F. To Pung:
A player may also appropriate another player's discard to fill a set of three of a kind or four of a kind by announcing "Pung." In order to do this, the player must have a pair, or three of a kind in his hand to match with the discard, thus completing three or four of a kind, which he places, as in the case of a "Chow," to the right of his hand, face up on the table. For example: A player having a pair or three fives of the character suit, may pung when another player discards a five character, expose his set and discard, the play going on in the regular direction from him.
It is not necessary for it to be the player's turn to draw in order to "Pung" as it is in the case of a "Chow." A player having a pair similar to a tile discarded, may announce "Pung" and appropriate the tile, regardless of who discarded it and of whose turn it is to draw. Also after a player "Pungs" and discards, the play goes on from him to the right. It can be seen that due to punging one or even two players are liable to lose their turn.
Illustration No. 12.
In this illustration, East played in regular turn and South drew the 9 character, which, having no use for, he discarded. East having a pair of nines character in his hand "Punged," completing the set and causing West and North Winds to lose their turns. East then exposed his set of nines next to the sequence of three he had previously chowed and exposed, discarded and play went on in the usual routine, North drawing and discarding.
There are a few rules applying to the "Chow" and "Pung." They are as follows:
1. All tiles must be "punged" or "chowed" as they are discarded; for a tile discarded by a player and allowed to remain in discard until the next player discards, becomes "dead" and cannot be touched during the rest of the game.
2. It has been stated that one cannot "pung" unless it makes up three or four of a kind. This is true with one exception. In the case: when a tile will complete a player's hand allowing him to "Mah-Jongg," the tile may be punged. Example: A player with four sets and an odd tile may pung a tile which matches his odd one. The rule is that "a player may at any time 'Pung' a discard which will complete his hand and allow him to Mah-Jongg."
3. The denomination and suit of each tile must be announced as it is discarded, a player discarding a 3 of character, announcing 3 character, to prevent confusion of a player who may be studying his hand. This is more of a courtesy of the game, than a rule.
4. A "Pung" has precedence over a "Chow" and if one player can pung the same discard that another player can chow, the former has the right to appropriate the tile.
5. If a player can pung a discard which will complete his hand and another player can pung the same discard to complete a set, the former has the right to take the discard.
6. If two players pung the same tile to complete their hands, the precedence is given to the player claiming the tile nearest to the discarder in a counter-clockwise direction around the table.
FOUR OF A KIND:
Before speaking of "four of a kind," it is better to give the reason for exposing a set made up of a pair and a punged discard, and make clear at the same time, what is to be done when three of a kind are completed by draw.
A set made up of a pair and a punged discard must be "exposed" by setting it out face up, on the table to the right of the players' tiles, first, to show to the other players that he had the required pair, which gave him the right to appropriate the discard, and secondly, to separate the set from those completed entirely by draw from the wall. Sets completed by help of an appropriated (punged) discard, have only one-half the scoring value of exactly the same sets, completed by draw from the wall and kept in the hand.
Thus there are many advantages in drawing the third tile to complete a set of three of a kind when compared to "punging" the same, for in the former case, the set has twice as much scoring value, they are kept concealed in the hand and the opponents can only guess as to how nearly complete a concealed hand may be. A concealed set is counted as one of the four sets required to win, just as an exposed set would be, and a player having a set of three of a kind concealed has very good chances of filling it and thus forming four of a kind which counts a great deal higher.
A player may complete a set of four of a kind either by draw from the wall or "punging" an opponent's discard, if he has three of a kind already in his hand. In either case he must place the completed set on the table to the right of his tiles; all four face up if he "punged" the fourth, the two end tiles face down if he has "drawn" the fourth.
The player must immediately draw a "loose tile" (one of the two tiles on top of, and marking the end of the wall). Usually the one farthest from the end is taken, the one on the end moved up, and replaced by a tile from the end of the wall itself.
The "loose tile" was drawn because every time a player completes a set of four of a kind, he causes the rest of his hand to be one tile short. This must be made up every time four of a kind is filled by an extra tile drawn from the "loose" tiles.
