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130-607: In 1924, a soldier named Saburo Hirayama brought the game to Japan. In Tokyo, he started a mahjong club, parlor, and school. In the years after, the game dramatically increased in popularity. In this process, the game itself was simplified from the Chinese version. Then later, additional rules were adopted to increase the complexity. Mahjong, as of 2010, is the most popular table game in Japan. As of 2008, there were approximately 7.6 million mahjong players and about 8,900 mahjong parlors in

260-417: A points-value table . Fu counting is optional but not necessary, if the hand contains at least five hans . A player winning a hand via a self-drawn tile is called a " tsumo " (自摸 or ツモ, self-drawn), in which all opponents would pay the points to the winner. A discard is called a " ron " (栄 or ロン, picking up a discard) and the opponent will pay the full amount of points instead. Based on the scoring table ,

390-405: A tenpai hand. The sacred discard rules (furiten) can be used to identify safe tiles known as genbutsu (現物). Both the contents and order of tiles in a player's discard pile can be further used to identify tiles that are either statistically unlikely or impossible to be one of their winning tiles. Push-fold decisions revolve around using tile acceptance and defensive information to weigh whether

520-1195: A bonus tile indicator. A tile of a next succeeding number or color is the bonus tile. For example, if an indicator is a Green dragon ( [REDACTED] ), Red dragons ( [REDACTED] ) are counted as a bonus tile by the sequence shown below, in which the Red dragon wraps around to the White dragon ( [REDACTED] ). The succeeding order of bonus tile is as follows: [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] - [REDACTED] The number of bonus tile indicators increases in

650-549: A competitive export market, and tried to ensure a low exchange rate for the yen through a trade surplus . The Plaza Accord of 1985 temporarily changed this situation; the exchange rate fell from its average of ¥239 per dollar in 1985 to ¥128 in 1988 and led to a peak rate of ¥80 against the US$ in 1995, effectively increasing the value of Japan's GDP in dollar terms to almost that of the United States. Since that time, however,

780-599: A dummy player. This variant is featured in anime and manga series such as Akagi , which has also been made into a live action television series, The Legend of the Gambler: Tetsuya , Saki and Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku . A live action series named Shin Janki ( 真・雀鬼 ) features the game involving yakuza and gambling, while employing various cheating tactics and techniques. Japanese yen The yen ( Japanese : 円 , symbol : ¥ ; code : JPY )

910-418: A flower or season, it is announced and then placed to the side (it is not considered a part of the 13-tile hand, but in the event that player wins, they may earn bonus points for them) and the last tile of the wall is drawn as a replacement tile so that the player has the 14 pieces needed before their discard. This may happen successively in a player's turn. When a player discards a tile, other players may steal

1040-409: A kong. The meld must be in absolute numerical sequence and all in the same suit. Players cannot skip numbers or meld from the 8 or 9 to 1 or 2. Honors tiles cannot be used to make chows because they have no numerical value, and bonus tiles (flowers and seasons) also cannot be used to make a chow. The regular counter-clockwise order of turns may be interrupted for four events: Whenever a player draws

1170-495: A league of select professionals (coming from the other professional mahjong organizations) named M.League which takes the game and presents it as a professional sport. Teams of professionals receive salary as players, compete in ranking and playoffs as teams, and wear team jerseys to enhance the image of mahjong as a sport. Japanese mahjong is usually played with 136 tiles. The tiles are mixed and then arranged into four walls that are each two stacked tiles high and 17 tiles wide. 26 of

1300-406: A legal hand using the 14th drawn tile to form four melds (or sets) and a pair (eye). A player can also win with a small class of special hands. While many variations of mahjong exist, most variations have some basic rules in common including how a piece is drawn and discarded, the use of suits (numbered tiles) and honors (winds and dragons), the basic kinds of melds allowed, how to deal the tiles and

1430-406: A match. An extra hand is also played if there is no winner by the time all the tiles in the wall have been drawn. When there is no winner it is known as a "goulash hand". Depending on table rules, the winner of the next game may take an agreed number of points from each player, carrying over the points from the non-winning hand to the winning one. If there are two or three goulash hands in a row then

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1560-401: A piece (throwing it into the middle of the wall with no particular order in mind). Each player in turn, in counter-clockwise direction, draws a tile from the wall; as long as the tile drawn is not one of the bonus tiles, the player proceeds to discard a tile (either the tile just drawn, or a tile in the hand) to maintain a hand of 13. The discarded tile is thrown into the centre and, if desired,

1690-411: A piece from the wall that completes a 14-tile hand ("winning from the wall") or claiming a discard from another player which completes a 14-tile hand ("winning by discard"). The winning hand is made of four melds (a specific pattern of three pieces) and the eyes (a pair of identical pieces). The exceptions to this rule are the special hands listed below. Most players play with a table minimum, meaning

1820-444: A player may also win by drawing a tile that completes a legal hand. This is called "winning from the wall". In Hong Kong mahjong, winning from the wall doubles the number of base points each loser must pay. Technically, the declaration for winning a hand may be done at any time. However, the player must have a complete and legal hand. Otherwise, the player is penalized. The penalty depends on table rules. The player may forfeit points to

1950-533: A player should pursue a winning hand at the risk of dealing in, against abandoning completing their hand in order to discard the tiles least likely to deal in. Push-fold lies on a spectrum of decisions including betaori (ベタ降り), the complete abandonment of winning in order to avoid dealing in to a tenpai player; zentsuppa (全ツッパ), conversely aiming to complete one's hand without regard to the risk their discarded tiles may pose; and mawashi (回し打ち), stepping back in shanten to avoid dealing in while still leaving open

2080-438: A player's hand needs only one tile to complete a legal hand ( tenpai ), and the player has not claimed another players' discards to make open melds . When declaring ready, a player can win on a discard regardless of validity of the hand or yaku . A player must place their 1,000-point stick and place their discarded tile sideways to do so; the hand is then fixed and may not be changed except when forming certain closed quads. As

