Mahjong is an ancient Chinese entertainment of two kinds: one of them is a gambling game similar to poker, and the other is solitaire made of wooden chips. Nowadays, this invention of their country of origin of silk and paper is very popular, especially among Internet users. There are so many different options that each of them will choose his own. But despite this, many find it difficult to immediately understand how to play mahjong. Let's try to figure it out.
Solitaire History
Mahjong is also called Chinese domino or Shanghai solitaire, and the game itself has several hundred (or even several thousand) years. There are different versions of her appearance. One says that Noah was keen on this game when he sailed in his ark. Another theory claims that it was invented by Confucius and, traveling around the country, distributed it to different regions and provinces of China. There is another opinion that the creator of the game is General Chen Yu Moon.
In the mid-19th century, he invented it to entertain his soldiers, who were sleeping on duty. The basis was then the well-known card game "ma-chiao", but with complicated rules and a large number of cards. Gradually, it became popular not only in China, but also around the world.
At the end of the 20th century, it became possible to play mahjong on a computer - a field with chips was unfolding in full screen. With the original version of the game, this solitaire now resembles only the images on the tablets and in their quantity.
Cards in Traditional Mahjong
In total in this game 144 different chips, which, in turn, are divided into seven different types.
The first three are cards with the image of bamboo (or "chiao" in Chinese), circles ("bin") and simple plates ("van"). There are 36 of them in total - nine of each type with numbers from 1 to 9.
Another group of plates is dedicated to winds ("fan"). There are 16 of them, 4 each for the north, south, west and east.
The next view is the mahjong dragons ("moons"). There are 12 of them in total, 3 for each suit - green happiness ("Fatsay"), white board ("Baiban"), red middle ("Hongzhong").
And the last 8 plates - “huar” and “go” - have images of flowers and fruits.
How to play Mahjong?
Chinese dominoes are not for those who want a quick victory, it requires perseverance, attentiveness, calm and a good memory. Nobody has been using the traditional version of mahjong with wooden tablets for a long time, most often fans prefer a computer or online version of solitaire. Understanding how to play mahjong on the Internet is not difficult, the rules are pretty simple:
- The program automatically places the chips in a shape (flat or three-dimensional - it depends on the type of mahjong). Most often these are combinations of “turtle”, “cat”, “crab” and others.
- The goal of the player is to remove all the chips from the field by removing paired plates in turn. A card which is either at the very top or is not blocked on the left or on the right side is considered free.
- Paired are such chips on which the merits and suits coincide.
It is believed that there are no insoluble layouts, since the program places the tablets strictly according to a certain algorithm.
Different versions of Mahjong
The fantasy of players is so inventive that the Internet is replete with many options. Among users, animation is very popular, which dilutes for many the boring process of folding plates. For example, you can play mahjong with butterflies, full-screen flying and pleasing to the eye with their bright wings with the right combination of chips. To some, it seems more fun than folding up traditional Chinese game cards.
At the very beginning, it may seem to people that playing mahjong is somehow difficult and boring, because ordinary card solitaire games are easier and more attractive. However, it is not. On the Internet there are different levels, different layouts and different options for color and animation design, so that any player can find for himself what suits him. Perhaps that is why mahjong is becoming more popular among other entertainment online applications.