Mahjong Guides
Free step-by-step guides for English-speaking beginners. Learn Sichuan Blood Battle Mahjong from scratch — rules, strategy, scoring, and advanced tips.
Blood Battle Mahjong — Complete Beginner Series
What Is Mahjong? A Complete Beginner's Introduction
Never played mahjong before? This guide explains what mahjong is, how the game works, and what makes Sichuan Blood Battle Mahjong uniquely exciting. Start here before reading any other guide.
Mahjong Tiles Explained: A Visual Guide to All 108 Tiles
This visual guide explains every one of the 108 tiles used in Blood Battle (Sichuan) Mahjong. Learn the three suits — Wan (Characters), Tiao (Bamboo), Tong (Circles) — and understand terminals, simples, sequences, triplets, pairs, and Kongs through real tile images.
How to Play Blood Battle Mahjong: Complete Step-by-Step Guide
A complete beginner's guide to Blood Battle (Sichuan) Mahjong. Learn every phase of a round: how tiles are dealt, the tile exchange, void suit declaration, drawing and discarding, Pong and Kong, how to win, the Blood Battle continuation rule, and how fan scoring works.
The Mahjong Tile Exchange: How to Pass Tiles Like a Pro
The tile exchange is the first and most impactful strategic decision in every Blood Battle Mahjong round. This guide explains how the exchange works, what the 4 directions mean, a clear priority framework for choosing which 3 tiles to pass, and worked before-and-after examples to make the strategy concrete.
Void Suit in Mahjong: The Rule That Changes Everything
The void suit rule is the most impactful strategic mechanic in Blood Battle Mahjong. This guide explains how to choose your void suit wisely, what happens if you get it wrong (the Flower Pig penalty), how the tile exchange changes your decision, and how your discards signal information to opponents.
Mahjong Winning Hands: Every Way to Win in Blood Battle
A complete visual guide to every valid winning hand in Sichuan Blood Battle Mahjong: the standard 4-set + pair structure with five real hand examples, the Seven Pairs special hand, all five tenpai waiting patterns, self-draw vs. discard win, and fan scoring that doubles with every fan.
Pong and Kong in Mahjong: When to Claim, When to Pass
A strategic guide to Pong and Kong in Sichuan Blood Battle Mahjong. Covers all three Kong types (Concealed, Exposed, Extended), payment tables, the Rob the Kong exception, a complete Pong decision framework with three worked examples, and why Chi is completely banned.
Mahjong Scoring Explained: Fan Patterns and How to Earn More
The complete fan scoring guide for Sichuan Blood Battle Mahjong. Covers all five main patterns (Ping Hu, Peng Peng Hu, Seven Pairs, Qing Yi Se, Long 7 Pairs), three bonus fans, stacking combos with payout tables, and strategy for chasing high-value hands.
Mahjong Strategy for Beginners: 10 Tips to Win More Games
Ten actionable mahjong strategy tips for beginners who know the rules but keep losing at Blood Battle Mahjong. Covers void suit selection, discard priority, tile flexibility, tenpai building, Pong decisions, reading opponents, and what to do after the first player wins.
Advanced Mahjong Strategy: Master Waiting Patterns and Reading Opponents
The complete advanced guide to Sichuan Blood Battle Mahjong. Covers all 5 tenpai waiting patterns with tile examples, shanten number theory, live tile counting, reading opponent discards, defensive play layers, Kong timing and robbery risks, multi-way tenpai, and endgame strategy after the first player wins.
Strategy & Skill Guides
Opening Hand Planning
What you do in the first minute of each round determines everything. Count your tiles per suit, identify pairs and connected runs, choose your hand direction, and commit to a void suit — all before your first discard. This guide teaches you to read 13 tiles and form a plan in under 30 seconds.
Tenpai Waiting Shapes
Your waiting shape determines how many tiles can complete your hand — and how fast you win. Learn all 6 waiting patterns in Blood Battle Mahjong, from the powerful two-sided wait to the narrow single-tile wait, and when to use each.
Pong Strategy Guide
Pong claims an opponent's discard instantly — skipping turn order and locking in a complete set. But it exposes your hand and eliminates self-draw bonuses. This guide covers when to Pong aggressively, when to pass, and what to discard immediately after.
Kong Strategy Guide
A Kong earns instant payment and grants a free extra draw — but declaring one at the wrong time can destroy your hand or even let an opponent steal your promoted tile for a win. Learn when Kong helps and when it hurts.