2210-417: A possible house rule, a player can choose to reveal their hand to win more points if successful, which is called ōpun riichi (open ready). In that case, the player shows only the tiles that are related to waits , or reveals all the tiles in the hand depending on the rules. The declaration increases the hand count allowing the player to score extra points. Dora (ドラ) are bonus tiles that add han value to

2340-429: A post-war recession. Coins worth 1 and 5 rin were eventually officially taken out of circulation at the end of 1953 and demonetized. Color The issuance of yen banknotes began in 1872, two years after the currency was introduced. Denominations have ranged from 1 yen to 10,000 yen; since 1984, the lowest-valued banknote is the 1,000 yen note. Before and during World War II , various bodies issued banknotes in yen, such as

2470-485: A rack may be marked differently to denote the dealer.) Whenever a player in the East position (dealer) wins a hand, or if there is no winner (a draw or "goulash hand"), an extra hand is played with the same seating positions and prevailing wind as in the previous hand. This means that a match may potentially have no limit to the number of hands played (though some players will set a limit of three consecutive hands allowed with

2600-456: A record is maintained for all discarded tiles corresponding to each player. Likewise, game strategy depends on the state of the discards and the players' hands. In the sacred discard rules, which are also called furiten (振聴 or フリテン), there are three situations in which a win using another player's discard is forbidden: In Japanese mahjong, many rules allow abortive draws to be declared while tiles are still available. They can be declared under

2730-406: A result, it is typically advantageous for players to reach a complete hand as fast as possible. Tile efficiency, also known as tile acceptance theory, is a concept to estimate which tile is best to discard. The goal is to move to a completed hand as fast as possible, aided by maximizing the number of available tiles that improve the hand Discards should aim to reduce the shanten (向聴) of the hand,

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2860-465: A rise in the value of the yen would hurt export growth by making Japanese products less competitive and would damage the industrial base. The government, therefore, continued to intervene heavily in foreign-exchange marketing (buying or selling dollars), even after the 1973 decision to allow the yen to float. Despite intervention, market pressures caused the yen to continue climbing in value, peaking temporarily at an average of ¥271 per US$ in 1973, before

2990-418: A sequence (three consecutive tiles in the same suit), by calling out " chii " (吃 or チー) using a tile discarded by the left player, who is prior in order. Players place the meld face up on the table, usually on the right side of their hands, with the discard placed sideways at the leftmost position of the meld to indicate which tile was taken from the left's discard pile. Players can make an open identical group,

3120-505: A single player calls four quads, and that is the largest possible number from the upper tiles in the third to seventh stacks of the dead wall (see four quads ). Additional bonus points can be awarded on the following situation: Among the modern mahjong variants, the Japanese scoring system is unique. Two variables are considered: the han value and fu value. A hand winner acquires points based on these values, which correspond to

3250-485: A smaller 50 yen. In 1982, the first cupronickel 500 yen coin was introduced. Alongside the 5 Swiss franc coin , the 500 yen coin is one of the highest-valued coin to be used regularly in the world, with a value of US$ 4.42 as of December 2016 . Because of its high face value , the 500 yen coin has been a favorite target for counterfeiters, resulting in the issuance in 2000 of the second nickel-brass 500 yen coin with added security features. Continued counterfeiting of

3380-821: A standard set of 144 mahjong tiles (though cards may be used). Sets often include counters (to keep score), dice (to decide how to deal), and a marker to show who the dealer is and which round is being played. Some sets include racks to hold the tiles, especially if they are larger or smaller than standard tiles or have an odd shape. Mahjong sets originating from the United States , Japan or Southeast Asia will likely have extra tiles or specialized markings. The tiles are split into three categories: suited, honors, and bonus tiles. Suited tiles are divided into three suits and each are numbered from 1 to 9. The suits are bamboos, dots, and characters. There are four identical copies of each suited tile totaling 108 tiles. The bamboo suit

3510-450: A tile must be picked up and another discarded). The count of 13 tiles do not include any bonus tiles (flowers and seasons), which are set to the side, nor does it include the fourth added piece of a kong. If a player is seen to have fewer or more than 13 tiles in their hand outside of their turn they are penalised. A winning hand consists of 14 tiles. Since players always have 13 tiles in their hand during play, they must win by either drawing

3640-429: A triplet (three identical tiles in the same suit or honor tiles) by calling out " pon " (碰 or ポン) using a tile discarded by any other player. Players place the meld face up on the table with one of those tiles placed sideways to indicate from whom the discard was taken. Players can make a meld from 4 identical tiles in the same suit or 4 identical honor tiles. After calling a quad, the next adjacent dora indicator tile

3770-498: A variety of factors. Firstly, Japan's prolonged low-interest-rate policy (to tackle domestic deflation ) has created a yield differential with other countries—notably the US—that have high interest rates (to tackle domestic inflation ), prompting investors to seek higher returns in foreign currencies. This interest rate differential directly affects the price of the Yen and serves as one of

3900-402: A variety of ways to determine positions. For example, one way is to have each player roll dice and assign East to the player that rolls the highest, South to the second-highest, and so on. Another way is to shuffle the 4 wind tiles face down and have each player choose one, determining their position. A match consists of four rounds, each representing a "prevailing wind", starting with East. Once

4030-566: A widespread online entertainment. Similar to the Western card game rummy , mahjong is a game of skill , strategy, and luck. To distinguish it from mahjong solitaire , it is sometimes referred to as mahjong rummy . The game is played with a set of 144 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols , although many regional variations may omit some tiles or add unique ones. In most variations, each player begins by receiving 13 tiles. In turn, players draw and discard tiles until they complete

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4160-458: A winning hand must score a minimum number of points (which can be seen in the scoring section). In Hong Kong mahjong the most common point set is three, but can be higher or lower depending on house rules. Melds are groups of tiles within the player's hand, consisting of either a pong (three identical tiles), a kong (four identical tiles), a chow (three suited tiles all of the same suit, in numerical sequence), or eyes (two identical tiles needed in

4290-438: A winning hand). Melds may be formed by drawing a tile from the wall, or by seizing another player's discard. There are rules governing which player has priority for a discard, and whether the meld should be exposed (displayed to all players) or remain concealed, depending on the manner in which the meld is formed. Consider a kong the same as a pong with an additional tile to make a complete set of four. There are three ways to form

