Babcock rules

Descends into

• Twenty Point Mah Jong — R.F. Foster, 1924
• Western / British Empire style
• Regional US house rules — 1920s-30s

Cross-comparison

corroborated — two or more independent sources agree on the facts that define this variant

• [1] fewer special hands than Chinese Classical; Babcock's opening line describes a set of 136 pieces
• [2] Babcock's 1920 translation, and the Parker Brothers / Milton Bradley licensing
• [3] Joseph Park Babcock, 1893 to 1949, born in Lafayette, Indiana. His Rules of Mah-Jongg, the red book, appeared in 1920 and was the English-language rule book; a second edition followed in 1923. He was also a member of the committee that published a standardised rule set

Reading it

Four sources agree on the 1920 red book and its role in introducing the game to the West, and Wikipedia adds the man, his dates and a 1923 second edition. Sloperama gives the rules themselves, including that kongs and flowers were dropped from Babcock's simplified system, and Wikipedia's scoring article independently derives the Babcock system from Chinese Classical, which supports the chart's descent. The 136-or-144 ambiguity traces to Babcock's own opening sentence describing a set of 136 pieces.

Sources

1. Sloper, Tom. "FAQ 2b: Identifying a Mah-Jongg Variant." Sloperama. canonical checked 2026-09-18

   Tile counts, hand sizes, flower handling and scoring for roughly 50 named variants. Primary source for most leaf nodes in this chart.

   https://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq/mjfaq02b.html

   Also cited on: Chinese archaic, Chinese pre-classical, Chinese classical, Shanghai / Hong Kong new style, Hong Kong old style, Modern HKOS and 43 more · bibliography #1

2. The Charleston Club. "The History of American Mah Jongg." supporting checked 2026-09-18

   Babcock's 1920 translation and the Parker Brothers / Milton Bradley licensing.

   https://thecharlestonclubaz.com/blogs/the-journal/the-history-of-american-mah-jongg-from-1920s-import-to-a-century-old-american-tradition

   Also cited on: NMJL card · bibliography #16

3. Wikipedia. "Joseph Park Babcock." cross-check checked 2026-09-18

   Biography of the populariser: 1893 to 1949, his 1920 Rules of Mah-Jongg known as the red book, and his membership of the committee that published a standardised American rule set.

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Park_Babcock

   Also cited on: Regional US house rules · bibliography #65

4. Wikipedia. "American Mahjong." supporting

   Racks, jokers, the Charleston, and the NMJL / AMJA annual card.

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_mahjong

   Also cited on: Regional US house rules, NMJL card, American mah jongg, AMJA card · bibliography #13

5. MahjongCompare. "Mahjong History and Origin." supporting

   NMJL founders (Cecil, Meyerson, Jacobs, Potter), the 1937 Essex House meeting, and jokers entering the official rules in 1961.

   https://mahjongcompare.com/history

   Also cited on: Regional US house rules, NMJL card, American mah jongg · bibliography #14