Illustration No. 13.
In this illustration the player had three one dots in his hand when one of the opponents discarded the fourth one dot. This player "punged" it, matched the four of a kind, exposed them, drew a "loose tile" and discarded.
Illustration No. 14.
In this illustration the player had three one dots in his hand and drew the fourth in his regular turn to draw. This set counts in scoring as much as it would in his hand but must be exposed in order to draw the "loose tile." Therefore the end tiles are turned down to show that in counting the score that the set is counted as if it were held in the hand.
In this illustration the player has one set of 3 one dots punged and completed, and is now trying to match up the rest of his hand. If another player discards a one dot he cannot touch it and must let it go by. However, if he draws the fourth one dot himself, he may add it on to his set of 3, draw a loose tile and discard as usual. As can be seen from the last three illustrations, the rule in the case of four of a kind is as follows:
In any set which a player may have exposed on the table there must not be more than (1) punged tile.
A player having three of a kind in his hand may pung the fourth when it is discarded or having three of a kind on the table and drawing the fourth may add it to his 3 exposed tiles. The rule, however, bars him from appropriating some one else's discard to make a fourth for an exposed set of three of a kind because in order to appropriate this discard he would have to pung it. This he has not the privilege of doing, because he already must have one "punged" tile in his exposed set or it wouldn't be exposed.
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). Then for every four of a kind that he fills he should have an extra tile in his hand on account of the extra loose tile draw.
Thus one is able at any time during the game to check his hand and ascertain whether or not he has the correct number of tiles in it. If he has not sets of four of a kind he should have thirteen tiles in his hand. If he has one set of four of a kind he should have fourteen tiles in his hand, two sets of four of kind 15 tiles, and so on.
If, at any time during the game, a player has an incorrect number of tiles in his hand, it becomes "dead." He must continue drawing and discarding, but when the scores are settled his score does not count and therefore he must pay all players. His only chance lies in endeavoring to prevent the other players from completing their hands, by holding the tiles which he believes they need and thus causing a draw game.
SETTLING THE SCORES
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.
The remaining three players then settle among themselves the difference of their scores, the high hand of the three collecting the difference between his score and each of the remaining two players. Then throwing his hand into the discard, leaves the remaining two to settle their scores, the highest hand of which collects the difference.
It must be remembered here that East Wind (or banker) pays or collects double, if he loses or wins.
Scores are most conveniently settled by the use of the counters which are furnished with the sets. These are spotted to denote different denominations and at the end of every hand the actual scores or differences in scores are settled between players by the exchange of these counters. There are several styles of counter sets. The one in most common usage contains counters valued as follows:
| Points | |
| 1 Gold dot | 1,000 |
| 5 Black dots | 500 |
| 1 Black dot | 100 |
| 10 Red dots | 10 |
| 2 Red dots | 2 |
SUGGESTIONS FOR CAREFUL PLAYING OF HANDS
In a game of this nature where every hand is different from the preceding one and so much depends on the draw, it is very hard to lay down any specific rules of how it should be played. There are, however, a few points which would help if kept in mind during the play. A player should study his original hand and after the first few draws and discards form a general plan of what he is going to try and fill in his hand and decide on how high a score he will have a good chance of making. This will be decided by:
1. The condition of his own hand.
2. The discards of the other three players.
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.
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.
Summing this up; a player should plan and play to win at all times with as high a hand as possible, then as the wall grows shorter and the probability of one of the opponents completing his hand grows larger, the player should reconsider, and
1. If he has at that stage an exceptionally good hand which will win back for him from the other two players that which he loses to the winner, should go on improving his hand and take the chance of another player winning.
2. 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.
3. If his hand has not improved at all or very little since the beginning of the game and he has small chance of completing his hand in any way before some other player does, his only plan is to hold the tiles which he thinks would help the other players and discard only those which he is sure they will not pung. These tiles can be ascertained by carefully searching the discards in the center of the table and the sets already exposed by the other players. By playing this way he may be able to cause the game to be a draw.
There are a few other points which are taken up in the last four layouts in Part I.