4420-408: A winning hand. Every kind of tile can become a bonus tile, allowing its han value to increment based on the amount of its corresponding "indicator" tiles. Bonus tiles are not counted as yaku , regardless of the number of tiles present; the player still must form a yaku in order to count. At the start of a hand, the upper tile from the third stack of back end of the dead wall is flipped and becomes

4550-417: A yen called "rin" were first introduced in 1873. One rin coins were very small, measuring 15.75 mm in diameter and 0.3 mm in thickness, and co-circulated with mon coins of the old currency system. Their small size was eventually their undoing, and the rin was abandoned in 1884 due to unpopularity. Five rin coins worth one-two hundredth of a yen also used a bronze alloy. These were successor coins to

4680-415: Is ron (winning via a discard tile) first, kan or pon second, and chii third. Kan and pon cannot happen at the same time since there are only four of each tile. Depending on the ruleset being used, these calls may be allowed when the next player has already drawn and seen their next tile. In such cases, that player takes first precedence if they call tsumo (winning via self-drawing a tile). While

4810-569: Is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is played by four players (with some three-player variations found in parts of China, Japan , South Korea , Vietnam , and Southeast Asia ). The game and its regional variants are widely played throughout East and Southeast Asia and have also become popular in Western countries . The game has also been adapted into

4940-403: Is a comparative point game. Unlike betting variations of mahjong, decisions are made compared to other players instead of a strict expected value basis. As mahjong is a game dependent on psychology and game theory , experienced players may deviate from optimal decision-making in order to bluff or mislead opponents. In Japanese mahjong the first player to complete their hand wins the round. As

5070-405: Is also known as "sticks", "strings" or "bams" suit; the first tile usually has a bird (traditionally, a peacock or sparrow) instead of a single bamboo. The dots suit is also known as the "wheels", "circles", "coins", "stones", "marbles" or "balls" suit. The characters suit is also known as the "myriads", "cracks" or "numbers" suit since the top characters are numbers in the Chinese writing system, and

5200-416: Is flipped, and players need to draw a supplemental tile from the end of the dead wall. Depending on the rules, the number of tiles in the dead wall is kept at 14 by reserving the last available tile from the wall, or the number decreases at that time. There are three types of quads. Players call out " kan " (槓 or カン) for all of them. The order of precedence to pick up a discard when two or more players want it

5330-418: Is given to players who won their hand. For each shūgi the winning hand has, additional payments are made by either the player who threw the winning tile, or by each player in the case of a self-draw. Common shūgi are: Japanese mahjong has an extensively developed theory. Japanese mahjong is reliant on both skill and luck, so strategy focuses on gaining probabilistic and strategical advantages. Japanese mahjong

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5460-410: Is so large that it is expected to double the money supply, but this move has sparked concerns that the authorities in Japan are deliberately devaluing the yen to boost exports. However, the commercial sector in Japan worried that the devaluation would trigger an increase in import prices, especially for energy and raw materials. Since 2022, the yen has depreciated significantly against its peers, due to

5590-564: Is still used in several Chinese languages , mostly in the south, such as Cantonese and Hokkien . It is said that the clacking of tiles during shuffling resembles the chattering of sparrows. It has also been suggested that the name came from an evolution of an earlier card game called Madiao from which mahjong tiles were adapted. In Chinese, 麻雀戰 ( 麻雀战 ; máquè zhàn ) denotes a form of guerilla warfare tactics colloquially called 'sparrow warfare (tactics)'. Other languages, such as Sichuanese , Shanghainese and Standard Mandarin , now call

5720-549: Is the official currency of Japan . It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market , after the United States dollar and the euro . It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro. The New Currency Act of 1871 introduced Japan's modern currency system, with the yen defined as 1.5 g (0.048 troy ounces) of gold, or 24.26 g (0.780 troy ounces) of silver, and divided decimally into 100 sen or 1,000 rin . The yen replaced

5850-640: The 1964 games . The largest issuance by denomination and total face value were 10 million gold coins of ¥100,000 denomination for the 60th anniversary of reign of the Shōwa Emperor in 1986, totalling ¥1 trillion and utilizing 200,000 kg fine gold. ¥500 commemorative coins have been regularly issued since 1985. In 2008 commemorative ¥500 and ¥1,000 coins were issued featuring Japan's 47 prefectures. Even though all commemorative coins can be spent like ordinary (non-commemorative) coins, they do not normally circulate, and ¥100,000 coins are treated with caution due to

5980-533: The Japanese asset price bubble and continued to do so afterwards, reaching a low of ¥134 to US$ in February 2002. The Bank of Japan's policy of zero interest rates has discouraged yen investments, with the carry trade of investors borrowing yen and investing in better-paying currencies (thus further pushing down the yen) estimated to be as large as $ 1 trillion . In February 2007, The Economist estimated that

6110-577: The Meiji period and later are printed on Japanese banknotes. The reason for this is that from the viewpoint of preventing forgery, it is desirable to use a precise photograph as an original rather than a painting for a portrait. Series E banknotes were introduced in 2004 in ¥1000, ¥5000, and ¥10,000 denominations. Series F banknotes were introduced on 3 July 2024. They were announced on 9 April 2019 by Finance Minister Tarō Asō . The ¥1000 bill features Kitasato Shibasaburō and The Great Wave off Kanagawa ,

6240-774: The Ministry of Finance and the Imperial Japanese National Bank. The Allied forces also issued some notes shortly after the war. Since then, the Bank of Japan has been the exclusive note issuing authority. The bank has issued five series after World War II. Japan is generally considered a cash-based society, with 38% of payments in Japan made by cash in 2014. Possible explanations are that cash payments protect one's privacy, merchants do not have to wait for payment, and it does not carry any negative connotation like credit. At present, portraits of people from

