01 · Before starting: check the shared basics
Complete Mahjong Lesson 1 first: distinguish suits and honours, sequences and triplets, hand and discards, and perform a 13 → 14 → 13 turn. Reading a glossary does not replace that practice.
This is a separate regional branch; the other two branches are not prerequisites. Familiar pictures now test this branch’s winning eligibility, actions and settlement rather than reteaching every tile. Examples may reset between sections: inspect each starting hand rather than treating them as one continuous game.
02 · A complete shape is not enough
A standard hand needs four sets and a pair, but MCR also requires eight qualifying points. Scoring patterns are defined by the rules, not invented from appearances. Characters 123, 456 and 789 form Pure Straight, worth sixteen: enough for the threshold, provided the remaining set and pair are also complete.
13: Pure Straight formed, waiting on East
The pictured 13 tiles still lack an East. Having Pure Straight does not permit an early win. Conversely, a complete shape without sufficient points cannot win. MCR’s eight points are not riichi’s eight-han baiman; do not interchange their scales.
03 · The eight MCR flowers: replacements and the minimum
Add eight flowers to Lesson 1’s 136-tile base set for 144 tiles: one each of the four seasons and plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum. These are not extra copies of ordinary tiles. A flower cannot form a set or pair: normally expose it in your flower area and take a replacement, repeating if another flower arrives. The bird on one bamboo is not a flower.
Eight added flowers: one copy each
Contrast: one bamboo is not a flower
Replace: expose Spring, then draw two dots
Discard Spring: no replacement or flower point
Flowers add a bonus after a legal win but do not help reach the minimum. Seven qualifying points plus one flower do not permit a win. Check the non-flower minimum first, then include flower bonuses in settlement.
When you draw the Spring flower, the practice table offers two choices. Expose and replace puts Spring in your flower area and draws from the back of the wall; repeat if that replacement is another flower. Discard flower without its bonus puts Spring in the discard pool, gives no replacement and earns no flower point. This discard choice is available only while resolving the newly drawn flower, not as an ordinary discard on a later turn. The pictured Spring → two dots and Spring → discard pool are alternative branches, not consecutive steps.
04 · MCR example: recheck eligibility after a call
Lesson 1 introduced chow, pung and kong. Apply them here: with two and three dots, you may chow the previous player’s fresh four dots. Discard from the remaining hand without an ordinary draw. The exposed three still belong to the hand; do not also count them as concealed tiles.
Partial hand before chow
Exposed sequence after chow
A legal sequence does not automatically make a legal winning hand. Recheck the remaining groups, wait and eight-point minimum excluding flowers. Some scoring conditions depend on whether groups are exposed, so reassess rather than reusing your pre-call result.
A kong is four identical tiles. It counts as one set but adds a physical tile, so it entails a replacement draw. Calls affect public information and eligibility for some scoring patterns. Do not call just to reduce concealed tiles; recheck the scoring plan after each call.
05 · Pure Straight is not Full Flush
Split the characters into 123, 456 and 789. Those three sequences form Pure Straight. Full Flush instead requires the entire hand to use one numbered suit with no honours. This example includes dots and East, so it has Pure Straight but is not Full Flush.
Straight set 1
Straight set 2
Straight set 3
Remaining set and pair
Scoring is not unlimited addition of every similar-looking label: combination and non-duplication rules apply. This lesson uses Pure Straight’s sixteen points to prove eligibility, not to claim the final total. Full scoring still considers waits, concealed status, source and compatible additional patterns.
06 · Winning tile and settlement
Self-draw uses your own final draw; a discard win uses an opponent’s fresh discard. MCR does not import riichi’s furiten or 1,000-point declaration. You still cannot collect arbitrary old discards; the tile must be legally available now.
Complete the hand, then verify total points
For a separate hand whose final scoring total has already been verified as eight: a discard win receives 8 base plus 8 from the discarder and 8 from each other player, total 32. Self-draw receives 16 from each opponent, total 48. This arithmetic example does not assert the Pure Straight hand totals exactly eight. These are teaching points, not bets or money.
07 · Three checks before declaring
First verify tile count and structure, accounting for kongs. Second identify at least eight qualifying points without flowers or illegal stacking. Third check the winning tile’s source and declaration timing. Drawing East in the exercise completes the three Pure Straight sets, 234 dots and an East pair, meeting shape and minimum requirements.
Complete: four sets and a pair
This completes an introduction, not mastery of all 81 scoring patterns. Check the rulebook for uncertain combinations instead of importing translated riichi yaku. The guided example holds the completed hand for inspection.