Last Updated on November 24, 2023
There is no better place to play mahjong solitaire, but you may also be here with questions about what is sometimes called classic Mahjong. Classic Mahjong is a very different game, though it uses the same set and pieces as Mahjong solitaire with some variations. Today, we’re going to look at a guide to which hand is the best to play in Mahjong, and possible methods of approaching that question. It’s certainly not as simple as it might sound and there may be more than a few answers.
Let’s dive into it.
Tile types
Firstly, let’s look at the types of tiles in Mahjong which are the same as the tiles found in Mahjong solitaire:
- Suited
The most numerous type of tile in a typical Mahjong or Mahjong solitaire set are the suited tiles. The suited tiles comprise the dots, bamboo, and character tiles, of which there are 36 each—three sets of nine for each suit for a total of 108 tiles.
- Honors
The honors tiles are made up of the winds and dragons tiles. These work slightly differently and there are four winds and three dragon tiles, with again four sets of each for a total of 28 tiles. The wind tiles are the north, south, east and west, and the dragon tiles are red, white, and green.
- Bonus tiles
Finally, you have the bonus tiles, the flowers and the seasons. There are only four of each of these for a total of eight, and they don’t work the same way as the rest of your hand. Typically, the flowers used are plum blossom, chrysanthemum, orchids, and bamboo, while the seasons are of course spring, summer, fall, and winter.
Hands in Mahjong: a guide
Now let’s look at a broad guide to the hands you can play in Mahjong, how they work and how they might be scored. There are three primary categories into which Mahjong, and crucially “hands” work nothing like they do in Mahjong solitaire:
- Pongs
A pong is a set of three identical tiles. This is a very common hand to play and in that sense can be seen as one of the best consistent hands to play. For instance, if you had a set of three of the one of dots this would form a pong and can be used in a legal winning hand. You can make a pong out of both the suited and the honors tiles, and they can be formed from a drawn tile or from someone else’s discard. Bonus tiles cannot form pongs.
- Kongs
Next we have the kong, another hand to play in Mahjong though not Mahjong solitaire. Kongs are similar to pongs except that they are formed of a complete set of four identical tiles, rather than three. These are great hands to play in Mahjong and among the best. You can form them from a concealed pong, from a discard, or you can add it to a previously exposed pong.
- Chows
Finally, we have the chow. Chows are not identical sets as the other two are, but rather numerical sequences. Again, there is no such precedent for this in Mahjong solitaire. You could form a chow with the one, two, and three of bamboo, for example. Chows can sometimes be harder to form but they are great hands to play.
These three types of hand form what are generally known as “melds”. But there are other, special hands besides the common melds.
Special hands
Like in Mahjong solitaire, there are some tiles in Mahjong that don’t form part of the regular pairs and can be used to form special hands. There are also certain kinds of hands that are particularly high scoring and good to play. Let’s look at a couple.
- Pairs
To form any winning hand, you will have to have a pair in your hand as well as the other melds that form it. Pairs, as the name suggests, are any two identical tiles, formed out of either suited or honors tiles. They are sometimes also called eyes and you cannot form a legal winning hand without a pair.
- Bonus tiles
The bonus tiles do not form part of your regular 13-tile hand, but they can boost your score if you achieve a winning hand while you have any. They are placed to one side, separately, in Mahjong as they are in Mahjong solitaire. A hand supported by some bonus tiles drawn is a great hand to play in Mahjong.
- All triplets
Different rules apply to different forms of Mahjong as they do to different forms of Mahjong solitaire. One very common and great hand to play in some forms of Mahjong rules is the all triplets hand. As the name suggests, this hand is formed out of a set of four triplets, or pongs, of the same tile.
Common mistakes
When it comes to Mahjong hands and Mahjong solitaire, there are many common mistakes players make:
- No strategy
You must always have a strategy when you play Mahjong. Even if that strategy doesn’t pan out, it’s better to have it as a starting point.
- Not reading other players
Playing the best hands is also going to depend on how well you can read other players. Unlike Mahjong solitaire, you must be aware of your opponents in the game and try to predict their discards.
Conclusion
There is, then, unfortunately no simple answer to what the best hand to play in Mahjong is as in Mahjong solitaire. There are countless combinations of tiles with so many in the set, so you should instead focus on what’s the best hand out of the three kinds of melds, and the special tiles, available to you in a given game. Armed with our tips and strategies, though, you will quickly find your Mahjong skills improving as you play more and more games of Mahjong and Mahjong solitaire.
