Three player & North Tiles

[Ugusensei]

When I play mahjong with friends I could never find that 4th player so I ended up playing 3 player mahjong when I was still living in Japan. I came across a couple ways the north tiles ended up getting treated.

I first found a rule where when the north tiles were treated as bonus tiles and separated out from the hand and then a tile was taken from the dead wall. When all 4 tiles were brought out by players another dora tile was flipped over.

Tenhou doesn\'t seem to use that rule where an extra dora is flipped over. I found a mix of people in Japan I used to play with that used it and didn\'t use it. I suppose I found a house rule of sorts? Anyone hear of this?

[hirohurl]

I first found a rule where when the north tiles were treated as bonus tiles and separated out from the hand and then a tile was taken from the dead wall. When all 4 tiles were brought out by players another dora tile was flipped over.

That is exactly what we do in our three-player game here in Hiroshima.

Did you play "three-handed four-player mahjong" or did you play "three-player mahjong" (with 2-8 of Characters removed from play)? Either way, the North is used as a bonus Dora, unless you wish to use it in a hand such as Kokushimuso.

David

[gartheee]

3 person mahjong is quite a bit more popular in Osaka and the west than in Tokyo so I\'m not as familiar with it as 4 person. The version on Fight Club is quite different from what people usually play, from what I hear. I hadn\'t heard about the extra dora rule though I had heard that if one player manages to draw all 4 of them himself he gets a bonus like 2 more dora I think. Also \"real\" 3 person mahjong uses a scoring method more similar to Chinese Mahjong from what I understand. But then I\'m hardly an authority on this subject so maybe better to keep asking.

Also, besides Kokushi, the Norths could also be used in All Honors (Tsu-ii-sou), and 4 Winds (dai- and sho-suu-shi). Otherwise they\'re supposed to be separated out to the side immediately.

[Ugusensei]

That is exactly what we do in our three-player game here in Hiroshima.

Did you play "three-handed four-player mahjong" or did you play "three-player mahjong" (with 2-8 of Characters removed from play)? Either way, the North is used as a bonus Dora, unless you wish to use it in a hand such as Kokushimuso.

David

It was 3 player mahjong where the 2-8 characters removed. Though I\'m wondering about when all the 4 north tiles are used as bonus dora, and extra dora tile in the dead wall gets flipped?

Come to think of it, I think your site was where I learned how to first play 3-player. Do you remember getting an email years ago from someone in Suzuka in Mie?

[hirohurl]

Oh that\'s cool!

Always good to hear people are trying out the 3-player game after reading my site! To be honest, I am struggling to remember our communication as I get quite a few messages...!

In the Three Player game, you turn over the 5th tile in from the back of the wall, and turn the next tile over when the 4th North shows. Just to clarify, when you set aside a bonus tile you need to replace it with one from the back of the wall, so you need four extra tiles at the back, hence you turn the 5th tile in and not the 3rd tile in!

In our game in Hiroshima, we don\'t give extra bonus points for getting all 4 North tiles.

We use a simplified scoring method which enables you to count on your fingers. You just count yaku values, bonuses, plus \"den den\". I use it as a quick score-checker when I play the standard 4-player game and it often comes to the same result as with the more complicated standard scoring method.

This page shows the method and the score chart:

http://japanese-mahjong.com/3pmjpage11.html

David H

[Ugusensei]

Heh, yeah it was years ago though :)

Basically when all norths are out you flip over another dora similar to someone making a hidden or open kan then.