Editing Mahjong (section)

=== Hands, rounds, and matches ===
[[File:Tion-Mahjong.JPG|thumb|right|Cubic dealer and prevailing wind marker]]
A match consists of four rounds, each representing a "prevailing wind", starting with East. Once the first round is completed, a second round begins with South as the prevailing wind, and so on. Wind position is significant in that it affects the scoring of the game. A mahjong set with winds in play will usually include a separate prevailing wind marker (typically a die marked with the wind characters in a holder).

In each round at least four hands are played, with each player taking the position of dealer. In the first hand of each round, Player 1 (winner of the dice toss) is East and therefore dealer. In the second hand, Player 2 takes the East position, shifting the seat winds amongst the players counter-clockwise (though players do not physically move their chairs). This continues until all four players have been East (dealer). A marker is used to mark which player is East and often the round number. (In sets with racks, a rack may be marked differently to denote the dealer.)

Whenever a player in the East position (dealer) wins a hand, or if there is no winner (a draw or "goulash hand"), an extra hand is played with the same seating positions and prevailing wind as in the previous hand. This means that a match may potentially have no limit to the number of hands played (though some players will set a limit of three consecutive hands allowed with the same seat positions and prevailing wind).

Example of games:

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Example of a standard 16-hand game with two extra hands played<br />(per no-winner hand (goulash) and per east winning hand)
! Round !! Hand number !! Prevailing wind !! Player 1 !! Player 2 !! Player 3 !! Player 4 !! Comment
|-
! rowspan=4 style="font-size:150%;" | 1
| 1 || rowspan=4 |East || East (dealer) || South || West || North ||
|-
| 2 || North || East (dealer)|| South || West ||
|-
| 3 || West || North || East (dealer)|| South ||
|-
| 4 || South || West || North || East (dealer) ||
|-
! rowspan=5 style="font-size:150%;" | 2
| 5 || rowspan=5 | South || East (dealer) || South || West || North ||
|-
| 6 || North || East (dealer)|| South || West ||
|-
| 7 || West || North || East (dealer)|| South || No one wins (goulash)
|-
| Extra hand || West || North || East (dealer)|| South || Repeat of seat positions
|-
| 8 || South || West || North || East (dealer) ||
|-
! rowspan=4 style="font-size:150%;" | 3
| 9 || rowspan=4 | West || East (dealer) || South || West || North ||
|-
| 10 || North || East (dealer)|| South || West ||
|-
| 11 || West || North || East (dealer)|| South ||
|-
| 12 || South || West || North || East (dealer) ||
|-
! rowspan=5 style="font-size:150%;" | 4
| 13 || rowspan=5 | North || East (dealer) || South || West || North ||
|-
| 14 || North || East (dealer)|| South || West || East wins hand
|-
| Extra hand || North || East (dealer)|| South || West || Repeat of seat positions
|-
| 15 || West || North || East (dealer)|| South ||
|-
| 16 || South || West || North || East (dealer) ||
|}