Tiles are placed on intersections. All intersections that fall completely inside the circle of the board are playable; Intersections that seem to fall directly on the edge of the circle or just outside it are marked with star points if they are playable. Intersections can be red, white, neutral, or piebald.
All intersections that fall completely inside either of the red central gardens
Red Intersections give White Flowers one point of disharmony
All intersections that fall completely inside either of the white central gardens
White intersections give Red Flowers one point of disharmony
All intersections that fall completely inside the outer yellow gardens or the four Torii
Neutral intersections have no effect on harmony or disharmony
Piebald intersections are considered part of all gardens with which they share a board line. Any intersection that falls along a line or corner of a board line is a piebald intersection and takes on the color of all gardens it touches. All intersections that lie between two or more gardens are Piebald.
Piebald Intersections have no effect on harmony or disharmony
The 12 colored regions on the board are called gardens. There are are 4 central gardens (2 red central gardens, 2 white central gardens), 4 yellow gardens, and 4 special gardens called Torii or gates (small red triangular regions at the edge of the board near the compass points).
White Central Gardens are the Natural Gardens for White Flower Tiles and have no effect on the harmony or disharmony of White Flowers.
White Central Gardens are the Unnatural Gardens for Red Flower Tiles and give each Red Flower completely inside the garden one point of disharmony.
Red Central Gardens are the Natural Gardens for Red Flower Tiles and have no effect on the harmony or disharmony of Red Flowers.
Red Central Gardens are the Unnatural Gardens for White Flower Tiles and give each White Flower completely inside the garden one point of disharmony.
A Neutral Garden (yellow gardens and Torii) has no natural association with any flower tiles, and has no effect on harmony or disharmony.
The outer Yellow Gardens are Neutral Gardens
(Japanese for bird gate)
The Torii are Neutral Gardens. Even though Torii are red in color, they are not Red Gardens. Intersections completely within Torii are Neutral.
The borders which separate the yellow gardens from the central gardens are called walls.
The borders which separate the central gardens from each other (10c to 10q and 3j to 17j) are called paths. Like walls, they have no direct effect on tiles and are for naming purposes only.
White flowers receive one disharmony point while standing on a completely red intersection (wholly inside a red central garden)
(6 tiles per player)
May be dropped on any neutral intersection (Torii and yellow gardens)
Moves up to 1 intersection horizontally and vertically (also called a "Mahn step"), or up to 3 intersections diagonally
Captures all tiles diagonally only
Sends harmony and disharmony diagonally only
Sends Harmony to Jade, Jasmine, and Chrysanthemum tiles
Receives Harmony from Chrysanthemum, Rhododendron, and Rose tiles
Sends Disharmony to Lily, Rose, and Rhododendron tiles
Receives Disharmony from Jasmine, Jade, and Lily tiles
(6 tiles per player)
May be dropped on any neutral intersection (Torii and yellow gardens)
Moves up to 3 Intersections horizontally or vertically
Sends Harmony to Jasmine, Chrysanthemum, and Rhododendron
Receives Harmony from Rhododendron, Rose, and Lily
Sends Disharmony to Jade, Lily, and Rose
Receives Disharmony from Chrysanthemum, Jasmine, and Jade
(6 tiles per player)
May be dropped on any neutral intersection (Torii and yellow gardens)
Moves 1 intersection horizontally or vertically, followed by a 45 degree angle turn for 1 intersection diagonally but does not leap over other tiles
Sends Harmony to Chrysanthemum, Rhododendron, and Rose
Receives Harmony from Rose, Lily, and Jade
Sends Disharmony to Jasmine, Jade, and Lily
Receives Disharmony from Rhododendron, Chrysanthemum, and Jasmine
Red flowers receive one disharmony point while standing on a completely white intersection (wholly inside a white central garden)
(6 tiles per player)
May be dropped on any neutral intersection (Torii and yellow gardens)
Moves up to 1 intersection horizontally and vertically (also called a "Mahn step"), or up to 3 intersections diagonally
Captures all tiles diagonally only
Sends harmony and disharmony diagonally only
Sends Harmony to Rhododendron, Rose, and Lily
Receives Harmony from Lily, Jade, and Jasmine
Sends Disharmony to Chrysanthemum, Jasmine, and Jade
Receives Disharmony from Rose, Rhododendron, and Chrysanthemum
(6 tiles per player)
May be dropped on any neutral intersection (Torii and yellow gardens)
Moves up to 3 intersections horizontally or vertically
Sends Harmony to Rose, Lily, and Jade
Receives Harmony from Jade, Jasmine, and Chrysanthemum
Sends Disharmony to Rhododendron, Chrysanthemum, and Jasmine
Receives Disharmony from Lily, Rose, and Rhododendron
(6 tiles per player)
May be dropped on any neutral intersection (Torii and yellow gardens)
Moves 1 intersection horizontally or vertically, followed by a 45 degree angle turn for 1 intersection diagonally but does not leap over other tiles
Sends Harmony to Lily, Jade, and Jasmine tiles
Receives Harmony from Jasmine, Chrysanthemum, and Rhododendron tiles
Sends Disharmony to Rose, Rhododendron, and Chrysanthemum tiles
Receives Disharmony from Chrysanthemum, Rhododendron, and Rose tiles
(3 tiles per player)
May be dropped on any intersection
Moves up to 2 intersections horizontally, vertically, or diagonally
Sends Harmony to all flowers except the Orchid
Receives Harmony from all flowers except the Orchid
Sends Disharmony to no tile
Receives Disharmony from Orchids
(3 tiles per player)
May be dropped on any intersection
Moves up to 6 intersections horizontally, vertically, or diagonally
Sends Harmony to no tile
Receives Harmony from no tile
Sends Disharmony to all flower tiles except other Orchids
Receives Disharmony from no tile
Play proceeds clockwise around the board, starting with the player sitting at the East compass point. When there are only two players the first player is called "Sente" as he starts with the initiative. The second player is called "Gote". When there are more than two players each player is ofter by their compass point or the element associate with that compass point.
