Where Winds Meet (with mahjong minigame)
Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2026 7:23 pm
Today I've been investigating Where Winds Meet. It sounds like a mahjong game but it's actually a free-to-play open-world action RPG with a Chinese fantasy Wuxia setting (like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) so there's lots of fighting, heroic leaps and running up tall trees, but also lots of dungeons, loot and a bewildering array of items and menus.
However it does have a playable mahjong minigame. This can initially be found within the game world at the inn in Blissful Retreat in west Qinghe where you meet Aunt Han. (also a good mahjong name!) You can also play on the ostentatious Mirage Boat during the overlong The Gilded Chase side-quest.
You pay five units of Commerce Coin to play one hand against three opponents.
The minigame uses a variant of Sichuan Bloody Rules.
Only the standard suit tiles are used. Winds, dragons and flowers are not included.
After drawing their starting hand each player must choose one suit to exclude. These tiles appear at the right end of your hand and should be discarded first.
You hold thirteen tiles to make a complete hand of four sets and one pair (or exceptionally seven pairs).
The sets can be sequences, triplets or quads. You can make Pong or Kong calls but you cannot call Chow to make a sequence.
A 20-second timer is applied on each move, even in single-player mode.
The game recognises 21 combinations but you can go out with a Standard Hand (no combos).
A basic win is worth 10 pts but each quad made adds to your score.
When you've finished building your hand you can declare a win with "Hu". This locks your hand but the other players continue.
Combinations apply doubling multipliers to the hand value and can be stacked. There are no limits.
The discarder pays for a direct hit and all three opponents pay for a self-draw win.
A hand continues until three players have declared wins or the supply of tiles is exhausted.
Afterwards a penalty is applied for any player without a ready hand or holding their excluded suit.
In the example below I think I got 20 pts off each player for making a quad, then scored 10x32 pts for the hand win.
(The "Root" combo is for having four identical tiles.)
There are a couple of player aids. Selecting a tile in your hand will highlight all matches on the table.
The game also indicates which tile/s to discard for a ready hand and shows your wait/s and how many of each are available.
You usually play against three human opponents but, if you drink from the strange wine outside the inn first, you and your opponents will adopt canine form (Shiba Inu with waggly tails).
Other minigames include Xiangqi (Chinese chess) endgames and wrestling in padded tigerskin suits! I've spotted Go boards but these are not playable.
However it does have a playable mahjong minigame. This can initially be found within the game world at the inn in Blissful Retreat in west Qinghe where you meet Aunt Han. (also a good mahjong name!) You can also play on the ostentatious Mirage Boat during the overlong The Gilded Chase side-quest.
You pay five units of Commerce Coin to play one hand against three opponents.
The minigame uses a variant of Sichuan Bloody Rules.
Only the standard suit tiles are used. Winds, dragons and flowers are not included.
After drawing their starting hand each player must choose one suit to exclude. These tiles appear at the right end of your hand and should be discarded first.
You hold thirteen tiles to make a complete hand of four sets and one pair (or exceptionally seven pairs).
The sets can be sequences, triplets or quads. You can make Pong or Kong calls but you cannot call Chow to make a sequence.
A 20-second timer is applied on each move, even in single-player mode.
The game recognises 21 combinations but you can go out with a Standard Hand (no combos).
A basic win is worth 10 pts but each quad made adds to your score.
When you've finished building your hand you can declare a win with "Hu". This locks your hand but the other players continue.
Combinations apply doubling multipliers to the hand value and can be stacked. There are no limits.
The discarder pays for a direct hit and all three opponents pay for a self-draw win.
A hand continues until three players have declared wins or the supply of tiles is exhausted.
Afterwards a penalty is applied for any player without a ready hand or holding their excluded suit.
In the example below I think I got 20 pts off each player for making a quad, then scored 10x32 pts for the hand win.
(The "Root" combo is for having four identical tiles.)
There are a couple of player aids. Selecting a tile in your hand will highlight all matches on the table.
The game also indicates which tile/s to discard for a ready hand and shows your wait/s and how many of each are available.
You usually play against three human opponents but, if you drink from the strange wine outside the inn first, you and your opponents will adopt canine form (Shiba Inu with waggly tails).
Other minigames include Xiangqi (Chinese chess) endgames and wrestling in padded tigerskin suits! I've spotted Go boards but these are not playable.