Mahjong 101: The Hands
The Mahjong Card is organized in categories but each year the specific hands are changed. They main categories of hands are:
YEAR – Year hands or other special hands are usually the current year.
These hands utilize tiles which make up the year: i.e., 1’s and 9’s.
for 1999, 2’s and 0’s for 2000. The white dragon represents a zero, as there is no tile with an actual zero.You cannot use a joker for any tile in a year; i.e., 2009. They are considered singles and pairs.
2468 – Self-explanatory. Hands concentrate on even numbers.
MULTIPLICATION – These hands perform a type of multiplication, such as FFFF 5555 x 5555 = 25 . You would need four flowers, four fives of one suit, four fives of a second suit, and a 2 and a 5 of a third suit. The colors only mean that it is a suit. Green doesn’t mean it has to be a bam, for instance. Three colors = three suits. Two colors = two suits. One color = one suit.
QUINTS – Quints (five of a kind) require the use of jokers, since there are only four of each number tile. However, a quint of five flowers is possible.
CONSECUTIVE RUNS – These hands require groups of number tiles in consecutive order, sometimes interspersed with flowers or dragons.
13579 – Again self-explanatory. Hands focus on odd numbers.
WINDS/DRAGONS – Hands made up primarily of wind and dragon tiles, sometimes interspersed with numbers or flowers. Winds and dragons may also be referred to as “honor” tiles.
369 – Guess which tiles you need for these hands!
SINGLES & PAIRS – Singles and pairs are the most difficult hands to attain, since you are not allowed to use jokers. The singles and pairs hands contain a representative sample of all the hands above; i.e., one wind hand, a consecutive run hand, a 2468 hand, etc.
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