The Block Mah-jong game seems to be everywhere lately – Tic Toc, Pinterest—and I knew I had to check it out. So today I will tell you how to play, how to make your own and where you can get a free resource.
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What You Need
First, you can get a set of these tiles here (Canadian here). They have lots of cute sets like fast food, animals and other fun items.
Instead of buying a set, I decided that I would make my own. For this project, you will need some sturdy cardboard, 8 images of a collection (like animals) and 8 images of a different collection (say food). You can use stickers if you can find enough that match or you can draw them or you can use our template that you can get in our free Fun Library. (You can get your password in the black box below.)
You will also need a box cutter, a ruler, and some glue.
Making your Block Mah-jong
First, print or gather the images. For the rest of this tutorial, we’ll be using the template from the Fun Library. Next, spread glue on the back of the printed page and glue it to the card board, making sure to get an even coverage so each piece will have glue.
For the back of the tiles, flip over the cardboard and glue the back template on as you did before. You may wish to cut off the extra tile so it’s easier to line everything up and glue it on separately. If you wish, you could paint the back a solid colour or leave it the original cardboard.
Once the glue is dry, use the ruler and the box cutter to cut the tiles out evenly on the lines. Check for any corners that have come lose and use a little glue to make sure they are stuck to the cardboard. You’re now ready to play!
Playing Block Mah-jong
To start, decide who will be the cats and who will be the dogs. Now, flip all the tiles over so that the cats and dogs are face down. Set aside the blank tile. Give the rest of the tiles a good mix.
Once they are shuffled, place the tiles in two grids of 8 x 4 with the tiles vertical.
Now that the game is set up, it’s time to pick who will go first. If one person picked who was what animal, then the other person can start. You can also decide by a high dice roll or a quick game of rock paper scissors.
The starting player take the blank tile and places it at the top of one of her rows of tiles. She will now slide the blank tile down so that the bottom tile in the row will slide out. She then turns over the loose tile and looks at it.
If the tile is her animal, say cat, then she chooses a row to place this tile on top of as she did the blank tile. Next, she pushes the tile down until the bottom tile in the row is loose. She then turns that tile over.
If that tile is the same cat as the first, she adds it to that row. If it’s a different cat, she chooses a different row to put the tile in.
On the other hand, if the tile is a dog, she passes it to her opponent. He now chooses one of his rows to add the tile to in the same way and slides out the bottom tile in the row.
Play continues like this with players making rows of matching animals and passing opposite animals to their opponent.
Winning Block Mah-jong
The first player to get their block of Mah-jong tiles all in the correct rows is the winner.
Sliding into Fun
Block Mah-jong is a simple game that kids will love. It’s a great time filler and will work on matching and decision making skills.
To get your free template for cats vs dogs, visit the Fun Library. To buy a set of Block Mah-jong tiles shop here; Canadians here. And if you’re looking for more easy fun be sure to visit Don’t Smack, Yahtzee Jr and Don’t Eat Pete. Also visit our Family Game Shelf shop for kid favorites like our dice mini golf game Whacky Putt.
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