6370-547: The [je] pronunciation. Walter Henry Medhurst , who had neither been to Japan nor met any Japanese people, having consulted mainly a Japanese-Dutch dictionary, spelled some "e"s as "ye" in his An English and Japanese, and Japanese and English Vocabulary (1830). In the early Meiji era, James Curtis Hepburn , following Medhurst, spelled all "e"s as "ye" in his A Japanese and English dictionary (1867); in Japanese, e and i are slightly palatalized, somewhat as in Russian. That

6500-427: The han works as a doubler. A winning hand needs at least one yaku . A Yakuman is a value for limit hands with stringent criteria to fulfill, and in some variations cumulative allows multiple limit hands to be stacked. These hands separate any non-limit hands, ignoring any other scoring patterns and points. Declaring riichi means declaring a ready hand, and is a kind of yaku . A player may declare ready if

6630-518: The pattern stage . The first gold yen coins consisted of 2, 5, and 20 yen coins which were struck throughout 1870. Five yen coins were first struck in gold for the Japanese government in 1870 at the San Francisco Mint . During this time a new mint was being established at Osaka , which did not receive the gold bullion needed for coinage until the following year. Gold bullion was delivered from private Japanese citizens, foreigners, and

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6760-636: The "yen" as Japan's modern unit of currency on June 27, 1871. This Act formally stipulated the adoption of the decimal accounting system of yen (1, 圓 ), sen ( 1 ⁄ 100 , 錢 ), and rin ( 1 ⁄ 1000 , 厘 ). The new currency was gradually introduced beginning from July of that year. Japanese yen denominated paper currency was also conceived with the coins in 1870 as Meiji Tsuho notes by Italian engraver Edoardo Chiossone . These were released as fiat currency in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 50, and 100 yen along with subsidiary notes of 10, 20, and 50 sen in 1872. Almost concurrently,

6890-431: The 1990s to redenominate the yen by introducing a new unit or new yen, equal to 100 yen, and nearly worth one U.S. dollar. This has not happened to date, since the yen remains trusted globally despite its low unit value, and due to the huge costs of reissuing new currency and updating currency-reading hardware. The negative impact of postponing upgrades to various computer software until redenomination occurs, in particular,

7020-462: The Chinese had traded silver in mass called sycees , and when Spanish and Mexican silver coins arrived from the Philippines , the Chinese called them "silver rounds" ( Chinese : 銀圓 ; pinyin : yínyuán ) for their circular shapes. The coins and the name also appeared in Japan. While the Chinese eventually replaced 圆 ; 圓 with 元 , the Japanese continued to use the same word, which

7150-409: The Japanese government. Initially the government opted for silver, which would become the standard unit of value leaving gold coinage as a subsidiary. While gold coinage couldn't be produced domestically in 1870, the mint at Osaka could produce silver coins which included denominations of 5, 10, 20, and 50 sen. None of these coins dated "1870" circulated until the Meiji government officially adopted

7280-477: The Ministry of Finance, seeking to introduce a modern monetary system into Japan. Ōkuma eventually proposed that coins, which were previously square, be made into circles, and that the names of the traditional currencies, ryō (両), bu (分) and shu (朱), be unified into yen (円), which was accepted by the government. Other rejected proposals included physical weight units of "Fun" and "Momme" which never made it past

7410-582: The United States' actions in 1971. Following the United States' measures to devalue the dollar in the summer of 1971, the Japanese government agreed to a new, fixed exchange rate as part of the Smithsonian Agreement , signed at the end of the year. This agreement set the exchange rate at ¥308 per US$ . However, the new fixed rates of the Smithsonian Agreement were difficult to maintain in the face of supply and demand pressures in

7540-399: The agreed table minimum. Most players include table variations in their games, of which some non-standard are included. The hands of seven different pairs and 13 orphans are examples which do not have four melds and the eyes. They are described in more detail below. If the dealer wins the hand, they will remain the dealer and an extra hand is played in addition to the minimum 16 hands in

7670-412: The basic rules to mahjong apply with the Japanese variation, an additional, distinct set of rules are applied. (See the rules for Old Hong Kong Mahjong .) A hand, or Yaku , are specific combinations of tiles or conditions that yield the value of hands. Unlike many variants, a winning hand consists of four melds and requires at least one yaku . When scoring, each yaku has its own han value, and

7800-424: The bottom characters (in traditional Chinese characters ) are the Chinese character for "ten thousand". There are two different sets of honors tiles: winds and dragons. The winds are east, south, west, and north, beginning with east. The dragons are red, green, and white. The white dragon has a blue or black frame on the face of the piece or in some sets is entirely blank. These tiles have no numerical sequence like

7930-417: The counter-clockwise direction from the dealer. If a player gets any flowers or seasons tiles in the replacement draw, the players must wait for the next turn to draw replacement tiles. The dealer draws a piece from the wall in clockwise direction, adding it to their hand. Typically, this draw is performed during the initial deal to speed up play. If this does not complete a legal hand, the dealer then discards

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8060-586: The country. The parlors did 300 billion yen in sales in 2008. There are several manga and anime devoted to dramatic and comic situations involving mahjong (see Media ). Japanese video arcades have introduced mahjong arcade machines that can be connected to others over the Internet. There are also video game versions of strip mahjong. In Japan, there are what are known as professional players , usually members of organizations that compete in internal leagues and external events with other professionals and

8190-582: The currency. The sharp fall in the value of the currency has led some companies, including Modec , to stop presenting their financial statements in Japanese yen. However, this weakness has had some benefits for Japan's tourism industry, as the low exchange rate makes its purchasing power attractive for travellers, particularly those from foreign nations. The name, "Yen", derives from the Japanese word 圓 ( en , [eɴ] ; "round") , which borrows its phonetic reading from Chinese yuan , similar to North Korean won and South Korean won . Originally,

8320-422: The declared action of the player stealing the discard. The act of winning a hand interrupts play to assess the validity of the hand won. Upon confirmation, the player is awarded the hand's value per the specific game's rule. If at any point in the game a player can use another player's discard to complete a legal hand (and with the agreed minimum points), they declare a win and reveal their winning hand. This ends

8450-450: The dice (or the total of the two throws), the player whose wall is chosen then counts the stacks of tiles from right to left. (For double throws, the count may extend to the left side player's stack.) This determines the location where the 'deck' of tiles is cut. Starting from the left of the stacks counted, the dealer draws four tiles for their hand. Proceeding in counter-clockwise order, players take turns drawing blocks of four tiles (so that

