Mahjong CompendiumBashi-Bashi

Proto-mahjong › Chinese classical › Shanghai / Hong Kong new style › Hong Kong old style › Nanyang variants › Filipino style › Bashi-Bashi

Bashi-Bashi

3-player, Philippine casinos

Sources

Sources

The documents this entry rests on, as published. Each can be opened and checked; nothing in this part is anybody’s reading of them.

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

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

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

    for this variant The chart's catalogue entry, with two descriptions under one name and Sloperama's note that the game is based on Japanese as well as Filipino rules. The descriptions are less incompatible than they look: version A's green 1 and 9 craks and North used as flowers match the bonus tiles of the Japanese casino game, and version B's 112 tiles are Tōtenkō's

    Also cited on: Chinese archaic, Late Qing style, Chinese pre-classical, Chinese classical, Shanghai / Hong Kong new style, Hong Kong old style and 45 more · bibliography #1

  2. Journalism Kuroki Masaki (黒木真生). 「プロ麻雀界近代史　セブ島のカジノ麻雀」 (Modern history of professional mahjong: casino mahjong on Cebu). 近代麻雀黒木 (note.com, edited by Takeshobo's Kindai Mahjong), 25 November 2023. Free opening; the rest for subscribers. cross-check checked 2026-09-29

    https://note.com/kinmakuroki/n/n7e277b57418c

    AI summary A Japanese mahjong journalist's account of the three-player casino game introduced in Cebu in 2003 under the name BASHI-BASHI, with its rules, from a visit he made to film it for television.

    for this variant The only account outside Sloperama, from someone who saw the game. It dates and places it: a Japanese three-player casino game introduced in 2003 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel casino, which is PAGCOR's Casino Filipino-Cebu, by way of a Japanese table maker. It makes the game Japanese, not a child of Filipino style

    Only cited here · bibliography #183

  3. Encyclopedia Japanese Wikipedia: 東天紅 (麻雀) (Tōtenkō, three-player mahjong). cross-check checked 2026-09-29

    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%B1%E5%A4%A9%E7%B4%85_(%E9%BA%BB%E9%9B%80)

    AI summary The Kantō three-player rule set named after a former Akasaka mahjong parlour: its tiles, its bonus tiles (ガリ), its scoring by points per hand, and its special hands. Cites Itō Takuma's 2015 book on Japanese gambling games.

    for this variant Independent description of the Japanese rule set Kuroki says Bashi-Bashi followed. Its 112-tile form, keeping the 1, 5 and 9 of characters, is exactly Sloperama's 'version B'.

    Also cited on: Sanma · bibliography #184

  4. Guide Sloper, Tom. "Mah-Jongg FAQ Update Log." Sloperama. cross-check checked 2026-10-10

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

    AI summary Sloper's dated log of changes to his FAQs from July 2002 on. It dates each variant's addition to FAQ 2b, including Nepalese on 2 February 2003 as the 24th type.

    for this variant Shows Sloperama knew of the game by July 2005, two years after the 2003 Cebu introduction Kuroki describes. Same author as the chart's source, so not independent

    Also cited on: Nepalese, Siamese Mah Jongg · bibliography #349

  5. Organisation Casino Filipino (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation). "Casino Filipino Branches" (Branches and Satellites). casinofilipino.ph. cross-check checked 2026-10-10

    https://casinofilipino.ph/branches%20and%20satellites.html

    AI summary PAGCOR's list of its own Casino Filipino branches and satellites, with addresses. It puts Casino Filipino Cebu in the Waterfront Hotel & Casino, Lahug, Cebu City, and Casino Filipino Mactan in the Waterfront Airport Hotel.

    for this variant Identifies the casino Kuroki names as PAGCOR's own Casino Filipino-Cebu, so the government corporation itself would have offered BASHI-BASHI. The same site's gaming guide names no mahjong game today

    Only cited here · bibliography #475

  6. Commercial Waterfront Philippines, Inc. "WPI Subsidiaries." waterfronthotels.com.ph. cross-check checked 2026-10-10

    https://www.waterfronthotels.com.ph/wpi/wpi_subsidiaries/

    AI summary The hotel group's description of its subsidiaries. Waterfront Cebu City Casino Hotel Inc. opened in January 1998, and its Entertainment Block holds a casino complex operated by PAGCOR.

