Mahjiku › Questions › What order do the mahjong winds go in?
East, South, West, North — in that order, for both the seats around the table and the rounds of a game. The deal starts at East and passes counter-clockwise, and the round wind advances one step each time the deal has been all the way around.
The four winds run East 東 → South 南 → West 西 → North 北, and that one order does double duty.
Both matter for scoring, because a triplet of your seat wind or the current round wind is worth a bonus, while a triplet of a wind that is neither is worth nothing. Hit both at once — your seat wind on the round where it is also the prevailing wind — and it counts twice.
The one thing that varies is when the deal passes. In Hong Kong the dealer keeps it (連莊) on their own win, and usually on a drawn hand too, passing only when somebody else wins. That makes game length open-ended, which is why tables agree up front how many rounds to play: a full game (將) is all four.
House rules reach this too. Some tables pass the deal on a draw, some pass it every hand regardless, and some cap how long one dealer may hold it. All three are settings, not arguments.
Last updated: 2026-08-27 · editorially reviewed 2026-08-27.
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