8580-411: The different variations of the game. This form of mahjong uses all of the tiles of the most commonly available sets, includes no exotic complex rules, and has a relatively small set of scoring sets/hands with a simple scoring system. For these reasons Hong Kong mahjong is a suitable variation for the introduction of game rules and play and is the focus of this article. Old Hong Kong mahjong is played with

8710-597: The discovery of counterfeits. The 1 yen coin is made out of 100% aluminum and can float on water if placed correctly. Subsidiary coins of "sen" (one hundredth of a yen) were initially introduced in 1870 with a silver alloy in denominations of 5, 10, 20 and 50 sen. Copper sen coins in denominations of half, 1, and 2 came three years later, as Japan acquired the technology needed to mint them. The removal of silver from sen coinage began in 1889, when Cupronickel 5 sen coins were introduced. By 1920, this included cupro-nickel 10 sen and reduced-size silver 50 sen coins. Production of

8840-441: The dollar. In light of the dollar's reduction in value from ¥360 to ¥308 just before the reversion, an unannounced "currency confirmation" took place on October 9, 1971, wherein residents disclosed their dollar holdings in cash and bank accounts; dollars held that day amounting to US$ 60 million were entitled for conversion in 1972 at a higher rate of ¥360. In the 1970s, Japanese government and business people were very concerned that

8970-510: The drivers behind its depreciation. Widely held expectations of yen depreciation can become self-fulfilling prophecies, affecting the currency's exchange rate. To counter this, the BOJ conducted currency interventions of more than JPY 9 trillion selling the dollar and buying the yen in the September–October 2022 and April–May 2024 periods respectively. Numerous proposals have been made since

9100-584: The end of a match, players are often given bonus points or penalties depending on their placement (see final points and place ). In an optional rule called yakitori (焼き鳥), if one did not win a hand in a match, that player pays a penalty. At the start of a match, each player has a marker called yakitori māku (mark) (焼き鳥マーク) on the table, and a player flips their own after winning a hand. Chips or coins are also used as substitutes, and they are often removed instead of being flipped. Often in mahjong parlors across Japan, an additional bonus payment called shūgi (祝儀)

9230-469: The equally valued half sen coin which had been previously minted until 1888. The decision to bring back an equally valued coin was in response to rising inflation caused by World War I which led to an overall shortage of subsidiary coins. The mintage period for five rin coins was brief as they were discontinued after only four years of production due to their sharp decline in monetary value. The overall demand for subsidiary coinage ended as Japan slipped into

9360-467: The establishment of a centralized banking system. The Bank of Japan hence commenced operations on October 10, 1882, with the authority to print banknotes that could be exchanged for the old Government and National Bank Notes. By May 1883, another act provided the redemption and retirement of national bank notes. The National Bank Act was amended again in March 1896, providing for the dissolution of

9490-422: The first hand of each round, Player 1 (winner of the dice toss) is East and therefore dealer. In the second hand, Player 2 takes the East position, shifting the seat winds amongst the players counter-clockwise (though players do not physically move their chairs). This continues until all four players have been East (dealer). A marker is used to mark which player is East and often the round number. (In sets with racks,

9620-420: The first round is completed, a second round begins with South as the prevailing wind, and so on. Wind position is significant in that it affects the scoring of the game. A mahjong set with winds in play will usually include a separate prevailing wind marker (typically a die marked with the wind characters in a holder). In each round at least four hands are played, with each player taking the position of dealer. In

9750-478: The following conditions: Players may be penalized under the following circumstances: A game ends after the last hand of the last round, which is usually the South (prevailing wind) round. A game ends when a player's score becomes negative (below zero), or in some rare local rules, at zero points or less. Some rules may allow continued gameplay with a player having a negative point value. Some rule sets allow for

9880-419: The following manner: Each time a player calls a quad , the next adjacent bonus indicator tile is flipped, starting with the upper tile from the fourth stack from the back end. The indicator is flipped immediately after the quad is called, and after that the player draws a supplemental tile for their hand from the back end of the dead wall. The number of indicators increases in that direction, which becomes five if

10010-519: The foreign-exchange market. In early 1973, the rates were abandoned, and the major nations of the world allowed their currencies to float . After World War II the United States-administered Okinawa issued a higher-valued currency called the B yen from 1946 to 1958, which was then replaced by the U.S. dollar at the rate of $ 1 = 120 B yen. Upon the reversion of Okinawa to Japan in 1972 the Japanese yen then replaced

10140-618: The former entity. During this unstable period, the confusion caused by this form of exchange caused economic turmoil. The gold (counting money) system of eastern Japan and the silver (weighing money) system of the western Japan were not unified, and the difference in the gold-silver ratio caused a large amount of gold to flow overseas at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. Emperor Meiji responded to this by appointing Ōkuma Shigenobu as head of Japan's monetary reform program. He worked with Inoue Kaoru , Itō Hirobumi , and Shibusawa Eiichi to run

10270-450: The game 麻將 ( májiàng ), which is a nasal erhua form of the original name. Its name is similar in other languages, except in Thai , where it is called ไพ่นกกระจอก ( phai nok krachok ), a calque meaning "sparrow cards". There are many highly varied versions of mahjong both in rules and tiles used. "Old Hong Kong mahjong" uses the same basic features and rules as the majority of

10400-474: The general public. There are over 1,700 professionals spread across a half-dozen organizations. There is no universal authority for riichi mahjong in Japan: professionals cannot dictate how mahjong parlors or amateur organizations and players operate, nor can they regulate each other since everything is left to the free market. Likewise, there is no global authority regulating riichi mahjong. Since 2018, there exists

10530-481: The government established a series of national banks modeled after the system in the United States which issued national bank notes. Massive inflation from the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877 caused a glut of non-redeemable fiat currency notes. The issuance of national fiat banknotes was ultimately suspended in 1880 by then prime minister Matsukata Masayoshi . New policies were put into place which included