    for this variant The hotel group's own word that the Waterfront Cebu City casino, where Kuroki puts BASHI-BASHI in 2003, is operated by PAGCOR, which agrees with the Casino Filipino branch list. Says nothing of mahjong

    Only cited here · bibliography #476

  7. Law Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, Gaming Licensing and Development Department. "Casino Regulatory Manual for Licensed Land-Based Casinos." Revision 0, effective 13 August 2025. cross-check checked 2026-10-10

    https://www.pagcor.ph/regulatory/pdf/Casino/Casino-Regulatory-Manual-for-Licensed-Land-Based-Casinos.pdf

    AI summary PAGCOR's combined regulatory manual for privately licensed land-based casinos. Licensees need PAGCOR's approval for each table game's rules, filed on a New Game Request form, and the manual sets equipment standards that include pai gow tiles. No mahjong game is named.

    for this variant The current regulatory text for licensed casinos names no mahjong game. It governs private licensees, not PAGCOR's own Casino Filipino branches, and dates from 2025, so it says nothing about how BASHI-BASHI was approved in 2003

    Only cited here · bibliography #477

AI-generated

Analysis

Written by an AI model from the sources above. It is a reading of them, not a source in its own right: every figure in it points back to a numbered source, and where the two disagree, the source is right.

Assessment

Confidence
catalogued listed in a variant catalogue with tile counts and hand sizes, but no rules text verified
Evidence
corroborated two or more independent sources agree on the facts that define this variant

Cross-comparison

What each source was read to say, set side by side. The numbers are the sources above.

SourceTilesHandFlowersScoringPayout
[1]version A: 144; version B: 112 (craks omitted except 1C, 5C, 9C)A: probably 13, win on 14; B: 13, win on 14none in either; A has 8 red fives, B has 6 red fivesA: 'simplified and streamlined'; B: count the pointsA: unknown; B: winner only
[2]characters 2 to 8 removed; 1 and 9 characters and North are set aside as bonus tiles (抜きドラ); every 1 bamboo, and two red 5 circles, are also bonuses——each han counts one point, plus a fixed 2 (場ゾロ); points are simply addedon a discard (+3 points) one player pays; on a self-draw both pay the same, so double
[3]normally 108 (27 kinds: characters except 1 and 9 removed); some rules use 112 (28 kinds), keeping the 1, 5 and 9 of characters—characters and North are bonus tiles (ガリ, 抜きドラ); some rules make the fives, or red fives, bonuses toono fu; each hand element is a number of points, added; バンバン (場ゾロ) 2 points on every win; no chowa discard win is paid by one player, a self-draw by two
[1]version A: 144, with 8 red fives (two each 5C and 5B, four 5D); version B: 112, craks omitted except 1C, 5C and 9C, with 6 red fivesA: probably 13, win on 14; B: 13, win on 14none as such; under version A, the 1s and 9s of craks and the North winds are coloured green and can be used as flower tilesA: 'simplified and streamlined' (queried); B: count the pointsA: unknown; B: winner only, paid by both others on a self-draw or by the discarder
  • [1] three-player game that originated in casinos in the Philippines, BASED ON JAPANESE MODERN AND FILIPINO RULES; version B reported by Vladimir, April 2015
  • [2] Read at the source (the free opening; the rest is for subscribers). In 2003 the casino of the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel took up three-player mahjong as a casino game, named BASHI-BASHI to be familiar to local players; the automatic-table maker Matsuoka Mechatronics was behind it. Three players because tables fill more easily, one-hand settlement because it suits a casino. Its rules were close to 東天紅, the three-player game of a former Akasaka parlour, not to Kansai three-player. The author went to Cebu to film it for the professional mahjong programme 「モンド21杯」
  • [3] Read at the source. Cites Itō Takuma, 賭けずに楽しむ日本の賭博ゲーム (2015), pp. 119-123
  • [1] Read again 2026-10-10. The text is unchanged: a three-player game that originated in Philippine casinos, based on Japanese modern and Filipino rules. It names no casino, operator or date, and its list of books gives 'Bashi-Bashi No book'
  • [4] Bashi-Bashi was added to FAQs 2a and 2b on 18 July 2005 as 'the 30th known variant'. Version B was added on 26 April 2015 from a reader's report
  • [2] Read again 2026-10-10 (the free opening; 2,244 characters more are for buyers). The production company had arranged the filming beforehand with the coordinator, the hotel, the government office that runs the casino (カジノを運営する役所) and Matsuoka Mechatronics, whose staff met the crew at the airport. The feature was a corner of the professional match programme 「モンド21杯」
  • [5] PAGCOR's Casino Filipino lists its Cebu branch at the Waterfront Hotel & Casino, Salinas Drive, Lahug, Cebu City. Mactan is listed at the Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino. Mahjong is not mentioned
  • [6] Waterfront Cebu City Casino Hotel Inc. opened in January 1998. Its six-storey Entertainment Block includes the casino complex operated by PAGCOR
  • [7] Licensees must have PAGCOR approve each game's rules, mechanics, odds and payouts before they start, and these must be consistent with Macau, Singapore and Nevada. The only tile game with equipment standards is pai gow. Mahjong does not appear in the 334-page text

