Suzume-Jong rules (44-tile boxed game set)

American, Filipino... Any other rule sets you may have heard of or come across!

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Suzume-Jong rules (44-tile boxed game set)

Post by Barticle » Mon Jul 15, 2019 5:35 pm

I can't even remember how I found it online, but I came across this new (2018) mahjong-based game called Suzume-Jong.

(The name is also spelled すずめ雀 in Japanese. 雀 is the second kanji in "mahjong" but individually it's read as Suzume meaning "sparrow".)

It's a reduced and very simplified version of mahjong for two to five players. The box contains only forty-four tiles - four each of nine Bams tiles, green dragon and red dragon - and one each of the Bams have red markings (like red fives). It also has three types of scoring sticks (worth 1, 5 and 10 points each), a winds indicator, a little board to display a bonus tile, scoring reference cards and a surprisingly thick manual.
suzume-jong.jpg
suzume-jong.jpg (29.93 KiB) Viewed 13798 times
The tiles are all shuffled face-down and remain on the table for drawing. (no wall)

A tile is picked as the bonus tile. This is labelled as the 宝牌 (treasure tile) and it's the actual bonus tile, you don't +1 as with Dora indicators usually.

Players hold only five tiles each. They take turns in counter-clockwise order, drawing and discarding (face-up).

The aim is to declare a winning hand of two complete sets which is worth at least 5 points, made up from any of the following:

- Sequence set = 1 pt
- Triplet set = 2 pts
- Red tiles = 1 pt each
- Bonus tiles = 1 pt each
- East bonus = 2 pts

- Tanyao (all suit tiles between 2-8) = 1 pt
- Chanta (both sets contain at least one 1, 9 or dragon) = 2 pts
- All Green (all tiles are 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 or green dragon) = 10 pts
- Chinyao (all tiles are 1, 9 or dragon - Honroutou renamed) = 15 pts
- Super Red (all tiles are red) = 20 pts

You can win by Ron (discarder pays) or Tsumo (equal payments, divided and rounded up).

There are no Chii/Pon calls and no Riichi.

Players start with 40 pts each and a match is played over four hands, presumably with the seat-winds rotating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK8LJiGig

https://sgrk.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-4035.html

https://www.tbd.com.tw/products/%E8%BF% ... uzume-jong

It's designed to be simple enough for young children (ages 6+). The red Bams are a clever addition, otherwise you could just play using a normal mahjong set!

(I guess there's ample potential for adapting or making your own simplified mahjong without buying a whole separate game pack.)

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