[@TaintedMantis]

Thank you for your question! I have left out the flower tiles in this tutorial as they are not necessary for the game (can remove them), but here is how to use them if you choose to play with the flower tiles: Generally, every time somebody draws a flower tile, it goes straight to the open hand on the side (for everybody to see that you've drawn that tile). That player needs to immediately draw another tile from the other end of the wall (not from the clockwise end that everybody is drawing from). If the new tile is a flower, the player needs to also needs to place that tile as the open hand and draw again from the anti clockwise end until a non-flower tile is drawn and normal play is resumed. Basically, each player must have 13 normal tiles in their hand at all times (except when drawing) as the flowers are counted as bonuses that will depend on a few other conditions. Again, thank you for your question. Will be looking into making a tutorial for flower tiles later on!

[@platinumpengwinmusic5564]

Anyone else here because they played the Yakuza series? Lol

[@TaintedMantis]

The rules for point calculation are slightly different (still don't understand how the Japanese system works in that sense), but the meld building method is mostly the same! 😉

[@platinumpengwinmusic5564]

@@TaintedMantis Thanks! I really do want to learn, I have some friends that play(In real life, not just in the video games).😂

[@TaintedMantis]

@@platinumpengwinmusic5564 Awesome!👍 Having it as a social activity is actually one of the best ways to play as it forces you to really think about how you want to build your hands (with the least "tuition fees" aka money lost possible 😅💸). 👍