Reading it

Sloperama remains the only English description: a three-player game that 'originated in casinos in the Philippines', in two versions, naming no date, venue or operator. Its update log dates the entry to 18 July 2005. Outside Sloperama the one witness is still Kuroki Masaki, who went to film it: a three-player game close to Tokyo's Tōtenkō rules, adopted as BASHI-BASHI in 2003 by the casino of the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel, with the Japanese table maker Matsuoka Mechatronics behind it. He cleared the visit with the government office running the casino, and Casino Filipino's branch list and Waterfront's corporate page show that casino is PAGCOR's own Casino Filipino-Cebu. Sloperama's versions agree with Kuroki more than the earlier assessment allowed: version A's green 1 and 9 craks and North, used as flowers, are Kuroki's bonus tiles, and version B's 112 tiles are Tōtenkō's. No Philippine source names the game: not PAGCOR's 2003 and 2004 annual reports, its current regulatory manual, Casino Filipino's gaming guide or the online Philippine press. Nothing read shows how long it ran, whether other casinos took it up or whether it survives, and nothing in Filipino was found. Still wanted: the rest of Kuroki's article, the Mondo TV feature, Itō 2015 and early captures of FAQ 2b.

Looked for, not found

  • Official rules The casino's own house rules for BASHI-BASHI were not found. Casino Filipino's online gaming guide covers nine table games and no mahjong, and PAGCOR's 2003 and 2004 annual reports do not mention the game in their operating and CF-Cebu pages (read 2026-10-10)
  • Tournament rules No tournament of the game is mentioned in any source read; it was a casino table game settled hand by hand
  • Historical Nothing written while the game was being played (2003 on) was found apart from Sloperama's own 2005 entry: Internet Archive full text gave nothing, and PAGCOR's 2003 and 2004 annual reports do not mention it
  • Scholarship None found: CiNii Research (0 results for バシバシ 麻雀 and カジノ 麻雀 フィリピン) and Crossref (nothing relevant), 2026-10-10
  • Forum Reddit and BoardGameGeek refuse automated readers; general web search in English and Japanese found no forum discussion of the game
  • Collection No museum or library record of a BASHI-BASHI tile set was found. Sloperama says sets were sold in Japan, but a search for バシバシ 麻雀牌 found nothing

Known, not yet read

Sources that look worth having but could not be read for this entry. If you can reach one, it can be read and added. Every variant’s list is gathered on Missing sources.

  • Journalism The rest of Kuroki Masaki's article (note.com, 25 November 2023) — The paid part continues the account of the Cebu visit and may say how the game was played, how long it ran and how the casino took it up.
    Where: https://note.com/kinmakuroki/n/n7e277b57418c. Tried: Behind the site's own paywall (¥150 for the remaining 2,244 characters); checked again 2026-10-10.
  • Journalism The 「モンド21杯」 television feature on BASHI-BASHI (c. 2003-04) — Film of the game as played in the Cebu casino, the only other first-hand record known.
    Where: MONDO TV (モンド21) archives. Tried: Known only from Kuroki's article. On 2026-10-10 a general and a YouTube-restricted search for the feature found nothing.
  • Rulebook Itō Takuma, 賭けずに楽しむ日本の賭博ゲーム (Rittōsha, 2015), pp. 119-123 — The printed source Japanese Wikipedia cites for 東天紅, the rule set Kuroki says BASHI-BASHI followed, including the 112-tile form.
    Where: ISBN 9784845625918. Tried: A book in print; not online. Not re-tried 2026-10-10.
  • Guide Wayback Machine captures of Sloperama FAQ 2b, 2005-2015 — Would show version A as first entered in July 2005 and whether Sloper named the informant or the casino.
    Where: https://web.archive.org/web/2005*/sloperama.com/mjfaq/mjfaq02b.html. Tried: 2026-10-10: CDX and id_ capture requests failed with connection resets in the agent proxy's tunnel to web.archive.org, a failure on our side, and the availability API returned no snapshot. Someone on another network may read them.

