Editing Mahjong (section)

== Competition ==
[[File:wk-mahjong2002.jpg|thumb|The top 3 in the [[World Mahjong Championship]] in [[Tokyo]], October 2002. Left: {{ill|lt=John J. O'Connor|ジョン・オコーナー|ja|vertical-align=sup}} (2nd place). In the middle: world champion Mai Hatsune, from Japan. Right: Yuichi Ikeya (3rd place).]]

In 1998, in the interest of dissociating illegal gambling from Mahjong, the [[China State Sports Commission]] published a new set of rules, now generally referred to as Chinese Official rules or International Tournament rules ({{zh|p=Guóbiāo Májiàng|s=国标麻将|labels=no}}). The principles of the new, wholesome Mahjong are no gambling, no drinking, and no smoking. In international tournaments, players are often grouped in teams to emphasize that Mahjong from now on is considered a sport.

The new rules are highly pattern-based. The rulebook contains 81 combinations, based on patterns and scoring elements popular in classic and modern regional Chinese variants; some table practices of Japan have also been adopted. Points for flower tiles (each flower is worth one point) may not be added until the player has scored eight points. The winner of a game receives the score from the player who discards the winning tile, plus eight basic points from each player; in the case of ''zimo'' (self-drawn win), they receive the value of this round plus eight points from all players.

The new rules were first used in an international tournament in [[Tokyo]], where, in 2002, the [[2002 World Championship in Mahjong|first global tournament in mahjong]] was organized by the Mahjong Museum, the Japan Mahjong Organizing Committee, and the city council of Ningbo, China. One hundred players participated, mainly from Japan and China, but also from Europe and the United States. Mai Hatsune, from Japan, became the first world champion. The following year saw the first annual China Mahjong Championship, held in Hainan; the next two annual tournaments were held in Hong Kong and Beijing. Most players were Chinese; players from other nations attended as well.

In 2005, the first [[Open European Mahjong Championship]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mahjongnews.com/oemc2005.htm |title=The Independent Internet Mahjong Newspaper |publisher=Mahjongnews.com |access-date=7 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012145919/http://mahjongnews.com/oemc2005.htm |archive-date=12 October 2007 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> was held in the Netherlands, with 108 players. The competition was won by Masato Chiba from Japan. The second European championship<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mahjongnews.com/en/index.php/oemc/oemc2007/121-oemc2007.html |title=Martin Wedel Jacobsen European mahjong champion |publisher=Mahjongnews.com |date=20 June 2007 |access-date=7 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227031322/http://www.mahjongnews.com/en/index.php/oemc/oemc2007/121-oemc2007.html |archive-date=27 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> in [[Copenhagen]] (2007) was attended by 136 players and won by Danish player Martin Wedel Jacobsen. The first Online European Mahjong Championship was held on the Mahjong Time server in 2007, with 64 players, and the winner was Juliani Leo, from the U.S., and the Best European Player was Gerda van Oorschot, from the Netherlands. The Third Open European Mahjong Championship 2009<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mahjongnews.com/en/index.php/oemc/oemc2009/283-oemc2009ranking9.html |title=OEMC 2009 Final Ranking |publisher=Mahjongnews.com |date=5 July 2009 |access-date=7 September 2012}}</ref> at Baden/[[Vienna]], Austria, was won by Japanese player Koji Idota, while runner-up Bo Lang from Switzerland became European Champion. There were 152 participants.

In 2006, the [[World Mahjong Organization]] (WMO) was founded in [[Beijing]], China, with the cooperation of, amongst others, the Japan Mahjong Organizing Committee (JMOC) and the European Mahjong Association (EMA). This organization held its first [[World Mahjong Championship]] in November 2007 in the Chinese town of [[Chengdu]], attended by 144 participants from all over the world. It was won by Li Li, a Chinese student at [[Tsinghua University]]. The next World Championship took place in [[Utrecht]], the Netherlands, 27 to 29 August 2010.

Other major international tournaments include the [[Mahjong International League]]'s [[World Mahjong Sports Games]] and the privately sponsored [[World Series Of Mahjong]].

[[American mahjong]] tournaments are held in virtually every state—the largest is in Las Vegas, Nevada, twice a year, and in Atlantic City, New Jersey, by Mah Jongg Madness (MJM), and an annual cruise is hosted by the National Mah Jongg League and MJM. MJM tournaments host between 150 and 500 participants at these larger events; there are several smaller-scale, but equally successful, tournaments held annually by other hosts. Prize pools are based on the number participating. Rules are based on the National Mah Jongg League standard rules.