| Guangdong MCR | Overview | Gameplay | Scoring |
|---|
| Guangdong Mahjong Competition Rules (GMCR) | |
|---|---|
| Game Length | 8 to 16 Hands |
| Tiles | 136 |
| Hand | 13 |
| Dead Wall | 14 |
| Replenishing Dead Wall | No |
| Discards | Pool for Regular, Rows of 6 for Defensive |
| Scoring Type | Additive |
| Scoring System | Special |
| Self-Draw Split | x2 x2 x2 |
| Discard Split | x4 x1 x1 |
| Dealer Bonus | No |
| Dealer Curse | No |
| Minimum | Varies, but >3 |
| Maximum | 24 for Counted, 36 for some Patterns |
| Multiple Winners on Discard | Yes |
| Continuous Dealer Wins | No |
| Payout | Winner only |
| Concealed Kongs | Displayed |
Guangdong Mahjong Competition Rules (GMCR) was created to promote competitive Guangdong Style Mahjong. Its three goals are to be…
- True to the game, yet simple: Only rules and winning conditions from a majority of historic Guangdong Style rulesets are used.
- Easy to learn: Can be taught as a 3-step process using "Clear Chapter" HKOS and "New Chapter HKOS.
- Competitive: Pure-luck incidental wins like Blessing of Heaven and Self-Drawn Win are removed.
The GMCR Official Rulebook: PDF
History
GMCR evolved from Guangdong Style, which evolved from HKOS, which was adopted as a backlash to HKNS, which evolved from Chinese Classical.
- 1970s: HKNS Mahjong had become so complicated that only gamblers were willing to play it. The scoring was convoluted, the rulesets varied wildly, and many groups played with as many as 100 patterns. Many people wanted "the Mahjong of their grandfathers". A new variant with simplified scoring and a small number of winning conditions was born: Qing Zhang, "Clear Chapter", or as it's best known in English, Hong Kong Old Style (HKOS).
- 1980s: Although the simplified scoring system proved popular, competitive players still wanted more “New Style” winning conditions. This marked the start of "New Chapter" Mahjong. First New6 (六獨) was added, followed by New18 (十八番), and then later "Nothing is to strange" 無奇不有. Eventually, the Fan-based scoring system was discarded in favor of a simple additive system. Guangdong Style and Taiwanese Mahjong were born.
- 1990s: History repeats itself. Like HKNS, there were many wildly differing rulesets, and in some of those rulesets groups played with 80+ patterns (many of them esoteric). When there was a call to have Mahjong be a nationally recognized mindsport, the China State Sports Commission opted to eschew organic competitive Mahjong and create the hygienic "Chinese Official Mahjong Competition Rules". MCR shares many similarities with Guangdong Style, though it's no less complicated.
- 2000s: Alan Kwan's newly released variant Zung Jung shares many similarities with Guangdong Style. International MCR and Zung Jung tournaments are held. Meanwhile, Guangdong Style appears to be the top 13-card competitive variant in Taiwan.
- 2010s: Mobile Mahjong apps take off, and Japanese Riichi Mahjong explodes in popularity. International MCR/Zung Jung tournaments cease.
- 2020s: Guangdong MCR is created.
Terminology
Concealed: Self-drawn tiles within the player's hand.
Exposed: Clusters made in part from an opponent's discard.
Cluster: A group of 3 or more tiles. Chows, Pungs, and Kongs.
Pair: 2 identical tiles.
Chow: A run of 3 tiles. Players say "Chow!" to make a Chow.
Pung: A set of 3 identical tiles. Players say "Pung!" to make a Pung.
Kong: A declared set of 4 identical tiles. Players say "Kong!" to make a Kong. There are three types of Kong…
- Self-Drawn: All 4 tiles were self-drawn. Some call this "Concealed".
- Called: The first 3 tiles were self-drawn, the 4th was called from a discard.
- Added: The first 3 tiles are an exposed Pung, the 4th was self-drawn.
Mahjong: A valid winning hand. Players say "Mahjong!" or "Hu!" to declare that they have won.
Types: There are 5: Circles, Bamboo, Characters, Dragons, Winds.
Values: There are 11: 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, Dragons, and Winds.
Equipment
Tiles: A basic set of 136 tiles. No Flowers in tournament games.
Dice: 2 Dice.
Round Wind Indicator: The first East player of the game holds onto this.
Players & Seating
A Round of Mahjong is made up of 4 Hands. There are ideally 4 Rounds in a Game.
Seat Winds: Each Seat at the table has a Wind associated with it…
- The Dealer is always East. East displays the dice to their right.
- At the end of a Hand the Seat Winds rotate counter-clockwise. The dice are passed to the new East player.
At the beginning of a Game there are several ways to assign players to Seat Winds. Two examples…
- Everyone rolls a dice. Highest value is East, next is South, next is West, and lowest is North.
- 1 of each Wind tile are set aside face down and mixed around. Each player picks a tile.
Round Winds: Each Round also had a Wind associated with it. The Round Wind is shown on the Round Wind Indicator. After each player has been dealer once the Round Wind rotates. The Round Wind order goes East, South, West, North, and then back to East.
Each player starts with the same number of points. 100 is suggested.
Building the Wall & Dealing
Each player builds a wall 17 tiles long and 2 tiles high.
- East rolls the dice, counts stacks in their wall from right to left, and makes a break in the wall. To the left of the break is the beginning of the Live Wall; to the right is the end of the Dead Wall.
- Starting with East, players draw 13 tiles starting from the beginning of the Live Wall. Players take turns grabbing 4 at a time (2 stacks) until they have 12. Then each player takes 1 more tile. Tiles are removed from the wall clockwise, but the players take turns counterclockwise.
- The last 14 tiles (7 stacks) form the Dead Wall or the Kong Box.
Next: Guangdong MCR Gameplay
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