Where it was searched

Every place the search checklist names for this variant’s languages, and what each gave, including nothing. The last full pass was on 2026-10-10.

Names searched: English Bashi-Bashi, BASHI-BASHI, Bashi Bashi; Japanese バシバシ, BASHI-BASHI; Filipino Bashi-Bashi.

22 places searched
  • General web search — 2026-10-10, about 16 standard queries and 2 extended. English: "Bashi-Bashi" mahjong casino Philippines; "bashi bashi" Cebu casino; Waterfront Cebu casino mahjong 2003; PAGCOR mahjong three-player Cebu; "Matsuoka" mahjong table casino Philippines; extended "Bashi-Bashi" mahjong variant Philippines. Japanese: バシバシ 麻雀 セブ カジノ; "BASHI-BASHI" 麻雀; "バシバシ" 三人麻雀 カジノ; "バシバシ" 麻雀牌; マツオカ 全自動麻雀卓 フィリピン カジノ; extended セブ島 カジノ 三人麻雀 2003年. The only hits on the game were Sloperama and Kuroki's note.com article; everything else was Konami's Bishi Bashi. Read on the way: Casino Filipino's gaming guide (casinofilipino.ph/gaming guide home.html), which covers baccarat (three kinds), blackjack, big and small, pai gow, pontoon, roulette and stud poker and no mahjong. PAGCOR's annual reports for 2003 and 2004 (pagcor.ph/pagcor-annual-report.php) are scanned with no text layer; the contents, operating highlights and CF-Cebu pages were read by eye and by OCR and do not mention mahjong. The 2003 CF-Cebu page describes 53 gaming tables and 642 slot machines at the Waterfront Cebu Hotel. Seven Japanese Cebu casino guides (csp-cebu.com, media.tabicebu.jp, casino.official.jp, magazine.cebutour.co, bestofcebuislandhopping.com, crossxroad.com, tnkjapan.com) were fetched and contain no mention of 麻雀. Readable but unread: PAGCOR annual reports 2005 and 2006 (scanned PDFs), and Cebu Daily News, 'Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino celebrates 25 years'
  • Wikidata — 2026-10-10: wbsearchentities for Bashi-Bashi, Tōtenkō and 東天紅 answered 429 (Wikimedia's shared-address rate limit) on three tries over about 30 minutes. Not read
  • Wikipedia, in every declared language — 2026-10-10. No edition has an article on Bashi-Bashi as far as was found. Read: en 'Three-player mahjong' (API), which does not mention Bashi-Bashi, the Philippines or casinos; ja 三人麻雀 (action=raw), which lists 東天紅 as 関東三麻 and does not mention Bashi-Bashi; ja 東天紅 (麻雀) (action=raw, after the API answered 429), already observed, which does not mention the Philippines; tl 'Madyong' (action=raw), which does not mention it
  • The sources' own references, and who cites them — Backward: Sloperama cites nobody for version A and credits version B to a reader, 'Vladimir', in April 2015. Kuroki cites nothing. Japanese Wikipedia's 東天紅 cites Itō 2015 (wanted). Forward: nothing was found that cites Kuroki's article. Second-round leads, unread: the paid part of Kuroki's article; Matsuoka Mechatronics' (マツオカ) company history and any 2003 press release; Kindai Mahjong (近代麻雀) issues of 2003-04; PAGCOR's 2005 annual report; PAGCOR board or new-game approvals for Casino Filipino-Cebu, 2003
  • Internet Archive full-text search — 2026-10-10, full-text search for "bashi-bashi" mahjong (page_target=texts): 3 hits, none relevant (Monthly Coin Journal 1997, a 1972 Tokyo guide, an Indonesian text). The empty page_target value the instructions give returned 400
  • Wayback Machine — 2026-10-10: CDX listings and id_ captures of sloperama.com/mjfaq/mjfaq02b.html for 2005-2007 failed with connection resets, and the agent proxy logged the tunnel to web.archive.org closing mid-exchange, a failure on our side. A plain-http capture URL got 403 from the proxy. archive.org's availability API returned no snapshot for 2005. Listed as wanted
