the letters on the tiles - namely, the one who picked up the East tile sits in the temporary East seat, and the one who picked up the South tile sits in the South seat and so on. In this case, the four directions are in reverse to the natural directions.
CHAPTER IV.
TO DECIDE THE ELDEST HAND
When the players’ seats are decided, the Eldest Hand should be determined, The Eldest Hand is said to be the EAST HAND.
The person who took the East tile casts the dice and counts the number indicated by the spots from East (starting with himself), to the right. If the spots add up to 7, then West casts the dice next. The person, indicated by the second casting of dice, counting to the right (starting with himself) is the Eldest Hand, or East.
We can simplify the throwing of dice from twice to once, but it is more formal to throw twice.
The right hand of East is South, the opposite hand is West and the left hand is North.
When one game is over, the Eldest Hand passes to the right and South becomes East, or the Eldest Hand; West becomes South, North becomes West and East becomes North.
CHAPTER V.
DEAL AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE TILES
Now to go ahead with the game. There are 136 tiles and they should be well mixed. Each player gathers 34 tiles to form two rows of 17 each, placing one row on top of the other. For ease in assembling the tiles it is well to remember to pick up three upside down tiles in each hand twice, then three in one hand and two in the other. This makes a row of 17. Thereafter, we can speedily pick up the other 17 tiles (All of the tiles are assembled face down).
Arrangement of tiles
On finishing the arrangement, East casts the two dice to decide from where to commence to pick up the tiles. Counting the number or spots, starting with East and counting to the right, the person thus nominated casts the dice again. Adding the number of spots from both castings, and counting off that number from the right end of the nominated pile, indicates the place from which East starts taking the tiles to make up his hand.
For example, the Eldest Hand, or East, casts the dice and the spots add up to 6. The sixth player, namely South, casts dice again and the spots add up to 7. Then East takes two piles (4 tiles), EXCLUDING 13 PILES, from the right end of the row of piles in front of South. South takes the next two piles (4 tiles), then West and North take successively. Each takes thrice in order to have 12 tiles, then East takes one tile from the upper part of the pile, South takes one from the lower part and West and North take their last tile each, so that each player has 13 tiles.
There should always be 13 tiles in each hand, including melds, except in the case of:—
a. Kan (4 of a kind, which will be explained later)
b. Going Out and
c. Picking up from the pile.
However, East takes one more tile to make 14. To simplify the dealing, East takes two tiles successively after the four players have taken four tiles thrice.
At the beginning of the game, East has 14 tiles and the other three players have 13. These are placed upright in a line in front of each player with the bamboo backs shown to the opposite side. The 13 tiles are first placed at random in the order of picking up. Later they should be arranged in order to be easily understood. However, the arrangement should be avoided after making progress as others can guess what part is Bamboo or what part is composed of Letter tiles, when one picks up a tile for discarding or for melding. Much exercise is needed to play without arrangement.
Arrangement of Hands
CHAPTER VI.
HOW TO GO OUT
East, who has 14 tiles, starts the game by discarding one of his tiles. This he does by placing the discarded tile in front of his pile, facing the surface up.
Next, South picks up one tile from the end of the pile, unless he can make a Pon or a Chi (these are explained later) from the tile discarded by East. West and North pick up and discard in like manner and the play continues successively until one of the players Out, or the pile is exhausted, leaving such portion as is decided by regulation.
A hand has 14 tiles when Going Out - 4 sets of threes and a pair (2 of a kind). The pair, or 2 of a kind, is called a Pillow, or Head. The threes not gathered at random. They may be either 3 of a kind, called a Pon, or a sequence (run) of 3, called a Chi.
Pillow
There are two methods of making a Pon or a Chi.
1. When a player has two of the same kind of tiles and one of the other three players discards one of the same, he can piak up the discarded tile by saying, "Pon" He then melds the three tiles by placing them, surface up, to the right of his hand.
2. When a player makes a Pon or a Chi by drawing from the pile, he does not need to meld them but keeps them concealed in his hand.
In case of Pon, one can take from any other player's discard, but in making a Chi, one can take only from the left hand player’s discard to complete a sequence. This difference must be remembered. The Chi, subsidized from the left hand, must be melded. When Going Out, however, one can complete a Pon, a Chi, or a Pillow by taking a discard from any other player.
Pon
Chi
The Pon is mightier than the Chi. For example, East can make a Pon of 5-Won when South discards a 5-Won even though West might want it to make a Chi.
After East has made a Pon by taking the 5-Won discarded by South, he discards, then South again plays, not West. When East makes a Pon in this way, West and North are excluded from their natural turn and West can play only after South has discarded.
Going Out is the mightiest of all. If East discards a tile that North can use to Go Out by making either a Pon, or a Chi, or a Piilow, he can pick up the discarded tile, even though South might want to use the tile to make a Chi and West might want it to make a Pon.
Hand Ready to Go out
CHAPTER VII.
MELD AND REMAINING TILES
In melding a Pon, a player must meld the 3 tiles, placing them face upward to the right of his hand to show others. However, if a player picks up the 4th tile of the same kind, he can make a meld of 4 tiles. A meld of 4 of a kind is called a Kan (Kawn).
A
