Japanese Classical Gameplay

Japanese Classical	Overview	Gameplay	Scoring

Japanese Classical follows basic Mahjong gameplay. However, discarded tiles are lined up in rows of 6 in front of the player who discarded it.

Drawing, Discarding, and Calling

East is always the first play to draw. After a player draws a tile…

1. If the tile completes a valid winning hand they say “Tsumo!” and show it to everyone.
2. If they do not have a valid winning hand, they discard a tile face up.
3. If none of the other players Call the discard, it is the player to their right’s turn.

This process repeats until someone gets a winning hand or until there are no more tiles in the Live Wall.

Players can Call an opponent’s discard to complete a meld or their hand, but there are restrictions…

• A discard can only be Called immediately after it was discarded. Previous discards cannot be Called later.
• To complete a Meld, a player must have 2 out of the 3 tiles that would make up the Meld in their hand.

There are 6 different Calls. They each have different rules…

• Players say "Tsumo" if a newly self-drawn tile completes a valid winning hand.
• Players say "Ron" if a newly discarded tile completes a valid winning hand.
• Players say "Kan" to complete a Kan. They can take this discard from any opponent.
• Players say "Pon" to complete a Pon. They can take this discard from any opponent.
• Players say "Chi" to complete a Chi. They may only take this discard from the opponent to their right.

Calls for "Ron" are prioritized over those for "Kan" & "Pon" which are prioritized over those for "Chi".

After calling "Pon" or "Chi"…

1. The player places the Called tile and the self-drawn tiles face up to their right.
2. The Called tile is rotated 90 degrees and placed within the Exposed meld depending on who discarded it…
   1. Player to Left: Placed on the Left
   2. Player Across: Placed in the Middle
   3. Player to Right: Placed on the Right
3. The player then discards a tile. If no one Calls it, it is the player to their right’s turn.

Called Melds are Exposed. The tiles can no longer be rearranged into other patterns.

Kans are made up of a Pon and an additional identical tile. At least one of those aspects must be self-drawn. Like called Pons and Chis, Kans are displayed to the player’s right. There are 3 types of Kans…

• Concealed Kan = Self-Drawn Pon + Self-Drawn Tile. This is considered a Concealed Meld.
• Called Kan = Self-Drawn Pon + Called Tile. This is considered an Exposed Meld.
• Added Kan = Called Pon + Self-Drawn Tile. This is considered an Exposed Meld.

After a Kan is declared or Called, the player draws a replacement tile from the end of the Dead Wall.
The top tile of the next stack in the Dead Wall is flipped face-up. This is a Kan Dora.
A tile from the end of the Live Wall is added to the end of the Dead Wall. The Dead Wall always has 14 tiles within it.
The player then discards a tile.

After a player says "Tsumo" or "Ron" and it's confirmed they have a valid winning hand, their Fu and Han are totaled, converted into points, and they receive a payout.

Furiten

Furiten refers to a situation where a player has either just discarded their own winning tile, or skipped winning on a just discarded tile. In the case of Furiten, the player is not allowed to win on a tile identical to the one previosly discarded. Furiten ends once the player has drawn a new tile.

(Note: The definition of Furiten has changed throughout Japanese Classical's developement, as well as Riichi mahjong.)

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