A Quick Look at Mahjong around the World: Chinese Classical

Though a lot of the history of mahjong may be forever lost to time, there are some few things we know or can reasonably theorize about early mahjong. In other words, Chinese Classical mahjong isn't just any old mahjong variant: It might possibly be the first, original form of mahjong (There is apparently a heavy debate on this subject! Some mahjong scholars, which is allegedly a real thing, contest that our beloved Hong Kong Old Style might be the original form of mahjong, or that the game has evolved so much from other games that it's impossible to pin down a 'first' form of mahjong).

Fortunately, since this version of mahjong is so old (books were written under these rules in America as early as the 1920's, and Chinese Classical mahjong may have been the game played in mainland China and Hong Kong since the 1800's), it's rules are fairly simple overall.

The basic rules of gameplay are identical to Hong Kong Old Style's rules, with some notable exceptions:

• A dead wall of 14 tiles was used.
• A player may declare a concealed gong before his first turn if there is one in his hand, at the same time he replaces any bonus tiles.
• Also, like in Japanese Riichi mahjong, if you make a concealed gong, you must reveal either its outer two or inner two tiles, so everyone can see what your gong is composed of (As far as I can find, though I have read some conflicting information on this).
• Bonus tiles may or may not have been used, the information on these are also inconsistent, so I imagine their inclusion was originally an optional rule.
• Some versions Chinese Classical mahjong did not seem to have a 'round wind', though I am not sure whether using it or not was more common. In those rules, any points or yaku related to the round wind would be ignored.
• You could not win off of a player's discard to complete a pair or chow: Only to complete a pung.
• A hand made up of seven pairs was not a winning hand: A winning hand had to always be four melds and a pair.
• The existence of 'limit hands' seemed to be a common (but not obligatory) rule used in this style. When they were used, 500 points seemed to be a common limit.

But the main difference between this system and the HKOS one is that, unless your hand is dead (such as by having too many or too few tiles), everyone scores points when anyone declares a win! That means that, even if someone else wins with a faster, cheaper hand than you, you might still end up gaining more points than him!

First, when someone declares a win (and only after confirming that the player does indeed have a valid winning hand), everyone reveals their hands and calculates their own scores as follows.

• 4 points for each bonus tile (If used)
• 2 points for each open pung of simple tiles
• 4 points for each concealed pung of simple tiles
• 4 points for each open pung of orphan tiles
• 8 points for each concealed pung of orphan tiles
• 8 points for each open gong of simple tiles
• 16 points for each concealed gong of simple tiles
• 16 points for each open gong of orphan tiles
• 32 points for each concealed gong of orphan tiles
• Non-declared gongs can only be counted as pungs. For example, if someone else wins while you have all of the green dragons in your hand, that only counts as a concealed pung of orphan tiles.

 Then, only the winner adds any of the following points to the value of her hand if she qualifies for them.

• 20 points immediately for winning
• 2 points for a self-picked win
• 2 points if your hand's pair is of dragons, your seat wind, or the round wind
• 4 points if your hand's pair is both your seat wind and the round wind
• 2 points if there was only one possible type of tile you could win with
• 10 points if you won off of a gong's replacement tile
• 10 points if your hand was made of four pungs and a pair.
• 10 points if your hand is made of four chows and a worthless pair, and you have no bonus tiles

 Then, all players double their hand's value for each of the following yaku they earn.

• Pung/gong of your seat wind
• Pung/gong of the round wind
• Pung/gong of any dragon (Double for each dragon pung/gong that you have)
• Having your own bonus tile (Double for each copy of your bonus tile that you have)
• Having all of the flowers or all of the seasons (Double it three times instead, i.e. multiply it by 8)
• Half Flush
• Full Flush (Double it three times instead, i.e. multiply it by 8)
• All Honors (Double it three times instead, i.e. multiply it by 8)
• Gift of Heaven/Gift of Earth (Double it three times instead, i.e. multiply it by 8)

Once the winner has found the final score for her hand, all other players pay her that amount (It doesn't matter if she self-picks her win or wins off of a discard). Then, each loser gets paid the value of his hand by the other two losers (but not the winner). Additionally, any points the dealer scores is doubled, but so are the points he pays to any other player. There is never a dealer keep: The winds always shift after a hand.

LIMIT HANDS

• Self-Pick Four Concealed Pungs
• All Honors
• All Terminals
• Perfect Green
• Big Three Dragons
• Big Four Winds
• Nine Gates (Only eligible by winning on a nine-way wait, but is always allowed to be won off of a discarded tile)
• Thirteen Orphans
• Four Gongs
• Gift of Heaven
• Winning off of the dealer's first discard
• Self-pick win with the last tile in the wall, if that tile is 1-dots
• Win Off a Replacement Tile from a gong, if that tile is 5-dots
• Rob a Gong, if that tile is 2-bamboo (The existence of 'robbing a gong' confuses me in a game where you can only win off of a discard to complete a pung. I imagine that winning off of a discard to complete any meld or the pair was later added to the Chinese Classical rules)
• Gong-On-Gong