Solo Mahjong

This is the single-player version of the classic Chinese game, played according to Japanese rules (Tenwa). You start out with a ready hand (one tile away from a win) and must find the right tile in the wall to complete it.

The wall is a set of 24 face-down tiles. Click on a tile to pick it. You have three chances per round to find the right tile. The number of picks left is displayed under the wall.

Below the wall is your hand. The space to the right of it holds the last picked tile, and the space just above it holds the discarded tiles. If you picked a tile from the wall and it hasn't completed your hand, "No hand" will blink and the tile will be discarded automatically. You can also click on the tile to discard it yourself. After that, you can pick another tile. If you've picked three tiles and none of them have completed your hand, the round is over.

Please note: In standard Mahjong, discarded tiles can be used to complete a hand. In Solo Mahjong, this is not the case. Discarded tiles do not participate in the game in any way. (See Solo Mahjong Rules for more.)

If the picked tile completed your hand, the win screen will open. There you can see all the sets in your hand, and how many points each set is worth. Game points are converted into the score, which determines how much money you've won. The score is calculated from the game point total using a traditional, complex algorithm. In the win screen, you can click on Continue to review the end state of the round, or you can click on the New Game button to immediately start the next round.

To the right of the wall is the Hand Information area that displays the random actions or bonuses associated with the current game round. The hand information parameters are representing a scenario that would happen at the end of a true Mahjong game. The final score of the winning hand is based also on the hand information parameters:

• Action is a Mahjong hand that is applied as a bonus. If you win, this hand's points are added to your total. See Solo Mahjong Rules for the description of the hands and how many points they give. Pleasenote: If Action is Response, you get no bonus points.
• Reach specifies whether the Reach or Early Reach hand applies. (See Solo Mahjong Rules for more.)
• The Seat Wind and Quarter Wind indicators. A set of wind tiles matching either the seat or quarter wind makes a special hand and increases your score. (See Solo Mahjong Rules for more.)
• The Dora tile. Each tile in your hand matching the Dora gives you an extra game point. (See Solo Mahjong Rules for more.)

Below your hand are the following:

• Bet - your bet per round. Use the arrow buttons to change the bet amount.
• Win - your win amount in the last round (if you won).
• The Paytable button opens a screen where you can see how much you win given the score as well as the names of tiles. Click the Close button to close the paytable..
• The New Game button starts a new game round.

Shortcut keys

If you wish, you can press the following keys on your keyboard instead of clicking on the buttons on the screen.

The lower edge of the game window holds the casino toolbar. It contains the following:

• Current balance: Your account balance. This is the money you can use to play the casino games.

• Cashier: Clicking this button opens the Cashier window, where you can make deposits and withdrawals, see your transaction history, etc.

• Play for Real Money: This button appears only in Fun or Offline Mode. Clicking it will take you to the Real Money account creation page. If you already have a Real Money account, it will take you to the Play for Real Money login screen.

• Chat: Clicking this button will activate the black strip to the left of it, turning it into a text box. Enter a message and click Chat again. A separate chat window will open. Please note: You can only talk to other players in multiplayer games.

• Menu: Three popular functions are united under the Menu. Clicking History (unavailable in Offline mode) will open the game history window, where you can see the details of recent game rounds.

Options allows you to change audio quality and various gameplay settings, and Help opens the help article that you are reading right now.

Online Support lets you contact a customer support specialist, if one is online.

• Close/Lobby: Clicking this button closes the game window and takes you back to the Lobby. If you have Multiwindow support enabled (games are opened in new windows), the button will say Close. If Multiwindow support is disabled (games are opened in the same window as the Lobby), the button will say Lobby. You can enable or disable this feature in the Options window.

Note on large wins: Winning amounts of $10,000 or more are considered large wins. Large wins need to be verified by a live operator.

Note on malfunctions: A malfunction voids all pays and plays.

Note on disconnections: If you are disconnected from the Internet in the middle of a game while playing for Real Money, please re-establish your Internet connection and log back into the casino. You will be automatically directed to the game that was interrupted so you can continue playing.

Solo Mahjong Rules

A winning Mahjong hand consists of 14 tiles. However, at the start of a game round, after discarding a tile, you have a ready hand - 13 tiles, just one short of winning. The tiles in your hand are arranged into sets by suit and number.

Suits

There are five suits in Mahjong - three Numeral suits and two Letter suits. The Numeral suits are the Bars, Wons and Dots. These suits contain nine tiles each, marked with numbers 1 through 9.

The letter suits are the Winds and Dragons. The Wind suit contains four tiles, for the North, South, East and West winds. The Dragon suit contains three tiles, for the Red, Green and White dragons. All these cards are marked with letters - N, S, E and W for Winds; R, G and Wh for Dragons.

In addition, the 1 st and 9 th tiles of each Number suit (Edges), together with the letter tiles, make up the Honors suit. Sets made of honor tiles are worth more than sets made of Middle tiles (the 2 nd through 8 th tiles of number suits).

A standard game of Mahjong has 4 of each suit (for a total of 136 tiles). For the simplified Solo Mahjong game, this means that there can be up to four identical tiles in the hand and wall together.

Sets

The 14 tiles of a winning Mahjong hand are arranged into several sets. To qualify as a winning hand, your hand must be full, meaning that each tile in the hand must be part of some set. The following sets are available:

• Pong - a set of three tiles of identical suit and value.
• Kong - a set of four tiles of identical suit and value. Please note: when counting the number of tiles in a hand, the Kong blocks count as 3 tiles.
• Chee - a set of three tiles of identical suit and sequential value.
• Pair - a set of two tiles of identical suit and value. This set does not give you any points, but is necessary to complete a winning Mahjong hand.

In standard Mahjong, certain circumstances may require a player to call a set (declare to other players that he has it). In this case the set is put on the table, and spaced apart from the other tiles. In Solo Mahjong, your ready hand may already contain called sets.

There are two types of called Kong: Open Kong and Hidden Kong.

• The Open Kong set is displayed as three face-up tiles with one face-down tile on top of them;
• The Hidden Kong set is displayed as three face-down tiles with one face-up tile on top of them.

A hand that contains no called sets, or only a called Hidden Kong, is called a clean hand. This is important because you may be deducted game points if your hand is not clean.

The above sets can be mixed and matched to produce a possible winning (i.e., full) hand. For example, you can have:

• A pair and four Pongs
• A pair, three Pongs and a Chee

But note that there are also special hands (e.g., Nine Treasure Lamps) that award points for specific tile combinations that do not conform to the above rules.

Points

To win a round of Mahjong, you need to get a score of at least 700. Points are awarded for specific sets, their combinations, and actions. Game points are converted into the score, which determines how much money you've won. The score is calculated from the game point total using a traditional, complex algorithm. The more points you get, the bigger your final score and your win amount is.

Below is a list of hands and actions, explanations, and game point values. The values of all applicable hands are added up to form your game point total for the round. You cannot get more than 20 game points. If your point total adds up to more than 20 game points, it is rounded down.