Beyond Hong Kong, riichi and American mahjong sits a whole family of regional games that share the tiles and almost nothing else. Some strip the wall down to 108 tiles, some pile in two dozen jokers, three of them seat only three players, and one is famous for not ending at the first win. Here are seven rare mahjong variations worth knowing, grouped by what each one actually changes.
Sichuan bloody mahjong: the game that keeps going
Sichuan mahjong is played with 108 tiles — the three suits only, with every wind, dragon and flower removed. Fewer tile types means faster hands and far less guessing about what is still live.
One rule defines the opening. Before play starts, each player declares a void suit and must discard every tile of that suit before they can win, which broadcasts a slice of everyone’s plan from the first turn.
The bloody part is the ending. The nickname comes from the “fight to the end” format, in which the hand does not necessarily stop the moment somebody wins. Exactly how the rest of the hand runs, and how the table settles up afterwards, varies between houses and apps enough that it is worth agreeing out loud before the first tile is drawn.
Why it plays so differently
With only three suits in the wall and no honours at all, the pool of tiles anyone can be waiting on is much narrower than in a standard game, and the void-suit declarations narrow it again from the opening turn. That is where Sichuan gets its reputation for speed.
Scoring is where the variant diverges most from the game you already know, and it is also where local rules multiply fastest. Wikipedia’s overview of scoring in mahjong is the quickest way to see how far apart regional systems sit before you sit down at one.
Mahjong for three players
Malaysian three-player mahjong
Built deliberately for three, this version of three-player mahjong strips the wall back hard: circles and honours only, joined by the extra eight flowers of a Malaysian set (its ‘face’ and ‘animal’ tiles) and its ‘fly’ jokers, for a total of 84 tiles.
Those extras are what a Malaysian set is known for. The fly tiles, the face tiles and the animal tiles simply do not exist in a Chinese set, which is why the game travels so poorly.
The discard pile is thinner than in a four-handed game and it fills with a much narrower range of tiles, so the usual habit of inferring a hand from what somebody has thrown away gives you far less to work with. Adaptability beats any prepared plan here.
Japanese three-player mahjong (sanma)
Sanma is riichi mahjong reduced to three seats. The characters suit is gutted (2 through 8 come out, leaving only the terminals) so a large slice of the wall’s run-building material is simply absent.
Nobody holds North as a seat wind at a three-player table, which is why sanma rule sets treat that tile differently from the way a four-player game does. Anyone who already plays riichi will recognise the machinery immediately, but the tempo is much sharper.
Korean three-player mahjong
The Korean game also seats three, and it thins the wall in its own way. The removals are the north wind, the 2-8 of bamboo and the four season tiles, with the four flowers kept. Circles and characters stay complete, leaving a 108-tile wall.
What is left is a compact game with bamboo cut back to its terminals, so the range of hands that are realistic to build (and the range you have to fear from anyone else) is narrower than at a four-player table.
The joker games
Vietnamese mahjong
Vietnamese sets are the most crowded in mahjong. A classic set runs to 160 tiles: the standard 144, plus eight jokers, four kings and four queens. Modern sets push further to 176 by tripling the joker group, with each family of jokers marked by a distinguishing outline so they can be told apart.
Those extra mahjong tiles are the whole character of the game, and the joker group is the part that varies most from one set to the next. What all those extra tiles are worth, and how they may be used, is settled table by table rather than by one central rule book.
Filipino mahjong
The Philippine game deals sixteen-tile hands, so a winning hand is five sets of three plus a pair rather than the four-plus-a-pair most players are used to. That one change resets every tile-efficiency instinct carried over from a thirteen-tile game.
Bonus tiles and the optional wildcard are the other things to ask about, and both are local decisions. Plenty of tables in the Philippines run no joker at all, so it is the first thing to settle before you start rather than something to discover mid-hand.
Shanghainese mahjong: the gentlest entry point
Shanghai play uses the standard 144-tile set but keeps the rule set light: fewer scoring patterns, quick rounds and a low barrier to entry, which is why it is often recommended to newcomers. Some house rules turn a randomly determined tile into a wildcard for the hand, adding a jolt of variance to an otherwise straightforward game.
At a glance
| Variant | Players | Tiles | What makes it distinctive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sichuan bloody | 4 | 108 | Declared void suit; “fight to the end” format |
| Malaysian three-player | 3 | 84 | Circles and honours only, plus fly jokers and face/animal bonus tiles |
| Japanese sanma | 3 | Characters 2-8 removed | Riichi mahjong reduced to three seats |
| Korean three-player | 3 | 108 | North wind, bamboo 2-8 and the seasons removed; flowers kept |
| Vietnamese | 4 | 160 or 176 | Jokers, kings and queens |
| Filipino | 4 | 144 | Sixteen-tile hands; joker use varies by table |
| Shanghainese | 4 | 144 | Light scoring, optional wildcard |
How to try a rare variant tonight with a standard set
Two of these need no special equipment at all. Shanghainese and Filipino play both run on an ordinary 144-tile set — for the Filipino game you deal sixteen tiles instead of thirteen and aim for five sets plus a pair.