Self-Draw Strategy
A self-draw win pays all three opponents — that's triple the coins of a discard win. Combined with the self-draw fan bonus, a well-timed self-draw can be worth six times more. Learn how to build and hold hands that maximize self-draw probability.
Seven Pairs Guide
Seven Pairs requires exactly seven pairs of tiles — no sequences or triplets. It's worth 2 fan base, stacks powerfully with Pure One Suit for devastating payouts, and requires a completely different playing approach. Learn when to commit and how to close the hand.
Fan Combinations Guide
Each fan you qualify for doubles your payout. Flat Hand, Pure One Suit, Seven Pairs, Self-Draw — these patterns stack multiplicatively. Learn the most powerful natural combinations and how to build toward 3–5 fan hands consistently.
The Flower Pig Penalty
The Flower Pig is the most feared penalty in Blood Battle Mahjong. If the round ends while you still hold void suit tiles, you pay every player who is in tenpai — potentially three times the normal payout. Here's how to avoid it.
Reading Opponents' Discards
Every tile your opponents discard is a clue. Early discards reveal their void suit. Late discards signal tenpai. Kong declarations put you on high alert. This guide teaches you how to turn every discard into actionable information.
Defensive Play Guide
Half of winning at mahjong is not losing. Defensive play — knowing when to fold, which tiles are safe, and how to read danger signals — can save more coins than a win earns. This guide covers safe discards, danger signals, and when to stop building.
Endgame Strategy Guide
With 15 tiles left in the wall, the game shifts dramatically. Every discard is higher risk. The Flower Pig penalty looms. And even without winning, being in tenpai when the wall runs out earns you coins. Learn how to navigate the endgame safely.
All Pong Guide
All Pong wins with four triplets and no sequences. It's fast — Pong grants an instant complete set — but transparent. After two Pongs, opponents know your direction. Learn when to commit, how to stay hidden, and how to combine with Pure One Suit for devastating payouts.
Pure One Suit Guide
Pure One Suit is worth 2 fan — the highest single pattern in Blood Battle Mahjong. Combined with Flat Hand, Self-Draw, and Closed Hand bonus, it drives the game's biggest payouts. Learn how to choose your target suit, manage the double-voiding challenge, and when to pivot away.
Tile Exchange Strategy
The three tiles you give and the three you receive in the exchange phase shape the entire round. Give your void suit tiles to clear your work instantly. Never give pairs or partial sequences. Reassess your full hand direction after receiving — the exchange can change everything.
Mahjong Probability Basics
More outs means faster wins. A two-sided wait has 8 chances to complete vs 3 for a single-tile wait. Learn to count remaining copies of your winning tile, understand when a wait is effectively dead, and use simple probability to guide every tenpai decision.
Speed vs Value: When to Chase Points
A fast 1-fan win beats a slow 5-fan hand that never completes. But an aggressive high-value path can be correct when your tiles cooperate and the round is early. Learn the framework for choosing speed vs value — including the key turn 5 decision point and expected value calculation.
Advanced Void Suit Strategy
Choosing a void suit isn't just about picking the suit with fewest tiles. Advanced players evaluate connectivity, protect pairs, and use the void choice to drive hand direction. Learn how to read connectivity, avoid the pair trap, plan for Pure One Suit double-voiding, and detect opponents' void suits from their early discards.
Pairs vs Triplets: When to Pong
Drawing a third tile of a kind forces a choice: Pong into a complete set, or keep the pair and pursue sequences? The correct decision depends on whether you're targeting All Pong, Flat Hand, or Seven Pairs — and whether Ponging exposes your hand direction. Learn the decision framework.
Winning Fast: Techniques for Quick Tenpai
Speed in mahjong is efficiency, not luck. Every decision — from the exchange through each draw — either moves you closer to tenpai or costs turns. Learn to maximize outs at each step, use Pong calls for instant sets, clear void-suit obstacles before turn 5, and recognize tenpai opportunities the moment they appear.
How to Improve at Mahjong
Playing 500 games without reflection creates good habits of your mistakes. The players who improve fastest use the improvement loop: play, notice what went wrong, identify root cause, target that specific skill. Learn the five most common skill gaps in Blood Battle Mahjong and the drills that fix them.
Complete Round Walkthrough
Understanding every phase of a Blood Battle Mahjong round helps you know what to do and why at each moment. This walkthrough covers dealing analysis, exchange strategy, early/mid/late game priorities, and settlement — with commentary on the key decision at each phase.