Play alternates between players, each player either adding new tiles, moving tiles, bending tiles, or capturing tiles until the conditions for ending the game are met. The player with the largest number of points when the game ends is the winner.
On his/her turn a player has the option doing one and only one of the following
The object of the game is to accumulate the largest amount of points by forming harmonic melds or capturing tiles, creating the largest score when the game ends.
Harmony and disharmony are created by the flow of Chi from one tile to another. Flower tiles send Chi to the intersections that they can move to, creating harmony or disharmony with other flowers depending on their type. In this way, flowers may send and receive multiple harmonies from other flowers (allied or enemy).
Calculating Harmony on flower tiles
A tile has harmony (or "is in harmony") if the amount of harmony that it receives from other flowers (friendly or enemy) minus the amount of disharmony received is at least zero. All flowers that are either at a positive total amount of received harmony, or zero, are considered to be "in harmony" and are subject to capture protection (see below). Receiving more disharmony than harmony results in a negative total harmony score for that flower; those flowers are considered "in disharmony" and receive no capture protection.
Note that the amount of harmony or disharmony that the flower itself sends is of no importance when calculating whether it is in harmony.
Foreign Harmony
Harmony that is sent by a flower tile of another player is called "foreign harmony", but has the same effect as friendly harmony.
[Currently two separate models:
1. As long as a flower tile is in not in disharmony (net harmony = 0 or positive), it is protected from capture by enemy tiles.
Only flower tiles that receive negative harmony in total can be captured but other tiles.
OR
2. As long as a flower tile is in harmony (net harmony > 0), it is protected from capture by enemy tiles.
Only flower tiles that are receiving neutral negative harmony in total can be captured but other tiles.
The model used in each game is currently decided beforehand by the players. Cy]
Flower tiles of one player that are connected to each other through harmonies form harmony chains. These harmonic connections don't need to be reciprocal in order for the tiles to be considered "connected".
Tiles of different players can form harmonies between each other, but don't create chains.
A harmony chain or three or more tiles can on occasion loop back to its starting tile, forming a "harmony ring". As with normal chains, tiles do not need to send harmony to both neighboring tiles as long as every tile either sends or receives harmony from both its neighbors. Accordingly, harmony along a chain does not have to maintain one direction but can be send both back and forth within different parts of the chain.
If a player forms a harmony ring where all tiles are fully inside the central gardens (ie. not touching any neutral area), he can choose to remove those flower tiles from the board immediately and add them to his pot (melding). Each tile removed in this way counts as one point when calculating the overall score of that player.
If a player completes a harmony ring without removing it immediately, he cannot claim it at a later time unless his move extends or modifies the ring.
Tiles that are placed on a garden wall touch the neutral area and therefore cannot participate in melds.
If moving a tile simultaneously completes more than one harmony ring, the player must claim exactly one meld, but can decide which ring constellation is used. The player cannot claim more than one meld.
If a garden contains one and only one tile, that tile has single sovereignty over that garden.
If a tile is placed on the border between one or more gardens it has partial sovereignty over each garden that is otherwise empty and untouched by other border tiles.
A tile may be moved up to its maximum range on a singe turn, or move only a portion of its maximum range. Jasmin and Rose cannot move any less than their maximum range.
A tile may not pass through another tile.
Element tiles may move the flower tiles of any player (including his/her own) by bending them.
A flower tile may be bent if an element tile is able to move to the flower tile, as if to capture it.