10660-432: The hand, and scoring commences. If more than one player can use a discard to win the hand, multiple ways can handle the situation based on agreed table rules: The players might count the points they would win with the discard and the winner is the one with the higher score, the winner might simply be the player closest to the discarder in order of turn, or multiple players may be granted the win simultaneously. Alternatively,

10790-424: The impact of the 1973 oil crisis was felt (this was retroactively called endaka , although the term was only coined in 1985). The increased costs of imported oil caused the yen to depreciate to a range of ¥290 per US$ to ¥300 per US$ between 1974 and 1976. The re-emergence of trade surpluses drove the yen back up to ¥211 in 1978. This currency strengthening was again reversed by the second oil shock in 1979 , with

10920-413: The kong. If a player declares a kong by adding a fourth piece to a melded pong but another player can use that piece to complete a hand, the completing player takes priority to win the hand and may steal that piece from the player who intended to declare the kong. Below are two examples of winning hands. A winning hand must consist of four melds (pongs, kongs, or chows) and a pair (eyes) and must also score

11050-428: The last dealer to decide whether to continue playing extra hands in the final round or stop. A runaway victory ( agari-yame , あがりやめ, "win and stop") is when the last dealer decides to exercise this option after winning a hand, for instance when they are the top player at the time. In some cases, a stop may be allowed simply for playing a hand and ending with a ready hand ( tenpai-yame , 聴牌やめ), or in very rare cases, allow

11180-611: The last dealer to end the game regardless of position. If the score of the top player is less than 30,000 points after the last hand of the last round, the game continues into the West round (西場) in some rules. This situation is called shānyū (西入; entering West). The prevailing wind becomes West. A North round (北場) may come next in the same way. Depending on the rules, it can be followed by an East round again or instead White dragon, Green dragon, Red dragon and East rounds. Any extra round ends as soon as one player has 30,000 points or more. At

11310-518: The latter ceased in 1938, after which a variety of base metals were used to produce 1, 5 and 10 sen coins during the Second World War . While clay 5 and 10 sen coins were produced in 1945, they were not issued for circulation. As with the Rin, coins in denominations of less than 1 yen became invalid at the end of 1953 and were demonetized due to inflation. Bronze coins worth one-one thousandth of

11440-485: The latter resulted in the issuance in 2021 of the third bi-metallic 500 yen coin with more improvements in security features. Due to the great differences in style, size, weight and the pattern present on the edge of the coin they are easy for people with visual impairments to tell apart from one another. Commemorative coins have been minted on various occasions in base metal, silver and gold. The first of these were silver ¥100 and ¥1,000 Summer Olympic coins issued for

11570-411: The location of the revealed tiles. Each player then stacks a row of 18 tiles, two tiles high in front of them (for a total of 36 tiles). Players then push each side of their stack together to form a square wall. Regular players usually place their stacks in a slightly diagonal position (about 20 to 30 degrees counter-clockwise); the right end of their stack is pushed slightly further in to the centre of

11700-426: The meld on the table and then make their own discard. Calling for another player's discard makes the group and the hand open. When a winning tile of a closed hand is a discard, the group including that discard is also considered open, while the hand is still regarded as closed. The calls operate exactly the same as any variation of mahjong, except Japanese terminology is used. Players can make an open sequential group,

11830-541: The names or the Chinese characters of each bonus tile, only the number, as this is associated with a specific direction, and the player receives bonus points when the bonus tile matches the seat direction. There is no relation between the bonus tile "bamboo" flower and the bamboo suit of suited tiles (e.g. 4 bamboo). In traditional Chinese culture, the Four Gentlemen are the plum (winter), orchid (spring), bamboo (summer), and chrysanthemum (autumn) which are regarded as

11960-519: The national banks on the expiration of their charters. This amendment also prohibited national bank notes from circulating after December 31, 1899. In that year, Japan adopted a gold exchange standard , defining the yen as 0.75 g fine gold or US$ 0.4985. This exchange rate remained in place until Japan left the gold standard in December 1931, after which the yen fell to $ 0.30 by July 1932 and to $ 0.20 by 1933. It remained steady at around $ 0.30 until

12090-401: The number of points payable depends on which player is the dealer, which in the case, had a 1.5x multiplier. If the winner is the dealer, the points is multiplied as such. Wins via self-drawn tiles split the payment of points. If the winner is a non-dealer, the payment will be a ratio of 1:2 of score for non-dealer and dealer. In many mahjong variants, discards are simply placed in the middle of

12220-472: The number of tiles required to reach a ready hand ( tenpai ). As a consequence, discards should also aim to increase the ukeire (受け入れ) of the hand, the number of tiles that can be drawn to reduce shanten. Unlike some other mahjong variants, in Japanese Mahjong the player who deals in pays the full point value of the winning player's hand. Defense revolves around avoiding dealing into a player with

12350-461: The opportunity to win the hand. There is a three player version called sanma (三麻), which eliminates 28 tiles from the number suit's 2-man through 8-man tiles and removes the ability to call "chii". There is a four player version called "Clear Mahjong" that was created by Noboyuki Fukomoto for the manga "Ten: Tenhōdōri No Kaidanji". There is a version for two players called "San Hako Mahjong" that keeps all tiles, permits calling "chii", and utilizes

12480-452: The order of play. Beyond these basic common rules, numerous regional variations exist which may have notably different criteria for legal melds and winning hands, radically different scoring systems and even elaborate extra rules. A group of players may introduce their own house rules which can notably change the feel of play. The game was originally called 麻雀 ( pinyin : máquè ; Jyutping : maa zoek )—meaning sparrow —which

12610-416: The other players. Another potential penalty is the player who called out the false win must play the rest of the hand with their tiles face up on the table so other players can see them (open hand). Some methods apply the penalty at the end of the entire game. Again, the table rules dictate the enforcement of the penalty. A rarely occurring and high-scoring feature of Hong Kong mahjong is a move called robbing

12740-446: The pattern of [number] + [suit], the numbers being Japanese pronunciations of the corresponding Chinese words. Many basic rules of mahjong apply to the Japanese variation. Valid collections of three tiles are called groups ( mentsu ), divided into triplets ( kōtsu ) and sequences ( shuntsu ). Players can also form a quad using four of the same tile. Players can make a meld (open group) by calling for another player's discard. They reveal

