The basic principle of the game is to arrange your own 16 tiles, plus one more that you've drawn, to form five sets of three (which may be either consecutive sequences of three within any suit, such as 3, 4, and 5 of circles, or sets of three of the same, such as three east wind tiles) plus one pair (two tiles the same).
玩牌的基本原則，就是要把自己的十六張牌，連同手上摸來的一張，湊成五個順子（如一萬二萬三萬、三筒四筒五筒等三張連續數字的同花色牌）或坎子（連續三張相同數字花色者，如東風三張），以及一個對子（兩張相同的牌）。