🌶️ Sichuan Mahjong
Also known as: Sichuan Bloody Battle · Xue Zhan · Chengdu mahjong
Chengdu's tea-house game: no honor tiles, no chows, no deal-ins — and the hand doesn't stop at the first winner. In bloody battle, play continues until three people have won. Nobody leaves early; somebody leaves broke.
Overview
Sichuan mahjong strips the game to its adrenaline: only the three number suits (108 tiles), wins must be self-drawn, and chows are illegal. Hands are pure pung-kong-pair construction played at tea-house speed.
The signature ruleset, Xue Zhan (Bloody Battle), does not stop at the first winner — play continues until three players have won or the wall runs out, so losing players fight for survival while winners wait. A popular sub-rule, Xue Liu Cheng He, pays only when you win before the last player is stuck.
Because the tile pool is smaller and calls are limited, games are short and extremely repeatable, making this a great 'second variant' for players who want speed over scoring depth.
Rules Highlights
- ✓108 tiles: characters, bamboo and circles only — no winds, dragons or flowers
- ✓No chows: only pung and kong calls
- ✓Winning requires 4 sets + 1 pair and must be self-drawn (zimo)
- ✓Blood battle: after a player wins, they sit out; the hand continues until 3 winners or the wall ends
- ✓A player left without a win at the end pays the table (the 'salty fish' settlement)
- ✓Before discarding, players must table any already-completed set requirement (que) — one suit must be fully abandoned
Scoring at a Glance
Flat per-hand score
Wins are worth a fixed base amount agreed at the table; no fan catalogue
Gensha multipliers
Optional patterns (all-pungs, pure one-suit, kong-heavy) multiply the payout at many tables
Salty fish penalty
The player(s) without a win pay each winner an extra settlement
No discard payments
There is no deal-in — you cannot lose points by discarding, only by never winning
Sichuan Mahjong FAQ
▸Why are there no honor tiles in Sichuan mahjong?
Local convention dating back decades — removing honors concentrates play on the three suits, speeds up hand-building and pairs naturally with the no-chow, self-draw-only rules.
▸What does 'que' mean?
Before you can win, one entire suit must be absent from your hand — announced by tabling a tile. It forces early commitment and is the variant's main strategic decision.
▸Is bloody battle beginner-friendly?
Yes — fewer tiles, two call types, no scoring charts. The only concepts to internalize are que and the survival dynamic of playing on after the first win.
Related Variants
Sichuan Mahjong in the Community
When you finish our guide, keep reading here — these are the places theSichuan Mahjong community actually hangs out:
- Wikipedia: Mahjong ↗The historical background and family tree of all Chinese variants.
- r/mahjong ↗The main English-language mahjong community — rules debates, set photos and beginner questions answered daily.
Next: learn the tiles
Every variant runs on the same tile set. Our illustrated tile guide covers every tile — suits, honors, flowers and jokers — with usage notes.
Open the Tile Guide →