Mahjong Compendium

Proto-mahjong › Chinese classical › Babcock rules

Babcock rules

1920, the little red book

Sources

Sources

The documents this entry rests on, as published. Each can be opened and checked; nothing in this part is anybody’s reading of them.

  1. Sloper, Tom. "FAQ 2b: Identifying a Mah-Jongg Variant." Sloperama. canonical checked 2026-09-18

    https://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq/mjfaq02b.html

    chart’s note Tile counts, hand sizes, flower handling and scoring for roughly 50 named variants. Primary source for most leaf nodes in this chart.

    Also cited on: Chinese archaic, Late Qing style, Chinese pre-classical, Chinese classical, Shanghai / Hong Kong new style, Hong Kong old style and 44 more · bibliography #1

  2. The Charleston Club. "The History of American Mah Jongg." supporting checked 2026-09-18

    https://thecharlestonclubaz.com/blogs/the-journal/the-history-of-american-mah-jongg-from-1920s-import-to-a-century-old-american-tradition

    chart’s note Babcock's 1920 translation and the Parker Brothers / Milton Bradley licensing.

    Also cited on: NMJL card · bibliography #16

  3. Wikipedia. "Joseph Park Babcock." cross-check checked 2026-09-18

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Park_Babcock

    AI summary Biography of the populariser: 1893 to 1949, his 1920 Rules of Mah-Jongg known as the red book, and his membership of the committee that published a standardised American rule set.

    Also cited on: Regional US house rules · bibliography #65

  4. Wikipedia. "American Mahjong." supporting

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_mahjong

    chart’s note Racks, jokers, the Charleston, and the NMJL / AMJA annual card.

    Also cited on: Regional US house rules, NMJL card, American mah jongg, AMJA card · bibliography #13

  5. MahjongCompare. "Mahjong History and Origin." supporting

    https://mahjongcompare.com/history

    chart’s note NMJL founders (Cecil, Meyerson, Jacobs, Potter), the 1937 Essex House meeting, and jokers entering the official rules in 1961.

    Also cited on: Regional US house rules, NMJL card, American mah jongg · bibliography #14

AI-generated

Analysis

Written by an AI model from the sources above. It is a reading of them, not a source in its own right: every figure in it points back to a numbered source, and where the two disagree, the source is right.

Assessment

Confidence
documented a published ruleset or rule description exists and is cited
Evidence
corroborated two or more independent sources agree on the facts that define this variant

Cross-comparison

What each source was read to say, set side by side. The numbers are the sources above.

SourceTilesHandFlowersScoringPayout
[1]136 or 14413, out on 14if used, melded instantly upon receipt20 for Out, then points for pungs and pairs, then double; kongs and flowers not used in Babcock's original simplified systemall players earn points
  • [1] fewer special hands than Chinese Classical; Babcock's opening line describes a set of 136 pieces
  • [2] Babcock's 1920 translation, and the Parker Brothers / Milton Bradley licensing
  • [3] Joseph Park Babcock, 1893 to 1949, born in Lafayette, Indiana. His Rules of Mah-Jongg, the red book, appeared in 1920 and was the English-language rule book; a second edition followed in 1923. He was also a member of the committee that published a standardised rule set

Reading it

Four sources agree on the 1920 red book and its role in introducing the game to the West, and Wikipedia adds the man, his dates and a 1923 second edition. Sloperama gives the rules themselves, including that kongs and flowers were dropped from Babcock's simplified system, and Wikipedia's scoring article independently derives the Babcock system from Chinese Classical, which supports the chart's descent. The 136-or-144 ambiguity traces to Babcock's own opening sentence describing a set of 136 pieces.

In the tree

Descends from Chinese classical, as the source chart draws it.

Descends into

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