Digging Flowers (), also known as Dachen Mahjong () is a tile-based game similar to mahjong and rummy in which four players compete to form their own winning hand of 21 tiles using melds of two- and three-tile sets. Like mahjong, players build their hands by both drawing from a shuffled wall and acquiring discards from other players.
History
The game is thought to have originated in Suzhou, and the pieces are sometimes known as Suzhou flower tiles (蘇州花牌) as a result. It was popular in Jiangsu, Zhejian, and Shanghai during the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China era (), when it acquired the pithy saying "Dig flowers every day, but don't touch Mahjong." [天天挖小花，麻將不要搓。]
The game is played as part of a cultural festival in Dachen Village of Hualien City, Taiwan. Dachen Village (大陳一村) was founded in the 1950s following the First Taiwan Strait Crisis.
Equipment
Tiles
The tiles are similar in shape and size to mahjong tiles, but the markings are different. The majority of tiles use the same patterns as Chinese dominoes, which in turn are based on the 21 possible combinations of two six-sided dice. There are three types of tiles for each of the 21 patterns, with six tiles per pattern in total:
3 "plain" (白皮) pattern tiles with no border
2 "flower" (花) pattern tiles with a double border
1 "double" or "stacked" (度) pattern tile with a single border and doubled pattern
Variations in markings to distinguish tile types may exist; for example, "flower" and "double" tiles may literally include flowers, "flower" tiles may carry two additional marks rather than the doubled border, and "double" tiles may have a doubled pattern and no border.
In addition to the 126 patterned tiles (21×6), 10 additional tiles may be added: 8 bonus tiles (four seasons, four flowers) and 2 "white dragon" tiles, the same as in mahjong sets. This makes 136 tiles in total.
Dice
Two six-sided dice are used. These use the Chinese marking convention, with the one and four-pip sides marked in red.
Gameplay
One game consists of four separate hands. To start the hand, each player throws the dice and the player with the highest sum is the dealer, sitting in the position designated Heaven (天); moving anti-clockwise (to the dealer's right), the player with the next-highest roll is seated as the Earth (地), followed by the Human (人) and Harmony (和) players, in descending order of dice roll.
Each hand follows the same Heaven (6-6 pattern) - Earth (1-1) - People (4-4) - Harmony (3-1) sequence in turn. Local rules may vary; the fourth player and hand is sometimes designated Long Three (3-3 pattern, 長三) or equivalently Shirt (衫) instead of Harmony.
Setup
The four players collectively shuffle the tiles, face-down, and each builds a wall two tiles high. If only the 126 patterned tiles are used, three of the players build walls 16 tiles wide (32 tiles total), while the dealer (天) builds a wall 15 tiles wide (30 tiles total). When the "white dragon" tiles are included, each player builds a wall 16 tiles wide, and when all ten bonus tiles are included, the walls are 17 tiles wide.
The dealer throws the dice to determine which wall starts the deal, counting clockwise starting with their own wall, then throws the dice again to determine which patterns will receive the "shake" bonus for the hand. The second throw also determines which stack is used to start the draw. The dealer first takes two pairs (four tiles) from the designated wall, then players also take four tiles at a time in order, starting with Earth, until each player has 20 tiles.
Shake bonus
The "shake rule" (搖張) bonuses are applied to three distinct patterns: one for the face value of the dice, a second for the "base" value, and a third with the leftover numbers. For example, if a 1-3 is rolled, that means 4-6 and 2-5 are the other bonus patterns. 4-6 is the value on the base of the two dice, and 2-5 are left over after 1-3-4-6 are taken out.
When doubles are rolled, the "base" double and the mixture of the face and base receive the shake bonus. For example, if a 2-2 is rolled, the "base" is 5-5, and the mixture is 2–5; all three of these patterns are the designated shake bonus patterns for the hand.