Its rules are simplified and easy to pick up—Winds, Dragons, and Flowers are all treated as bonus tiles, keeping the game focused on building sets, completing your hand, and winning quickly.

The result is a lively, social version of Mahjong that’s approachable for beginners while still offering plenty of strategy for experienced players.

What Makes it Distinctive?

16-Tile Hand: Unlike the 13-tile standard, players hold 16 tiles, requiring 5 melds and a pair to win.
Bonus Flowers:Winds and Dragons are simplified into bonus "Flowers," granting instant payouts rather than being used for sets.
Simplified Strategy: Compared with Riichi or MCR, Filipino Mahjong puts less emphasis on complex scoring patterns and hand-value optimization. Strategy is more rapid: build sets, read the table, track useful and dangerous discards, and decide when claiming a tile is worth revealing part of your hand.
Jai Alai & Joker: Unique game modes like Jai Alai markers and wild card Jokers add extra layers of excitement.

Lesson 1Interactive Tutorial

Objective & Winning Hands

Learn the 16-tile objective, Chow, Pong, Kang, pairs, and how to build a complete winning hand.

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Objective of the Game

The goal of Filipino Mahjong is to be the first player to complete a hand consisting of 5 melds (groups of three or four) and 1 pair.

Filipino Mahjong Tiles

The game is played with a standard 144-tile set, divided into suited tiles (Balls, Sticks, and Characters) and bonus tiles. In the Filipino variant, all Winds, Dragons, Flowers, and Seasons are treated as "Flowers" and are replaced immediately when drawn.

Lesson 2Interactive Tutorial

Filipino Mahjong Game Setup

Follow the full setup process, including wall building, dice rolls, determining the mano, and dealing.

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Game Setup

Setting up involves shuffling the tiles face-down, building four walls (18 stacks each), and rolling dice to determine the mano (dealer) and the wall break point. Each player is dealt 16 tiles, with the máno receiving a 17th tile to start the game.

Lesson 3Interactive Tutorial

Gameplay Flow & Turn Sequence

Learn drawing, claiming discards, turn order, claim priority, Kang declarations, Todas, and Bunot.

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How to Play: Turn Sequence

Each turn follows a simple three-step cycle:

Get a Tile

Either Draw from the wall or Claim a discarded tile from another player.

Arrange your hand

Organize your tiles into potential melds: Chow (straights), Pong (triplets), or Kang (quads).

Discard

Discard one tile face up to end your turn.

Winning: Todas & Bunot

Todas:Winning by claiming another player's discard.
Bunot: Winning by drawing the final winning tile yourself from the wall.

Lesson 4Interactive Tutorial

Detailed & Advanced Rules

Learn Secret, Sagasa, Siete Pares, Joker mechanics, Jai Alai, Robbing the Kang, and other special situations.

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Filipino Mahjong Advanced Rules

Beyond the basics, Filipino Mahjong includes advanced maneuvers like Sagasa (adding to an existing Pong), Secret (concealed Kang), and special win conditions like Siete Pares (Seven Pairs).

Lesson 5Interactive Tutorial

Filipino Mahjong Scoring

Learn payouts, win types, instant bonuses, Ambitions, Jai Alai pots, and the complete scoring system.

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Scoring & Payouts

Scoring in Filipino Mahjong is represented by direct payouts between players. Factors like how you won (Todas vs. Bunot), special melds, and "Ambitions" (specific high-value hands) determine the final payout.

Terminology

Mano: The dealer/lead player for the round.
Todas: The declaration of a winning hand.
Bunot: To draw a winning tile from the wall.
Sagasa: Upgrading a revealed triplet to a four-of-a-kind.

Practice & Play Filipino Mahjong

The fastest way to master Filipino Mahjong is at the virtual table. Mahjong Tayo! features authentic Filipino rules, smart bots, and smooth mobile play on iOS and Android.

Ready to start the course?

Begin with Lesson 1 to master the 16-tile hand and basic objective.

Start Lesson 1: Objective & Tiles →