Sichuan Mahjong: Blood Battle Rules

What is Sichuan mahjong?

Sichuan mahjong is the fastest of the major Chinese styles. It strips the set down to 108 tiles by removing every wind and dragon, forces each player to abandon one suit, and keeps a hand alive after the first winner.

The result is a game with almost no dead turns. Every tile in the wall can be used by someone, the discard pile is the only defensive information, and a single hand often produces two or three winners.

No honours, and the dropped suit

With the 28 honour tiles gone, only characters, circles and bamboo remain. Runs, triplets and pairs all come from those three suits, and the usual honour-based patterns simply do not exist.

The defining rule is the dropped suit: before you can win, you must have discarded every tile of one suit from your hand. You choose which suit to abandon, usually in the first few turns based on what you were dealt.

This is not a scoring bonus; it is a hard requirement. A perfect four-sets-and-a-pair hand with tiles from all three suits is not a legal win. Beginners lose more hands to this than to any other rule.

Blood battle: the round does not stop

In standard mahjong, the first winner ends the hand. In Sichuan blood battle, play continues after a win. The winner's tiles leave the table, the remaining players keep drawing and discarding, and the hand ends only when three players have won or the wall is exhausted.

That changes defence fundamentally. A player who has already won is out, so the danger comes only from the players still building. It also means one hand can pay out several times: the round continues after each win, and every later winner is paid by the players still in the hand.

Kong scoring

Sichuan counts kongs immediately rather than at the end of the hand. This is usually called wind and rain, and it is paid on the spot:

Kong type	Payment	Detail
Exposed kong	+1	Completed with a tile discarded by another player
Concealed kong	+2	Four tiles held and declared from your own hand
Added kong	+1	A fourth tile added to an existing exposed triplet

If an added kong is robbed, the kong points are cancelled and the robber scores the hand instead. Because points are collected immediately, a player can be ahead on kong points while still losing the hand.

Settling a hand

Each winner is settled separately. A self-drawn win is paid by all remaining players; a win on a discard is paid by the discarder alone. In a three-winner hand, the same discard can pay twice if two players were waiting on it.

Dealer rotation follows the win: a dealer who wins keeps the seat and the next hand begins; otherwise the deal passes to the next seat. The emphasis is on cumulative points rather than seat advantage.

When nobody is ready: the draw check

If the wall runs out before three players win, the hand ends with a readiness check. Players who are not ready pay each ready player the largest value that ready hand could have been. A player holding tiles from all three suits — a flower pig — pays an additional penalty set by the table.

This turns the last few turns into a second game: even a hand that cannot win has value if it can reach a ready shape.

How strategy changes

• Choose the dropped suit early. Keeping all three suits past the fifth turn usually costs more than it gains.
• Kong aggressively, but not blindly. The immediate payment is real, but a kong also exposes information about your hand.
• Defend against the players still in. Once someone has won, their tiles are irrelevant; the remaining players are the threat.
• Count the wall. Because the round continues, the wall runs down faster than in other styles and the endgame arrives sooner.

The comparison with MCR is useful: both are Chinese games, both score in fan, but MCR rewards a single perfect hand while Sichuan rewards three adequate ones.

Words you will hear at a Sichuan table

Blood battle is the continuing round. Blood flow is a related variant where play continues even further. Wind and rain is the immediate kong payment. Flower pig is the penalty for holding all three suits at a draw. Check the call is the readiness settlement at the end.

Regional variants of this family, including Guiyang's catch-the-chicken game, are covered on regional variants.

Quick answers

Do I really have to drop a suit?

Yes. It is a hard requirement, not a scoring pattern. A hand using all three suits cannot win.

Can more than one player win the same hand?

Yes. Blood battle continues after the first win, and up to three players can win before the hand ends.

Are there any honour tiles in Sichuan mahjong?

No. Winds and dragons are removed, which is why the set has 108 tiles instead of 136.

What happens if I never reach a ready hand?

At a draw you pay every ready player twice the largest value their hand could have been. Holding all three suits adds a further penalty.