Lew Lysle Harr

“ On this account the Chinese use a lower scoring system and set limits on the hands whenever placing stakes on the game, with a view of limiting losses between all players.
This setting of a limit changes the game considerably, for while the procedure of the play is similar to that of the unlimited hand, the scoring is almost totally different and the actual playing of the hand is changed.
A player in a limited hand gains nothing by completing a hand scoring high in the thousands when held down to the limit which is comparatively low. ”

“ When two play alone, each builds two sides of the wall and arrange the usual wall. Then they throw the dice, East Wind throwing for either of the two dummies, both draw their original hands and draw and discard alternately until one wins. ”

“ Position of the players for the first game is determined by a throw of the dice; all players throw once, the one throwing the highest number becoming first East Wind. In the event of a tie, players tieing throw again. The player sitting opposite East Wind will be known as West Wind, to the right of East Wind as South Wind, and the left of East Wind, as North Wind. ”

“ This changes entirely the playing of hands, making each player's object no longer to score as high a hand as possible and win, but to score as closely to the limit as possible and win, which in practice amounts to completing the hand as quickly as possible, mixing sequences and sets of all suits and taking all good scoring sets as they come, planning for none. ”

“ The fundamentals of this game are simple and require only practice to master. The science of Pung Chow must in the greater part be studied out by the individual player and one may spend the rest of his life in attaining to past mastery in its thousand-fold intricacies. ”

“ MAH-JONGG OR MAH-DIAO
As has been mentioned before when a player has matched his hand into four (4) sets and by a draw or a pung has mated the final pair he wins and announces "Mah-Jongg" or "Mah-Diao" (Dee-O) , either being correct and in common usage, the latter being the most logical because of its English translation "mating the pair." A player must at all times during the game have thirteen (13) tiles, his draw every round momentarily giving him fourteen (14) , his discard leaving him the thirteen (13) . ”

“ In the scoring many new combinations have been added, scoring values have been changed, and special bonuses, limit hands and new doubling honors have been introduced which must now be taken, one at a time, and explained in detail. The most important change is that the last 14 tiles in the wall are never drawn and the game ends and is a draw if it reaches this point without conclusion. ”

“ These last 14 tiles are usually separated a little from the rest of the wall to indicate the end.
The Limit Hand.
To keep the hands down to a reasonable amount when players are playing for stakes, the system of setting a limit as to the number of points that can be scored in a hand. This is usually 300 points; in games giving a bonus of 10 points for Mah-Jongg, and 400 in games giving a bonus of 20 points for Mah-Jongg. East Wind of course is liable for double the limit and at the same time may win as high as double the limit from each player. ”

“ It is, however, known to have been the Royal game, restricted to the use of Emperors and their friends of the Mandarin class for two thousand years. To them it was known as Pe-Ling (pronounced Bah-Ling) taking its name from the "bird of a hundred intelligences," the lark-like creature sacred in the Chinese faith which now may be seen reproduced on most Chinese tapestries and embroideries. The penalty paid by one of any other class for playing Pe-Ling at that time, was the loss of his head. ”

“ After judging his hand, visualizing the sort of hand that he is to try to fill, he should use his own judgment in drawing and discarding, constantly watching his own hand for opportunities and his opponents' discards for disclosures, and upon the slightest suspicion that one of these opponents is nearing the completion of his hand, should immediately forego any thoughts of a higher hand himself and seek to complete his own hand as quickly as possible. ”

“ A set is three of a kind, four of a kind or three in a sequence. Every set has a scoring value, and the players add their scores and settle after every hand. A player may win with a score as low as 22 points or scores may run to 380,928 points. These possibilities will unfold as the following pages on the details of the play are read.
[Pg 10]
Illustration No. ”

“ If he has an exceptionally strong hand in any one suit he will play for that suit regardless of the other players. If he has a well-divided hand, by watching the other players' discards, he will be able to form a fairly good opinion of what they are doing with their hand. ”

“ East Wind receiving full limit or paying full limit as the case may be.
[Pg 68]
2. The one discarding a tile that permits another player to win must bear the entire losses of all other players; if the player winning had any of the following four combinations of tiles exposed at the time of discarding, unless the discarder himself had two complete doubling honors and was waiting for the winning tile or was waiting for the winning tile which would give him more than two doubling honors. ”

“ In every case the new wind-round must commence from the original East Wind player and the box is for the purpose of indicating which round of the wind is being played and who is the East Wind in that particular hand. ”

“ When the first player to complete his hand calls "Mah-Jongg" the game is ended, and all players expose their hands and count up their scores. The winner of the game collects full value of his score from each of the other players and throwing his hand into the discard is thru for that game. ”

“ Here as in Ex. 3, a discard to the other pair, i.e., a three of bamboo, would not be penalized.
NOTE. (a) If a player has no choice in his discard; that is if he discards the winning dot to an all dot hand when he has only dots to discard, he is not penalized.
(b) When a penalty is imposed, all scores except that of the winning hand are canceled.
EXAMPLE OF WINNING HANDS
Note: Arrow indicates tile which completed the hand in the following Examples.
No. 1
Player is East Wind ”

“ If he has just an ordinarily good hand he should stop playing to improve his hand and start to complete it as quickly as possible, i.e., form sequences and mix suits, in order to win before the other players and save himself. ”

“ In this illustration, C first threw the dice; the number was seven, deciding A as the player who was to throw again for playing position or seat. A has shuffled the markers and arranged them perpendicularly in front of him, placing the wind box in second position. He had the privilege of placing it in 1st, 3rd or 4th position if he had chosen. He then throws with the dice, an 8; this designates D as the player to take the first indicator ”

“ He filled his dragons and attempted to win as quickly as possible, almost succeeding and needing only one tile to complete his hand.
[Pg 53]
[Pg 54]
NORTH WIND MAH-JONGGS
North Wind "Mah-Jongged," collects 304 from East and 152 from West and South respectively. Then—East Wind collects 16 doubled or 32 from West and 32 doubled or 64 from South. West Wind wins 16 from South who is the loser all around. East Wind's difficulty above was that he decided on all bamboo hand at the start of the game without having a sufficient number of pairs in that suit. ”

“ L. L. Harr's skill in the game of Pung Chow has been acquired through more than twenty years of intimate contact with the business and official circles of cultured Chinese in Canton, Shanghai, Tientsin, Pekin and other centers of China. Mr. Harr has enjoyed more opportunity to mingle in polite Chinese society than any other European or American resident I knew in China.
Mr. Harr, in consequence, was perhaps one of the first foreigners who learned the game from the best players in China. What is more, Mr. ”