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All games are designed around national standards, with a few tweaks to ensure local play is enjoyable for everyone. If any disputes arise, our games manager is here to help resolve them. Remember, the most important thing is to have fun!

Your assigned time to play will be communicated via email by March 5, 2025

Make sure you check the schedule tab as time and dates may change.

1. Mexican Train
2. Mah Jongg

Mexican Train

QUICK VIEW: Monday, March 31, 2025

Location: Robson Reserve at Sun Lakes, 9508 E. Riggs Rd, Independent Living Building

Mexican Train is a game played with dominoes. As there are variations in play, please review the tournament rules of play prior to signing up to ensure you agree to the format of this event before signing up. The object of the game is for a player to play all the tiles from his or her hand onto one or more chains, or trains, emanating from a central hub or "station." Multiple tables of players will play a complete game of six rounds. The player with the lowest score at each table will go on to play a second game in the Championship Round in the afternoon. A complimentary box lunch provided by Robson Reserve is included.

Object of the Game:

To play all your dominoes onto your own train, onto the Mexican train and onto other players marked trains. You play your dominoes one per round unless you have doubles, then it’s two tiles. You keep playing until someone is able to place all their tiles.

Game Equipment:

One set of Double 12 Dominoes (set of 91) will be provided. A marker (train token) for each player plus one for the Mexican Train and a Station Holder.

Rules of Play:

Start by Setting the Station Number: Find the double 12 and place it in the Station Holder. The Station Holder is a small round piece of plastic that players use to anchor their starting tile and then their train continues to grow from there.

Determine who is the first player: Turn all the dominoes face down and shuffle them on the table. Each player draws one tile. Whoever picked the tile with the highest count is the player who plays first. Return the tiles face down and reshuffle all the tiles.

The number of Dominoes drawn at the beginning of each session depends of how many people are playing. 1-5 = 12 tiles, 6-10 – 10 tiles

Next Moves and Plays:

The first player starts their train by laying a tile in their slot of the Station Holder that matched the tile in the center of the Station Holder. If a player is unable to start their train in their first turn, they draw from the pile and if they can play that tile, they do so. If they still cannot start, they simply ‘put their train up’ by placing their train token next to their slot on the Station Holder and their turn is over. When a ‘train is up’, the train is public and anyone can play a tile on that train, or in this case, lay a tile to start the train. If, in a later turn, the player draws a domino that enables them to play a tile on their train, they can do so and remove their marker. Other players are allowed to start your train for you but your train token can only be removed when you play a tile on your train.
Dominoes must match and be played end-to-end. Players can only add one domino at a time on subsequent turns, unless they play a double. Doubles are tiles that have the same number on each side, allowing for two dominoes to be played. If you play a double, you need to play a second tile that matches. If you can’t “satisfy” your double by playing the second tile, you have to draw a tile. If you can use the drawn tile to satisfy your double, you play that tile and then your turn is over. If you still can’t satisfy the double, you have to put your train up and the next person in line has to satisfy your double by playing a tile from their hand or drawing one from the pile. If they can’t satisfy the double, they too have to put their train up. Play continues in this manner until someone satisfies the double.
Players do not have to start their train before being able to play tiles on other player’s trains or the Mexican train.

Marking Trains:

Trains marked with a train token are public and any player can add to them. Trains that aren’t marked are private and only the player who started them can add to them.
Players can change their public train back to private by removing the marker, if they can play a matching end.
You can play on the Mexican train.

If you can’t make a move, draw 1 tile from the pile. If you can play that drawn tile, you are allowed to do so during your turn.
It is your responsibility to remember to put up your train or remove it accordingly. You are no longer able to do either after the next person has started their turn.

Winning:

The winning player scores zero; the other players score the total of the number of points on the dominoes still left in their hands. Usually, a series of games are played and whoever has the least points at the end of the series, wins the match.

For the tournament, we will play multiple tables with multiple players. We will play 6 rounds. The player at each table who has the lowest score will move to the Championship Round. We will play another 6 Rounds. Scores from the two Rounds will be added together and the 2 players with the lowest scores will win 1st and 2nd place.

Mah Jongg

Quick View

Sun Lakes Senior Games Mah Jongg Event - Wednesday, March 26, 2025, Robson Reserve at Sun Lakes, 9508 E. Riggs Road, Sun Lakes, AZ 85248 Independant Living Building.

STANDARDIZED NATIONAL MAH JONGG TOURNAMENT RULES

1. THE CARD: All Players are required to display the National Mah Jongg League (NMJL) card during tournament play. The CARD is considered necessary equipment; and it is a sign of courtesy to display the card during the official games.

2. COURTESY: We sincerely value the quality and nature of our tournaments - played in a gracious and courteous manner. We have instituted a “ZERO TOLERANCE CODE” as it applies to inconsiderate, rude or abusive players.

