Where to start (the 15-minute route)
Short on time? Read three things: the tile guide to recognise the tiles, how to play for the turn order, and the 3-faan minimum to know when you can win. Look up the rest as you play; the printable cheat sheet covers it at the table.
Step 1: the 144 tiles
Hong Kong mahjong uses 144 tiles: 36 each of dots, bamboo and characters, 16 winds (east, south, west, north), 12 dragons (red, green, white), plus 4 flowers and 4 seasons. Learn to tell the three suits from the honours first; the rest comes with play. Every tile is pictured and named in the tile guide.
Step 2: four sets and a pair
A winning hand is four sets and a pair. A set is a chow (three in a row in one suit, like 3-4-5 characters) or a pong (three the same); the pair is two the same. You hold 13 tiles, and when the 14th completes the shape, you can win. How to play walks through it with pictures.
Step 3: chow, pong and kong
You can take other players' discards: chow uses the discard from the player before you to finish a run, pong takes any player's discard when you hold a pair of it, and kong makes four of a kind. Claimed sets are shown face up and end a concealed hand. When two players want the same tile, a win comes first, then pong and kong, then chow; see the rules.
Step 4: winning and the 3-faan minimum
Four sets and a pair aren't quite enough: in the standard rules a hand needs at least 3 faan to win. Self-draw, a concealed hand and no bonus tiles are 1 faan each; all pongs and a half flush are 3 each. Why a complete hand sometimes can't win, and when a chicken hand can, is in the 3-faan minimum.
Step 5: scoring and payouts
After a win you count faan: every hand's value is in the faan table, or let the faan calculator count it. Faan then become points: on a self-draw all three others pay, and on a discard the discarder pays; the amounts are in the payout table. Unfamiliar words, like 出銃 or half-spicy, are in the glossary, and quick answers like how many faan thirteen orphans is are in questions and answers.
Step 6: play, and practise with Sifu
Then sit down and play. Mahjong House is free in your browser with nothing to download: a Learn to Play hand walks you through your first game, Solo Practice has twelve computer opponents, and you can play real people online. The daily puzzle gives you one hand a day, then shows what Sifu, the game's coach, would discard and why.