Sichuan is nearly as easy: pull the four winds, three dragons and eight bonus tiles out of a standard set and you are left with exactly the 108 tiles the variant uses.
The Korean game is a subtraction job too. Take out the four North winds, bamboo 2 through 8 and the four seasons, keep the flowers, and a standard set becomes the 108-tile Korean wall.
Vietnamese and Malaysian rules are the ones that genuinely require their own sets, since the jokers, kings, queens, fly tiles and animals do not exist in a Chinese set. Japanese sanma needs a riichi set plus point sticks or a scoring app.
Settle the version before you deal
Rare variants are house games as much as published ones. The version a friend learned in Chengdu, Manila or Kuala Lumpur may not match the one an app taught you, and the differences are rarely announced.
Spend ten minutes before the first hand agreeing who deals, what ends a hand, and how the table settles up — then write it where everyone can see it. If your group wants a neutral reference to argue from, Wikipedia’s overview of mahjong covers the family as a whole, and the European Mahjong Association publishes a full competition rule set for groups that would rather adopt one fixed standard than negotiate.
Four rule books is a lot of tiles to own outright. The Mahjong Masters hires the Size 40 Green Chinese 144-tile set for exactly this sort of experiment — one set, one weekend, as many variants as your group can stomach. Collection is from Brodie Spark Drive in Wolli Creek, or we deliver anywhere in Greater Sydney.
Weekday and weekend rates differ, so a midweek variant night is worth pricing before you commit to a Saturday. The tile set and table hire options are all quoted per duration, so a one-night trial costs a fraction of a set.
What trips people up when switching variants
- Carrying over the winning shape. Sixteen-tile games need five sets plus a pair, not four. Counting blocks from your home variant leads to declaring hands that are not complete.
- Assuming your home rules travel. Melding, minimums and settlement all differ between variants, and nobody at the table thinks to mention the differences because they are obvious to them. Ask rather than assume.
- Forgetting the minimum. Some variants have none, others demand a real hand before you may declare.
- Treating jokers as free wins. In joker-heavy sets everyone has them, and scoring tables are adjusted to compensate.
- Not settling payouts first. Variants differ on whether the discarder pays alone or the whole table contributes. Agree before the first tile is drawn.
Why bother with the rare ones
Playing an unfamiliar variant strips away autopilot. Rules you had internalised as facts turn out to be local conventions, and the underlying skill (reading a wall, valuing a shape, knowing when to fold) becomes visible for the first time.
It is also the clearest way to see that mahjong is not one game but a family of them. If you would rather stay closer to home, the sixteen-tile Taiwanese game and the animal tiles of Singapore mahjong are gentler departures, and the Siamese twist on the classic game is another regional detour worth a night at the table.
Questions about playing the rarer variants
What is the rarest mahjong variation?
Rarity depends on where you are standing. Outside China, Sichuan bloody mahjong and Malaysian three-player mahjong are almost unknown, yet both have very large regional followings. The genuinely scarce sets are the Vietnamese ones, because their jokers, kings and queens are not made for any other game.
Can I play these variants with a normal mahjong set?
Shanghainese and Filipino rules work with a standard 144-tile set. Sichuan works once you remove the honours and bonus tiles to leave 108, and the Korean game works once you pull the North winds, bamboo 2 through 8 and the four seasons — also 108, with the flowers kept in. Vietnamese and Malaysian rules need their own sets.
Which rare variant is easiest to learn?
Shanghainese mahjong, because the scoring is deliberately light. Sichuan is a close second: with the honours and bonus tiles gone, there is far less to keep track of.
Why does Sichuan mahjong remove the winds and dragons?
Dropping the honours leaves only the three numbered suits, which makes hands faster, waits easier to calculate and the game more aggressive. It also makes the mandatory void-suit rule meaningful, since every tile in the wall belongs to one of just three suits.
How many tiles are in a Vietnamese mahjong set?
A classic set has 160 and a modern set 176, the difference being the number of joker copies: classic sets carry one of each of the eight jokers, modern sets three.
Do three-player variants use the same winning hand?
The shape of a winning hand is broadly familiar, but the wall is smaller and the tile pool narrower, so the hands that are realistic to build are not the same ones. Play is quicker, and because the pool is narrower the discards you do see point at a shorter list of possibilities.
Curious enough to try one? Rent a mahjong set and play a variant properly before you commit to buying.
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