A. Upon the first complaint, the offending player will be asked to refrain from discourteous activity.

B. If there is a 2nd complaint, the offending player will be disqualified, may be expelled from the tournament, and likely be dis-invited from participation in future tournaments.

C. At the end of each round, please do not sit around and talk. Please leave the room until the next round is ready to begin. At the discretion of the Senior Games Games Director, players who stay in the room and disturb those still playing may be penalized.

D. It is discourteous to criticize your opponents' playing. Please do not push your opponents to play faster....until the final game of a round; in this situation time may be of the essence.

Event

9:30 am Check in – Table hosts will set up the tiles and rack at game tables, players will be assigned at random seat locations.

10:00 am Game play begins

11:30 am Box lunch served

Become a table host and bring your own equipment to help with setting up the game and determining who goes first and count players in a counterclockwise direction starting with themselves, based on the number rolled. If you are interested, contact Dana at dana.spiel@gmail.com or visit our "contact us" page.

DETAILS:

The game will be played at multiple tables using the Official Hands and Rules of the Standardized National Mah Jongg League 2024. Position assignment will be a random “player slot” assignment with 17 tables and 51 player slots with 4 players to a table. The host is in the East seat.

RULES:

Playing

1. THE TILES

The tiles are mixed, turned face down, and each player makes a wall in front of their rack - nineteen tiles long and two tiles deep.

2. DEALING

Table Host is East. To begin dealing, East throws the dice. The number on the dice indicates where East will break her wall. If, for example, East throws a 10 on the dice, they will take ten groups of two tiles from the right end of the wall and keep them separate. They are reserved until the end of the game.

East takes four tiles (two groups of two) from the remainder of their wall. Then the player to the right of East takes four tiles and then the next player to the right takes four, etc. When East's wall is exhausted of tiles, the player to the left of east pushes out their wall and the players continue to pick until each player has three groups of four (12 tiles).

When each player has 12 tiles, East then picks the first and third tile from the wall. The player to the right of East takes the bottom tile, the next player takes the tile on top, and then the last tile gets picked so that each player has 13 tiles and East has 14. The number of tiles remaining in the wall will be determined by the number East originally threw on the dice. For example, if East threw 11, only one tile will remain.

3. PASSING - also known as "Charleston"

Each player puts their tiles on their rack, facing their but concealed from the other players. The player then organizes their tiles in groups and pairs according to the categories on the card. Three unwanted tiles are picked for passing. The passing is organized into two "Charleston’s," as follows:

First Charleston (compulsory):

Each player gives 3 tiles to the player on their RIGHT; then

Each player gives 3 tiles to the player ACROSS from their; then

Each player gives 3 tiles to the player on their LEFT.

At the end of the first Charleston, any player may decide to halt the passing and proceed to the final Optional pass. If no one halts the passing, then the second Charleston begins, in which:

Each player gives 3 tiles to the player to their LEFT; then

Each player gives 3 tiles to the player ACROSS from their; then

Each player gives 3 tiles to the player to their RIGHT.

A player is permitted to STEAL one, two or three tiles on the last pass of each Charleston. For example, if a player only has one tile they wish to pass, they may take two tiles which are passed to their and add their one tile and pass them to the next player. A player may only "steal" a tile on the FIRST LEFT and LAST RIGHT.

At the end of the second Charleston, an OPTIONAL pass is permitted. The players exchange either 0, 1, 2 or 3 tiles with the player across.

During the passing, players are concentrating on the card and how the tiles they are receiving can fit together to make a hand.

One point to remember: A Joker may never be passed.

4. THE PLAY

After the optional last across pass, East discards a tile from their rack, placing it face up on the table and naming it out loud. The player to East's right then picks a fresh tile from the wall, looks at it, and decides whether or not they want to keep it. If they keep it, she places it in their rack and then discards a tile. If she does not want it, she places it face up on the table and names it. The play continues in turn, with each player picking and then discarding. When a wall is exhausted, the wall to the left gets pushed out. The last wall to be played is the wall which East reserved in the beginning. Remember, all picking is to the right, the walls come out to the left.

PLAYERS MUST HAVE 13 TILES IN THEIR HANDS AT ALL TIMES.

The only time a player may have 14 tiles is at the beginning of a game if they are East, at the moment of picking a tile and before discarding, and at the time she makes a Mah-Jongg. If a player miscounts and has more or less than 13 tiles, she is declared DEAD and is excluded from play.