The owner of the element tile determines how the flower moves when it is bent within these restrictions
When bent by a line moving element a flower tile may:
When bent by a knight moving element a flower tile may:
A tile being bent may not:
Removing one (or more) tiles from the board as a result of the last move.
If a player moves a tile to an intersection occupied by an opponent's tile, the opponent's tile must be captured. This is only possible if the captured tile is not protected by harmony protection.
Players may not capture their own tiles.
Captured tiles of enemy players are added to the capturing player's pot and score one point at the end of the game.
Capturing effectively ends the movement of the tile making the capture.
The pot is an area where the player stores the tiles taken out by forming melds or through capturing enemy tiles. It is also used to calculate the players score.
Each player has his own pot.
If players choose to allow betting, the amount of tiles in each players pots can influence the size of wagers and winnings.
If players want to use hidden information to make the game move challenging, they may place their tiles face down in pile or a container (The Wuji) and draw them one at a time at random when they want to enter a new tile into the game. The details and mechanics for this system have not been defined or tested at this time. Players are free to experiment with various ways to use hidden information with and without any gambling mechanics.
Instead of moving or dropping a tile, a player may elect to skip his/her turn. If the number of consecutive passes exceeds the number of players the game ends and the scores are calculated.
2 Player Passing Example 1:
Player 1 pass
Player 2 pass
Player 1 pass (game is ended)
2 Player Passing Example 2:
Player 1 pass
Player 2 moves
Game continues normally.
4 Player Passing Example 1:
Player 1 pass
Player 2 pass
Player 3 pass
Player 4 pass
Player 1 pass (game is ended)
4 Player Passing Example 2:
Player 1 pass
Player 2 pass
Player 3 pass
Player 4 pass
Player 1 moves
Game continues normally
A player may resign (and forfeit) a game at any time during his own turn.
The game ends when:
Players agree on a point limit before starting the game. At any point, a player may end and win the game by reaching the point limit with his own score, resulting from his melds and captured tiles.
A player may win by point limit even if it is not his turn.
If more than one player reaches the point limit at the same moment, the player with the higher total score wins. If they are tied, a new point limit 5 points higher than the previous one replaces the original one.
When playing with 4 players each player takes a color and a compass point.
Players sitting at opposite compass points cooperate as a team and share one score that counts the points of both players.
The player sitting at the East moves first. Play proceeds clockwise around the board.
Players may not discuss strategy during the game or advise each other on specific moves.
The rules for 3 player games are the same as for 4 players, except that one player uses two colors as if he/she were a team of two in a 4 player game.
Some thought should be given to the balance of the teams in 3 player games. In general the strongest player should not be allowed to play two colors unless the other two players are equal to each other in strength. If there is a very weak player and a very strong player they should play on the same team in a 3 player game.
While all players may elect to record the game, this responsibility is usually assigned to the least experienced player as a way for him/her to become familiar with the board and reading/recording a notated game. All moves are recorded as if looking at the board from the East position, shown in the first board illustration at the top of this page under the heading "The Pai Sho Board".
All intersections on the board are identified by a number and a letter. The number is always listed first. The line running from the East Torii to the West Torii is the x axis. The rows of intersections along this line are numbered from 1 to 19, 1 being the most eastern point and 19 being the most western point. The line running from the North Torii to the South Torii is the y axis. It is lettered in uppercase letters starting with "A" as the most northern point, and ending with "S" as the most southern point.
Js = Jasmine
Ly = Lily
Jd = Jade
Rs = Rose
C = Chrysanthemum
Rd = Rhododendron
Lt = Lotus
O = Orchid
Symbol | Meaning |
- | Move to |
x | Capture |
* | Drop |
~ | Bend |
Pass | Passes to next player |
Board Position Notation is used to list all the tiles and their positions on the Pai Sho Ban starting from intersection 9s and continuing left to right, top to bottom, one line at a time until reaching 11a.
Unoccupied intersections are not listed.
In a 4 handed game red tiles use Pointy Brackets < >, yellow tiles use Parentheses ( ), blue tiles use Curly Braces{ }, and green tiles use Square Brackets [ ] . In a two handed game Sente's tiles use Pointy Brackets < >, and Gote's tiles use Parentheses ( ). But in practice only Sente uses Pointy Brackets < >, to distinguish them from Gote's. Colored text is not required but players are encouraged to use it if available because it helps make the board position clearer to anyone reading it back
Four Handed Example:
Red tile: <Lt 10j>
Yellow tile: (O 11j)
Blue tile: {Jd 12j}
Green tile: [Rs 13j]
Two Handed Example:
Sente's tile: <Lt 10j>
Gote's tile: O 11j
Name | Player 1 Sente | Player 2 Gote | Score | Player Comments |
Color | Red | White | ||
1 | 0:0 | |
||
2 | ... | |||
3 | ||||
... | ||||
Harmony Points |