12870-549: The player announces out loud what the piece is. The other players have an opportunity to seize the discarded tile; if no one takes it, the turn continues to the next player. Play continues this way until one player has a legal winning hand and calls out the win (each region does this call differently—no Asian version uses the word "mahjong" to signal a win) while revealing their hand. There are four different ways that regular order of play can be interrupted: During play, each player's hand should always be 13 tiles (meaning in each turn

13000-407: The player's other tiles for scoring purposes should they win the hand, and an extra tile is drawn in replacement of the bonus tile. In addition, unlike the suited and honors tiles, there is only one of each bonus tile, so there are a total of four flower and four season tiles in the set. The tiles have a different artistic rendering of a specific type of flower or season. It is not necessary to know

13130-491: The previous Tokugawa coinage as well as the various hansatsu paper currencies issued by feudal han (fiefs). The Bank of Japan was founded in 1882 and given a monopoly on controlling the money supply. Following World War II , the yen lost much of its pre-war value. To stabilize the Japanese economy , the exchange rate of the yen was fixed at ¥360 per US$ as part of the Bretton Woods system . When that system

13260-408: The problem. Solutions include having the dealer penalised points, shuffling the turned over piece back into the wall somehow, allowing the player to whom the tiles were dealt to take the piece or not (meaning the dealer must take it as their 14th piece), or other house rules. Each player now sets aside any flowers or seasons they may have drawn and takes turns to draw replacement tiles from the wall in

13390-417: The representative plants of those seasons, but people regard it as plum blossom (spring), orchid (summer), chrysanthemum (autumn) and bamboo (winter) now. Before the game can begin, players need to be assigned one of the wind positions at the table - those being (in counterclockwise order) East, South, West, and North. East will also be the first dealer. Play proceeds in this counterclockwise order. There are

13520-410: The same seat positions and prevailing wind). Example of games: All tiles are placed face down on the table and are shuffled. By convention all players should participate in shuffling using both hands moving the pieces around the table rigorously and loudly for a lengthy period. Tiles may get flipped up during this process and players should flip them facing down as soon as possible to avoid identifying

13650-413: The square wall and sums up the total. Counting counter-clockwise so that the dealer is 1 (or 5, 9, 13, 17), so that south (player to the right) is 2 (or 6, 10, 14, 18), etc., a player's quarter of the wall is chosen. Some house rules may use only two dice but have double throws to increase randomness. In the case of double throws, the player of the chosen wall makes the second throw. Using the same total on

13780-596: The stacks are used to build the players' starting hands, 7 stacks are used to form a dead wall, and the remaining 35 stacks form the playing wall. There are 34 different kinds of tiles, with four of each kind. Just like standard mahjong, there are three suits of tiles, pin (circles), sō (bamboo) and wan (characters), and unranked honor tiles (字牌 jihai ). Honor tiles are further divided between wind tiles and dragon tiles. Some rules may have red number five tiles which work as dora that earn more han value. The flower and season tiles are omitted. Names for suit tiles follow

13910-408: The stacks decrease clockwise) until each player (including the dealer) has 12 tiles. Each player then draws one last tile to make a 13-tile hand. The tile to be drawn is always the topmost tile left of the cut. Dealing does not have to be strictly this way and may be done quite differently based on house rules. Tiles may flip over when being dealt and players should agree in advance on how to deal with

14040-475: The start of the Pacific War on December 7, 1941, at which time it fell to $ 0.23. The sen and the rin were eventually taken out of circulation at the end of 1953. No true exchange rate existed for the yen between December 7, 1941, and April 25, 1949; wartime inflation reduced the yen to a fraction of its prewar value. After a period of instability, on April 25, 1949, the U.S. occupation government fixed

14170-407: The suited tiles (for example the bamboo pieces number 1 to 9). Like the suited tiles, there are four identical copies of each honors tile, for a total of 28 honors tiles. There are two sets of bonus tiles: flowers and seasons. The flower and season tiles play a unique role in the mechanics of the game. When drawn, the bonus tile is not added into a player's hand but are instead set aside and kept near

14300-441: The table in a disorganized fashion. However, with the Japanese variant, tiles are neatly placed in order of discard in front of each player. In turn, each player accumulates a discard pile, with each hand. Typically, discards are placed in rows of 6 tiles as per customary rule. In addition, open calls for chii , pon , and kan have discard specific rules, by which they must indicate the source and type of discarded tile. This way,

14430-409: The table to meet almost the middle of the stack of the player on the right. This creates a smaller square wall the length of about half of each stack, with walls extended away from each corner of the square. The diagonally positioned stacks and a smaller square creates a bigger space for players' tiles and also makes an ergonomic position for drawing tiles from the stack. The dealer throws three dice in

14560-406: The three (or four) tiles face up. The player must then discard a tile, and play continues to the right. If the player who melds a discard is not directly after the discarder (in order of play), one or two players will essentially miss their turn as play continues counter-clockwise from the player who declared the meld. If multiple players call for a discarded tile, priority for the discard depends on

14690-405: The tile to complete a meld. Stealing tiles has both advantages (quickly forming a winning hand and scoring extra points) and disadvantages (being forced to reveal part of one's hand to other players and not being able to change the meld once declared). When a meld (pong, kong, or chow) is declared through a discard, the player must state the type of meld to be declared and expose the meld by placing

14820-473: The value of the yen at ¥360 per USD through a United States plan, which was part of the Bretton Woods system , to stabilize prices in the Japanese economy . That exchange rate was maintained until 1971, when the United States abandoned the gold standard, ending a key element of the Bretton Woods system, and setting in motion changes that eventually led to floating exchange rates in 1973. By 1971,

14950-406: The value of the yen. From its average of ¥239 per US$ in 1985, the yen rose to a peak of ¥128 in 1988, virtually doubling its value relative to the dollar. After declining somewhat in 1989 and 1990, it reached a new high of ¥123 to US$ in December 1992. In April 1995, the yen hit a peak of under 80 yen/US$ , temporarily making Japan's economy nearly the size of that of the US. The yen declined during

