the game to check his hand and
ascertain whether or not he has the correct number of tiles in it. If he
has not sets of four of a kind he should have thirteen tiles in his
hand. If he _has_ one set of four of a kind he should have fourteen
tiles in his hand, two sets of four of kind 15 tiles, and so on.

If, at any time during the game, a player has an incorrect number of
tiles in his hand, it becomes "dead." He must continue drawing and
discarding, but when the scores are settled his score does not count and
therefore he must pay all players. His only chance lies in endeavoring
to prevent the other players from completing their hands, by holding the
tiles which he believes they need and thus causing a draw game.

SETTLING THE SCORES

When the first player to complete his hand calls "_Mah-Jongg_" the game
is ended, and all players expose their hands and count up their scores.
The winner of the game collects full value of his score from each of the
other players and throwing his hand into the discard is thru for that
game.

The remaining three players then settle among themselves the
_difference_ of their scores, the high hand of the three collecting the
difference between his score and each of the remaining two players. Then
throwing his hand into the discard, leaves the remaining two to settle
their scores, the highest hand of which collects the difference.

It must be remembered here that East Wind (or banker) pays or collects
double, if he loses or wins.

Scores are most conveniently settled by the use of the counters which
are furnished with the sets. These are spotted to denote different
denominations and at the end of every hand the actual scores or
differences in scores are settled between players by the exchange of
these counters. There are several styles of counter sets. The one in
most common usage contains counters valued as follows:

Points

1 Gold dot 1,000

5 Black dots 500

1 Black dot 100

10 Red dots 10

2 Red dots 2

SUGGESTIONS FOR CAREFUL PLAYING OF HANDS

In a game of this nature where every hand is different from the
preceding one and so much depends on the draw, it is very hard to lay
down any specific rules of how it should be played. There are, however,
a few points which would help if kept in mind during the play. A player
should study his original hand an