tonnan

How to play "Samurai poker"

First of all. Thank you for visiting. It is our pleasure to introduce "Samurai poker" to you.

What is "Samurai poker"?

It is a Japanese style mahjong. Mahjong is made by from some unknown wise men in old China. Some people may know mahjong as a solitaire game. But this Japanese style is like poker and completely different from the solitaire game. And it is different from Chinese and Taiwan styles too. This samurai poker is a grown up in Japan as one of the most elaborate table games in the history of mankind. We hope you will like this game and enjoy with us.

Quick Summary

This section will explain the "Samurai poker" simply.

1. It uses 136 tiles.
2. And It shuffles and deals 13 tiles for each player.
3. Each player competes to create hands by the 13 tiles plus 1 another tile.
4. Each hand grades depending on the extent of specialities like poker.
5. There are 8 rounds or 4 rounds to shuffle tiles.
6. Points will be culculated for each hand.
7. When all the rounds complete the highest point player is the winner.

That's it.

The 136 tiles set for you to play "samurai poker".

This is a "Manzu" (red character) tiles set. There are 1 to 9 number tiles x 4. These tiles will be called as "Manzu 1","Manzu 2"..."Manzu 9" and represented as m1,m2...m9 in short when players talk about the tiles.

m1 m2 m3 m4 m5 m6 m7 m8 m9 m1 m2 m3 m4 m5 m6 m7 m8 m9 m1 m2 m3 m4 m5 m6 m7 m8 m9 m1 m2 m3 m4 m5 m6 m7 m8 m9

This is a "Pinzu" (blue,circle) tiles set. There are 1 to 9 number tiles x 4. These tiles will be called as "Pinzu 1","Pinzu 2"..."Pinzu 9" and represented as p1,p2...p9 in short when players talk about the tiles.

p1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6 p7 p8 p9 p1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6 p7 p8 p9 p1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6 p7 p8 p9 p1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6 p7 p8 p9

This is a "Souzu" (green,bamboo) tiles set. There are 1 to 9 number tiles x 4. These tiles will be called as "Souzu 1","Souzu 2"..."Souzu 9" and represented as s1,s2...s9 in short when players talk about the tiles.

s1 s2 s3 s4 s5 s6 s7 s8 s9 s1 s2 s3 s4 s5 s6 s7 s8 s9 s1 s2 s3 s4 s5 s6 s7 s8 s9 s1 s2 s3 s4 s5 s6 s7 s8 s9

This is "Kaze-hai",a four winds (directions) tiles set. There are east,south,west,north tiles x 4. These tiles will be called as "Ton","Nan","Sya","Pei" and represented as e(ast),s(outh),w(est),n(orth) in short when players talk about the tiles.

ton nan sya pei ton nan sya pei ton nan sya pei ton nan sya pei

This is "Sangen-hai",a three dragons(elements) tiles set. There are white,green and red tiles x 4. These tiles will be called as "Haku","Hatu","Tyun" and represented as white(dragon),green(dragon),red(dragon) in short when players talk about the tiles.

haku hatu tyun haku hatu tyun haku hatu tyun haku hatu tyun

And there are additional bonus tiles called "Aka-hai"(red tiles). Some tiles will be replaced with these red bonus tiles in with-red-tiles rules. Total count of tiles is same(136). These tiles can be represented as m3r,p3r,s3r,m5r,p5r,s5r,white red(dragon) in short when players talk about the tiles.

m3r p3r s3r m5r p5r s5r haku_r

What is the difference between "Samurai poker" and original "Chinese mahjong"?

The main difference is the existence of "Furiten". It is a limitation that players can not finalize their hands with the self-discarded tiles. Finalizing hands with the self-discarded tiles might be considered unfair in Japan and removed from the "Samurai poker" rule. This limitation introduced a new dimension of time series to the game. Considering temporal-spatial elements in a short time is like a battle with sword. So we can call the game "Samurai poker". It is one of the most elaborate games really.

The 2nd difference is the "Scoring and types of hands". The hand types had been shaped up into 50 or so. And scoring became more self-disciplined. For example if you take other players' tiles to finalize your hands, scoring of the hand can be degraded. For another example when a player finalize a hand with other player's last discarded tile, only the player who discarded the tile have to pay the point for the hand-finalized player. It became a self-disciplined game.

It may have something common to samurai's way. Samurais will learn many "Kata"s, basic forms of treating sword in the beginning. And then they will go into where not to draw a sword finally. Likewise we will start to learn the formations of tiles in the beginning. And after some basic formations are learnt, you can enjoy the game in your manner.

Any cost to play?

This is the best place where you can play "Samurai poker" genuinely. And this is not a gambling site. You can play the game for free with the beginner license. We sell some game options to enjoy furthermore.

"Samurai poker" is a "Matrix" game?

A mirrored orientation is used in this game. This means "Samurai poker" is a "Matrix" game indeed. Your actions in the game will be very simple such as drawing and discarding tiles but they may sometimes reflect what you think too. It means that the actions in the game can reflect what you do. So players may also be able to know each other with enjoying the game.

About 4 winds of samurai poker

What does the "Tonnan" mean?

The name "Tonnan" comes from the words "East and South" in Japanese. The seat of dealer is the East in this game. And the position will be rotated in a counterclockwise manner from East to South. The name represents the concept of "East to South" and the "Matrix". This site is for the "Matrix" game genuinely.

What does "tonnan" mean?

Conclusion

Let's start it. You can learn how to play while in the game. Your choices will be shown as buttons. You can proceed the game by selecting the choice easily.

Or if you feel uncomfortable with such situations or by any other reasons you can also read further.

We will also look the details of "Samurai poker" in the next sections.

Please check the table of contents for further details.