Mahjong Compendium

Proto-mahjong Chinese classical Shanghai / Hong Kong new style Mainland regionals Sichuan bloody rules

Sichuan bloody rules

Chengdu, 1990s

Cross-comparison

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

SourceTilesHandFlowersScoringPayout
[1]108 across 3 suits, ranks 1-9, four copies each; no winds, dragons or flowers
[2]108: any set with all honour tiles, flower tiles, red fives and jokers removed, leaving four each of 1-9 in three suits
[3]108 in three suits, Wan, Bing and Tiaotournament form caps the multiplier at three fan and adds game scores, explicitly to reduce luck
  • [4] Morten Andersen, newsgroup November 2007, on Sichuan style as played in Chengdu: kongs score very well; play continues after the first player goes out and does not stop until three players are mahjong or the wall runs out; penalty for holding all three suits at the end
  • [1] MIL 'Brief Introduction to Bloody Mahjong' fetched as PDF; blood-battle continuation and missing-suit requirement
  • [2] translates the name as Bloody Battle to the End. A chow cannot be called except for a winning hand, which is narrower than a flat no-chow rule
  • [3] describes Blood Battle as one of the most widely recognised and adopted mahjong rulesets within China, and states the one-missing-suit requirement

Reading it

The best-evidenced node in the mainland group: five sources, four of them independent of the chart. All agree on 108 tiles with honours and flowers removed, the one-missing-suit requirement and the continuation of play after the first win. The wiki independently dates the Chengdu adoption to the 1990s, matching the chart. Two sources also qualify the no-chow rule: chows cannot be called from a discard except to complete a winning hand, which is narrower than a flat prohibition.

Sources

  1. Mahjong International League. "Brief Introduction to Bloody Mahjong." cross-check checked 2026-09-18

    Rules document for Sichuan Bloody Rules: 108 tiles in three suits, no honours or flowers, the blood-battle continuation after the first win, and the missing-suit requirement.

    https://mahjong-mil.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Brief_Introduction_to_Bloody_Mahjong-1.pdf

    Only cited here · bibliography #51

  2. Mahjong Pros. "Official Sichuan (SBR) Mahjong Rules." cross-check checked 2026-09-18

    Sichuan Bloody Rules as a playable ruleset: 108 tiles with all honours, flowers, red fives and jokers removed, and the restriction on calling a chow.

    https://mahjongpros.com/blogs/mahjong-rules-and-scoring-tables/official-sichuan-sbr-mahjong-rules

    Only cited here · bibliography #60

  3. World Mahjong Tour. Sichuan Mahjong Blood Battle tournament rules. cross-check checked 2026-09-18

    A tournament codification of Sichuan Blood Battle: 108 tiles in three suits, the one-missing-suit requirement, and a three-fan cap intended to reduce luck.

    https://worldmahjongtour.live/tournament-rules-sichuan-mahjong/

    Only cited here · bibliography #61

  4. Sloper, Tom. "FAQ 2b: Identifying a Mah-Jongg Variant." Sloperama. supporting 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

  5. Mahjong Wiki. "Mainland Mahjong Overview." mahjong.wikidot.com. canonical

    Cited as the source for individual nodes in the chart's node table. Carries no bibliography or per-claim citations of its own; see the appendix on tracing the wiki.

    http://mahjong.wikidot.com/rules:mainland-mahjong-overview

    Also cited on: Guangdong style, Mainland regionals · bibliography #46

← back to the tree