5. THE HANDS

The Mah Jongg card is organized in categories. They are:

YEAR hands or other special hands. (Usually the current year.)
These hands utilize tiles which make up the year: i.e., 1's and 9's.
for 1999, 2's and 0's for 2000. The white dragon represents a zero, as there is no tile with an actual zero.
You cannot use a joker for any tile in a year; i.e., 2009. They are considered singles and pairs.
2468 - Self-explanatory. Hands concentrate on even numbers.
MULTIPLICATION - These hands perform a type of multiplication, such as FFFF 5555 (in red) x 5555 (in blue) = 25 (in green). You would need four flowers, four fives of one suit, four fives of a second suit, and a 2 and a 5 of a third suit. The colors only mean that it is a suit. Green doesn't mean it has to be a bam, for instance. Three colors = three suits. Two colors = two suits. One color = one suit.
QUINTS - Quints (five of a kind) require the use of jokers, since there are only four of each number tile. However, a quint of five flowers is possible.
CONSECUTIVE RUNS - These hands require groups of number tiles in consecutive order, sometimes interspersed with flowers or dragons.
13579 - Again self-explanatory. Hands focus on odd numbers.
WINDS/DRAGONS - Hands made up primarily of wind and dragon tiles, sometimes interspersed with numbers or flowers. Winds and dragons may also be referred to as "honor" tiles.
369 - Guess which tiles you need for these hands!
SINGLES & PAIRS - Singles and pairs are the most difficult hands to attain, since you are not allowed to use jokers. The singles and pairs hands contain a representative sample of all the hands above; i.e., one wind hand, a consecutive run hand, a 2468 hand, etc.

6. READING THE CARD

Mah-Jongg cards are printed in three colors; red, blue and green. If a hand is printed entirely in one color, it means that all tiles in that hand are to be from ONE SUIT.

Similarly, if a hand is printed in two colors, the tiles are to be selected from TWO DIFFERENT SUITS; and three colors, THREE DIFFERENT SUITS.

7. PICKING A HAND

The most difficult aspect of modern American of Mah-Jongg is to determine which hand to aim for. While you may have many tiles that belong in one category, a player may be missing a whole family, or a pair of tiles that may prove difficult to obtain.

Next to each hand is a number, which tells how much the hand is worth. The harder the hand, the more it is worth. A hand with a value of 25 is usually easier to work out than a hand with a value of 50.

8. CALLING TILES

If the hand you are playing has an X next to the value of the hand, the hand is designated as a calling, or open hand. A hand with a C is a closed hand and if a tile you need is discarded, you may not call it from the table.

If a tile you need is discarded, and you are playing an open hand, you may call the tile to complete a pung, a kong, a quint or to make mah-jongg. A tile may not be called to make a pair, unless it is your mah-jongg tile. Once you call a tile, you must expose the pung or kong and you may not make any further changes to the exposed tiles.

If two players call for the same tile, the one whose turn is next gets the tile. If one of the players is calling the tile for mahjong, they have priority over a player who needs it for a pung or kong.

Once the next player has picked a tile and put it in their rack, it is too late to call a tile that was discarded and is on the table.

9. JOKERS

A joker may be used as a wildcard to fill in any pung, kong or quint. A pung, kong or quint may be entirely composed of jokers. A JOKER MAY NEVER BE USED TO COMPLETE A PAIR. The singles and pairs hands are worth more because you may not use any jokers in these hands. Keep in mind you cannot use a joker in a singles and pairs set such as NEWS or 2009

If someone has called a tile and exposed a pung, kong or quint and they are showing jokers, if you have the tile they need, you may exchange it and keep the joker for yourself. In other words, if East has called a six dot and they expose three six dots and one joker, if you have the last six dot in your hand you should do the following:

Pick a tile when it is your turn.
Take the 6 dot and exchange it for the joker
Put the joker in your rack
Discard a tile.

In this way, you will be assured of maintaining the necessary number of tiles in your hand. Sometimes you may find that you have too many jokers in your hand. This occurs when you need to complete a pair and are unable to use the jokers. In this event, you may discard a joker, but no one can call it.

10. MAKING MAH-JONGG

When all thirteen tiles match a hand on the card, and you either pick the 14th tile needed to complete the hand, or someone discards it, you may declare "Mah-jongg" and you are the winner.

Scoring is as follows:

If you make mah-jongg on a discard, you are paid the value of the hand. Discarder pays double.
If you pick your mah-jongg tile, you are paid double the value of the hand.
If you make mah-jongg on a discard and you were bet on, you get double, and
you share your winnings evenly with the bettor.
If you pick mah-jongg and are bet on, you get four times the value of the hand, and share your winnings evenly with the bettor.
Jokerless hands pay double. If a player picked their own mah-jongg tile and their hand is jokerless, they get paid four times the value of the hand.

11. GOING DEAD

A player "goes dead," (is out of the game) when:

Has too many or too few tiles in their hand.
Has declared Mah Jongg in error
Another player is able to figure out her hand and knows they cannot possibly make it, based on what is on the table.
A player has exposed too many or too few tiles to make any sets.

Click below to go to the official rules page

by tapping Mahjongg Rules - Printer Friendly rules (google.com)

Bring your card to the games.

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