  • Google Books — 2026-10-10: the Books API answered 429 (daily quota exhausted) for "bashi-bashi" mahjong. Not searched further
  • HathiTrust full-text search — Not searched: a casino game of 2003 with no known print literature in English, and HathiTrust's full-text search is behind a Cloudflare challenge
  • WorldCat — Not searched: no book on the game is known; the one printed source wanted (Itō 2015) is identified by ISBN
  • Scholarly indexes — 2026-10-10: Crossref bibliographic query 'Bashi-Bashi mahjong' returned nothing relevant. OpenAlex not tried (needs a key)
  • YouTube — 2026-10-10: a youtube.com-restricted search for Bashi-Bashi mahjong returned only Konami's Bishi Bashi. A search for the 「モンド21杯」 Cebu feature (モンド21杯 セブ島 BASHI-BASHI) found only current MONDO TV league listings
  • English-language forums — Reddit and BoardGameGeek refuse automated readers and were not read. The general search found no forum thread on the game in English or Japanese. Mahjong Wiki has no page 'bashi-bashi' (404)
  • Mahjong reference sites — Sloperama FAQ 2b (re-read), FAQ 2a (lists Bashi-Bashi with 3-player Malaysian under key '3') and the FAQ update log (dates the entry to 18 July 2005) were read 2026-10-10. None is independent of the chart. Mahjong Wiki has no page on the game
  • App and platform listings — 2026-10-10: a search restricted to play.google.com and apps.apple.com for Bashi Bashi mahjong returned only generic mahjong apps. No app lists the game
  • English-language newspaper archives — 2026-10-10: Philippine papers searched with site restrictions (philstar.com, inquirer.net, sunstar.com.ph, mb.com.ph, pna.gov.ph) for mahjong at PAGCOR's Cebu and Waterfront casinos. The hits were about PAGCOR's Cebu revenue and casino openings and closures, none about mahjong. Not searched: Chronicling America, Trove, Papers Past, the BNA and NewspaperSG, which do not cover a Philippine casino game of 2003
  • Statutes published in English — 2026-10-10: PAGCOR's regulatory page (pagcor.ph/regulatory/) read for casino manuals. The Casino Regulatory Manual for Licensed Land-Based Casinos (2025) names no mahjong and was read and observed; the Entertainment City, Clark and Fiesta manuals listed there were not read. PD 1602 and LOI 816, already in the bibliography, concern mahjong as a parlour game, not casino games. Lawphil not searched further
  • Yahoo! JAPAN search — Yahoo! JAPAN has no open API, so the general tool's Japanese queries stood in for it (listed under web-search, 2026-10-10, one in extended mode). The only page on the game was Kuroki's note.com article; Japanese Cebu casino guides say nothing of mahjong
  • National Diet Library — 2026-10-10, NDL Search OpenSearch API: 'バシバシ 麻雀' returned one irrelevant hit (a book on onomatopoeia); 'BASHI-BASHI 麻雀' timed out; 'カジノ 麻雀 セブ' answered 429
  • Japanese scholarship — 2026-10-10, CiNii Research OpenSearch: 'バシバシ 麻雀' and 'カジノ 麻雀 フィリピン' both returned 0 results
  • Japanese professional leagues — 2026-10-10: search restricted to ma-jan.or.jp, npm2001.com, mondo-tv.jp, kinmaweb.jp and note.com for セブ カジノ 麻雀 BASHI-BASHI バシバシ. It returned only Kuroki's article (Kuroki is head of legal affairs at the 日本プロ麻雀連盟) and unrelated posts. No league page on the game
  • Japanese community writing — 2026-10-10: note.com results were Kuroki's article, Cebu poker and casino posts with no mahjong, and Nemata's 'マカオのカジノ麻雀' (about Macau, unread). Nothing else on BASHI-BASHI
  • Japanese statutes — Not searched: Japanese statutes do not govern a game played in a Philippine casino

In the tree

Descends from Filipino style, as the source chart draws it.

← back to the tree