15080-416: The war, brass 50 sen, 1 and 5 yen were introduced between 1946 and 1948. The current-type holed brass 5 yen was introduced in 1949, the bronze 10 yen in 1951, and the aluminum 1 yen in 1955. In 1955 the first unholed, nickel 50 yen was introduced. In 1957, silver 100 yen pieces were introduced, followed by the holed 50 yen coin in 1959. These were replaced in 1967 by the current cupro-nickel 100 yen along with

15210-451: The winner would collect a considerable number of points from each player on top of their scoring hand. Because extra hands may be played every time a dealer wins or if there is a goulash hand, a match of 16 hands can easily become a match of 20 or even much more. As table rules add a large amount of flexibility for players, they can choose to disregard the rule of extra hands and pass on the dealership regardless of who wins or if it results in

15340-494: The world price of the yen has greatly decreased, falling to an average of almost ¥158 per dollar and ¥171 per euro in July 2024. The Bank of Japan maintains a policy of zero to near-zero interest rates and the Japanese government has previously had a strict anti-inflation policy. From late 2020 to first half 2024, the yen depreciated against the dollar by about 60%, giving rise to serious concern in Japan about long-term prospects for

15470-501: The year of mintage, which is not shown in Gregorian calendar years, but instead in the regnal year of the current emperor's reign , with the first year of an era called gannen ( 元年 ) . Imperial portraits have never appeared on Japanese coins, as the image of the emperor remains sacred. In 1897, the silver 1 yen coin was demonetized and the sizes of the gold coins were reduced by 50%, with 5, 10 and 20 yen coins issued. After

15600-412: The yen dropping to ¥227 per US$ by 1980. During the first half of the 1980s, the yen failed to rise in value, though current account surpluses returned and grew quickly. From ¥221 per US$ in 1981, the average value of the yen actually dropped to ¥239 per US$ in 1985. The rise in the current account surplus generated stronger demand for yen in foreign-exchange markets, but this trade-related demand for yen

15730-428: The yen had become undervalued. Japanese exports were costing too little in international markets, and imports from abroad were costing the Japanese too much. This undervaluation was reflected in the current account balance , which had risen from the deficits of the early 1960s, to a then-large surplus of US$ 5.8 billion in 1971. The belief that the yen, and several other major currencies, were undervalued motivated

15860-602: The yen is determined in foreign exchange markets by the economic forces of supply and demand . The supply of the yen in the market is governed by the desire of yen holders to exchange their yen for other currencies to purchase goods , services , or assets . The demand for the yen is governed by the desire of foreigners to buy goods and services in Japan and by their interest in investing in Japan (buying yen-denominated real and financial assets). Mahjong#Old Hong Kong mahjong rules Mahjong ( English pronunciation: / m ɑː ˈ dʒ ɒ ŋ / mah- JONG )

15990-634: The yen was 15% undervalued against the dollar, and as much as 40% undervalued against the euro. However, this trend of depreciation reversed after the global economic crisis of 2008 . Other major currencies, except the Swiss franc , have been declining relative to the yen. On April 4, 2013, the Bank of Japan announced that they would expand their asset purchase program by $ 1.4 trillion in two years. The Bank of Japan hopes to bring Japan from deflation to inflation, aiming for 2% inflation. The number of purchases

16120-473: The yen weak relative to the dollar and fostered the rapid rise in the Japanese trade surplus that took place in the 1980s. In 1985, a dramatic change began. Finance officials from major nations signed an agreement (the Plaza Accord ) affirming that the dollar was overvalued (and, therefore, the yen undervalued). This agreement, and shifting supply and demand pressures in the markets, led to a rapid rise in

16250-487: The ¥5000 bill features Tsuda Umeko and Wisteria flowers, and the ¥10,000 bill features Shibusawa Eiichi and Tokyo Station . The Ministry decided to not redesign the ¥2000 note due to low circulation. The EURion constellation pattern is present in the Series D, E and F banknotes. Beginning in December 1931, Japan gradually shifted from the gold standard system to the managed currency system. The relative value of

16380-436: Was abandoned in 1971, the yen became undervalued and was allowed to float. The yen had appreciated to a peak of ¥271 per US$ in 1973, then underwent periods of depreciation and appreciation due to the 1973 oil crisis , arriving at a value of ¥227 per US$ by 1980. Since 1973, the government of Japan has maintained a policy of currency intervention, so the yen is under a managed float regime . The Japanese government focused on

16510-422: Was also cited. The Japan Mint has issued legal tender coins from 1871 to the present. The obverse side of all coins shows the coin's value in kanji characters as well as the country name (through 1945, Dai Nippon ( 大日本 , "Great Japan") ; after 1945, Nippon-koku ( 日本国 , "State of Japan") (except for the current 5-yen coin with the country name on the reverse). The reverse side of all coins shows

16640-533: Was given the shinjitai form 円 in reforms at the end of World War II. The spelling and pronunciation "yen" is standard in English , because when Japan was first encountered by Europeans around the 16th century, Japanese /e/ ( え ) and /we/ ( ゑ ) both had been pronounced [je] and Portuguese missionaries had spelled them "ye". By the middle of the 18th century, /e/ and /we/ came to be pronounced [e] as in modern Japanese, although some regions retain

16770-445: Was offset by other factors. A wide differential in interest rates, with United States interest rates much higher than those in Japan, and the continuing moves to deregulate the international flow of capital , led to a large net outflow of capital from Japan. This capital flow increased the supply of yen in foreign-exchange markets, as Japanese investors changed their yen for other currencies (mainly dollars) to invest overseas. This kept

16900-556: Was the first full-scale Japanese-English/English-Japanese dictionary, which had a strong influence on Westerners in Japan and probably prompted the spelling "yen". Hepburn revised most "ye"s to "e" in the 3rd edition (1886) to mirror the contemporary pronunciation, except "yen". Although the Edo Shogunate collapsed with the Meiji Restoration and a new government was born, the monetary system still took over that of

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