Malaysian 4-Player Mahjong: How to Start a Game
Malaysian 4-Player Mahjong. Six steps to the first discard.
Prefer paper? View the one-page guideGoal of the game
Be the first to build a complete hand: four sets of three tiles and one pair.
Four sets + one pair
Each highlighted group is a set of three. The final two matching tiles form your pair.
Six steps to the first discard. Replay any step, or share its link with your table.
Goal of the game
Be the first to build a complete hand: four sets of three tiles and one pair.
Four sets + one pair
Each highlighted group is a set of three. The final two matching tiles form your pair.
Build the wall
20 stacks × 2 tiles high × 4 sides = 160 tiles.
One stack, two tiles high
TOP and BOTTOM are separate physical tiles. Together they make one stack.
20 stacks on each side
Repeat the stack twenty times to build one wall. That is 40 tiles.
Four walls, 160 tiles
Build the other three sides. Each overhead tile marks one two-high stack.
Choose the dealer
Everyone rolls two dice. The highest total becomes East, the dealer.
Everyone rolls
Example rolls: 9, 6, 5 and 7. The highest total wins. Roll again if tied for highest.
Highest total becomes East
P3, seated on the right in this example, rolls 9 and becomes East. Any player can become East: the highest roll decides, not the seat or player number.
Assign the winds
Moving counter-clockwise from East: South, West, then North. These seats stay fixed throughout the guide.
Find & break the wall
Count players counter-clockwise from East, then count whole stacks to locate the break.
East rolls 7
Count counter-clockwise, starting with East as 1.
Count 1
East is 1. Count counter-clockwise from East.
Count 2
South is 2. Count counter-clockwise from East.
Count 3
West is 3. Count counter-clockwise from East.
Count 4
North is 4. Count counter-clockwise from East.
Count 5
East is 5. Count counter-clockwise from East.
Count 6
South is 6. Count counter-clockwise from East.
Count 7
West is 7. Count counter-clockwise from East.
West’s wall selected
7 lands on West. Use the wall in front of West.
West rolls again: 3
The selected player rolls two dice again. Add West’s 3 to East’s 7: 7 + 3 = 10. Count ten stacks to find the break.
Stack 1 of 10
Count from the selected player’s right-hand end. Count whole stacks, not individual tiles.
Break here
Separate the wall after the tenth stack. Take tiles from the live wall clockwise, starting just beyond the break.
Deal to 12
Each player takes two stacks, three times. That is four tiles per turn and twelve tiles each.
Start at the break
This is the selected wall. We will look more closely at its two physical layers.
The same wall, in detail
The selected live wall now appears as two rows. Vertically aligned TOP and BOTTOM tiles form one stack.
Two stacks = four tiles
Take top, bottom, then the next top and bottom. The four tiles move together to the player.
Deal 1 / 3 · East
East takes two stacks / four tiles. At the end of this round, everyone has 4.
Deal 1 / 3 · South
South takes two stacks / four tiles. At the end of this round, everyone has 4.
Deal 1 / 3 · West
West takes two stacks / four tiles. At the end of this round, everyone has 4.
Deal 1 / 3 · North
North takes two stacks / four tiles. At the end of this round, everyone has 4.
Deal 2 / 3 · East
East takes two stacks / four tiles. At the end of this round, everyone has 8.
Deal 2 / 3 · South
South takes two stacks / four tiles. At the end of this round, everyone has 8.
Deal 2 / 3 · West
West takes two stacks / four tiles. At the end of this round, everyone has 8.
Deal 2 / 3 · North
North takes two stacks / four tiles. At the end of this round, everyone has 8.
Deal 3 / 3 · East
East takes two stacks / four tiles. At the end of this round, everyone has 12.
Deal 3 / 3 · South
South takes two stacks / four tiles. At the end of this round, everyone has 12.
Deal 3 / 3 · West
West takes two stacks / four tiles. At the end of this round, everyone has 12.
Deal 3 / 3 · North
North takes two stacks / four tiles. At the end of this round, everyone has 12.
12 tiles each
Three rounds complete. Everyone has twelve tiles. Next comes the special final deal.
Complete the opening hand
East takes A and E. South takes B, West C, North D. F becomes the head of the wall.
The next three stacks
Read each stack vertically: A over B, C over D, E over F.
East takes A + E
East takes the top tile of the first and third stacks: 12 → 14.
South takes B
South takes the bottom tile of the first stack: 12 → 13.
West takes C
West takes the top tile of the second stack: 12 → 13.
North takes D
North takes the bottom tile of the second stack: 12 → 13.
F is the head of the wall
F stays in the bottom layer. Normal drawing starts here. East has 14 tiles; everyone else has 13.
Back to the table
The projection changes; the wall and hands stay the same. East is ready to discard.
East discards first
East discards one tile into the centre, going from 14 to 13.
Ready to play
Play proceeds counter-clockwise: East → South → West → North.