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STARTING A GAME


The Order of Play

To start play, the players each draw one of the 4 Winds. The player who draws the East Wind will take the East side of the table – in the below example:

  • Player A has drawn the South Wind
  • Player B has drawn the East Wind
  • Player C has drawn the North Wind
  • Player D has drawn the West Wind.

The order of play

MAKING THE WALL

All 144 pieces are mixed up and placed face down on the table. They are moved randomly, as in shuffling a deck of cards. Each player then selects 36 tiles each and arranges them two tiles high in a long line. These 4 lines are then joined to make a square called the "Wall".

If playing without Flowers and Seasons, the players select 24 tiles each.

BREAKING THE WALL

To determine where to "Break the Wall" or where to start drawing tiles from, the player who is in the East Wind position throws two dice and adds the total together. So if he throws 4 and 3 he totals this to seven and counts seven counterclockwise around the Wall sides, counting his own part of the wall as 1, South's as 2, West's as 3 etc. So 7 takes him to West's part of the Wall.

Then that player (in this case West) also throws the dice, and adds the numbers together. Starting at the right hand end of his part of the Wall, he counts the thrown total along, and when he comes to the last 2 tiles, he breaks the wall with a gap at this point by pushing the left hand tiles slightly further to the left to make a gap. This is now the breaking point, where tiles will be drawn from.

THE DEAD WALL

Counting from the breaking point of the Wall, to the right is the Dead Wall (also known as the Kong Box) and to the left is the Live Wall.

The Dead Wall tiles are reserved to be used as replacements to be drawn if a player draws a Flower or Season tile, if these are used, or if a player makes a Kong (which requires him to draw a replacement tile).

First tile of WallBreaking
Point
Last tile of wall
7654321

The Dead Wall is always 14 tiles, so although replacement tiles are taken from the left end of the Dead Wall, it always remains counted off as 14 tiles.

DEALING THE TILES

East always goes first. They take the first four tiles from the live wall, then South does the same, followed by West and North. Tiles are taken like this until everyone has 12 tiles.

Then East takes a final 2 tiles, and everyone else takes 1.

  • East takes 4 tiles
  • South takes 4 tiles
  • West takes 4 tiles
  • North takes 4 tiles
  • East takes 4 tiles
  • South takes 4 tiles
  • West takes 4 tiles
  • North takes 4 tiles
  • East takes 4 tiles
  • South takes 4 tiles
  • West takes 4 tiles
  • North takes 4 tiles
  • East takes 2 tiles
  • South takes 1
  • West takes 1
  • North takes 1

There are 2 variants of this – both regarding how East selects his final 2 tiles.

1. East takes a stack of two tiles together then everyone else takes 1.

NSENNWWSSEENNWWSSEENNWWSSEE
 WENNWWSSEENNWWSSEENNWWSSEE
Direction of taking tiles is Left   DIRECTION OF TAKING TILES   Direction of taking tiles is Left

2. East takes the top tile and the next but one top tile together, then everyone else takes 1. This is called chan-chan representing the sound made when East clicks the last two tiles onto one another to pick them up!

EWENNWWSSEENNWWSSEENNWWSSEE
 NSNNWWSSEENNWWSSEENNWWSSEE
Direction of taking tiles is Left   DIRECTION OF TAKING TILES   Direction of taking tiles is Left

This leaves East (the dealer) with 14 tiles, and the other players with 13 each.

REPLACEMENTS

If any Flower or Season tiles have been drawn, the players in turn (starting with East) place them face up to the side of the board and drawn replacements from the Dead Wall. If a Flower or Season tile is drawn from the Dead Wall it is immediately declared and replaced. Also, if any player has a concealed Kong in his hand, he can declare it and draw a replacement tile.

DRAWING TILES

Now each player will take new tiles from the Wall, starting where the original deal ended.

  • East (Dealer) has an extra tile in his hand, and so starts by discarding a tile of his choice face up in the centre of the table – in the middle of the square surrounded by the Wall.
  • Then, unless the tile is claimed, each player in turn will draw a tile and then make a discard, moving round the table East -> South -> West -> North.
  • When a tile is claimed, the player claiming the tile then discards and play continues from there – thus breaking the sequence of play.