askchapo

The way I'd explain it simply is:

Basic mahjong is building a simple hand with four sets, and a pair.

A set is three tiles in the same suit, either in sequence or as a triplet:

• a sequence is three consecutive tiles, and looks like 123, 234, 345 etc
• a triplet is three of the same tile in the same suit, and looks like 111, 222, 333 etc

Your pair can be any two of the same tile of the same suit.

There are three suits, with tiles numbered from 1 to 9. There are four of each tile in the game.

Your starting hand* will be 13 tiles. You will draw a tile on your turn, see if your hand meets the criteria of four complete sets and a pair (14 tiles total). If it does, you win**. If it doesn't, throw away a tile and wait til your next turn.

This is very simplified but it's the foundation of most hands.

Next step mahjong is introducing how to 'call' tiles (and declaring a win from another player's thrown tile)

If a player discards a tile that you need to complete a sequence (e.g. 123) or a triplet (e.g. 111) you can make a verbal call and take that tile.

You can only complete a sequence with a tile thrown by the player to your left. You can complete a triplet with a tile thrown by any other player.

If your hand is ready, and is waiting on any tiles to finish a complete hand (e.g. you have four sets, and a single tile, which is waiting on another copy of itself to become your pair) then you can declare your win when any player throws away that tile.

You can only take these tiles when the player throws them, if another player makes another discard before you make your call, bad luck that's too late.

These rules are common across all the variants of mahjong I've played. Learn the basics and the rest can come later.

There are special tiles (flowers, dragons, jokers, winds), and special patterns (flush, half flush, straight, all simples, all terminals etc.) but learning these can come after you've learnt how to form a basic winning hand.

*dealer's starting hand is 14 because they will have already drawn their first tile
** you don't have to declare a win if your hand is complete