Playing Mahjong Philippine Style Here at THD

Photo Credit: Dinah Katague- Playing Mahjong Philippine Style using 16 tiles with 2 Jokers - Sue B and I at Churchill's Pub-October 21, 2023

Sue Bramson, Dinah K and I had started playing mahjong Philippine Style here at THD. The difference between the Hongkong style that we play every Thursday at 1PM is that the Philippine style uses 16 tiles instead of 13 tiles and a joker ( a wild tile). With the joker you have more chances of winning. In my last hand recently, I have 6 chances to win versus a joker less game with maximum 3 chances of winning a game. 

The Philippine style is more challenging than the HongKong style specially if you have the 2 jokers. In rare cases, a jokerless hand can beat a hand with 2 jokers.  In the Philippine style one can aim for harder combination like the same suit and the same suit with either a dragon or winds.   Example are as follows:

A Winning Hand with Same Suit ((Bamboo)- More Points and Money if you are Playing For Money

The above was Dinah's winning hand. The one below is my waiting had for the 3 Bamboo. 

A Waiting Hand ( 3 Bamboo) with a Dragon Meld ( either a pung( 3 of a Kind) or a Kang( 4 of a Kind) 

Note: We play for FUN here at THD and  not for Money ( a popular Gambling Activity in most Filipino Household).  Here are the health benefits of playing mahjong. 

https://supersoup.sg/health/mahjong-health-benefits/