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=== Dealing tiles ===

====Shuffling tiles====
[[File:Mahjong shuffle.jpg|thumb|Players participating in the shuffle]]
All tiles are placed face down on the table and are shuffled. By convention, all players should participate in shuffling using both hands, moving the pieces around the table rigorously and loudly for a lengthy period. Tiles may get flipped up during this process, and players should flip them facing down as soon as possible to avoid identifying the location of any revealed tiles.

====Stacking tiles====
[[File:Mahjong table.svg|thumb|right|upright=2|Walls with slight diagonal offset and player positions marked with cardinal directions, including the dealer (E), along with counting order|200px]]

Each player then stacks a row of 18 tiles, two tiles high in front of them (for a total of 36 tiles). Players then push each side of their stack together to form a square wall.

Regular players usually place their stacks in a slightly diagonal position (about 20 to 30 degrees counter-clockwise); the right end of their stack is pushed somewhat further into the centre of the table to meet almost the middle of the stack of the player on the right. This creates a smaller square wall, the length of about half of each stack, with walls extended away from each corner of the square. The diagonally positioned stacks and a smaller square create a bigger space for players' tiles and also make an ergonomic position for drawing tiles from the stack.

====Drawing tiles====
[[File:Stackoffour.png|thumb|left|Stack of four mahjong tiles whilst dealing from the wall|200px]]
The dealer throws three dice on the square wall and sums up the total. Counting counter-clockwise so that the dealer is 1 (or 5, 9, 13, 17), so that south (player to the right) is 2 (or 6, 10, 14, 18), etc., a player's quarter of the wall is chosen. Some house rules may use only two dice but have double throws to increase randomness. In the case of double throws, the player of the selected wall makes the second throw.

Using the exact total on the dice (or the total of the two throws), the player whose wall is chosen then counts the stacks of tiles from right to left. (For double throws, the count may extend to the left side player's stack.) This determines the location where the 'deck' of tiles is cut. Starting from the left of the stacks counted, the dealer draws four tiles for their hand. Proceeding in counter-clockwise order, players take turns drawing blocks of four tiles (so that the stacks decrease clockwise) until each player (including the dealer) has 12 tiles. Each player then draws one last tile (top first, then bottom, then following stack, etc. to make a 13-tile hand. The tile to be drawn is always the topmost tile left of the cut.

[[File:Mahjong 13th piece draw.svg|thumb|right<!-- Left disrupts the ordered list below. -->|While drawing the 13th piece to complete the initial hand, the dealer (E) will typically also draw a 14th piece (both highlighted in blue) to initiate the game.]]
Dealing does not have to be strictly this way and may be done quite differently based on house rules. Tiles may flip over when being dealt, and players should agree in advance on how to deal with the problem. Solutions include having the person who flipped the tile penalized points, shuffling the turned-over piece back into the wall somehow, allowing the player to whom the tiles were dealt to take the piece or not (meaning the dealer must take it as their 14th piece), or other house rules.

====Game play starts====
The dealer draws a piece from the wall in a clockwise direction, adding it to their hand. Typically, this draw is performed during the initial deal to speed up play. If this does not complete a legal hand, the dealer then discards a piece (throwing it into the middle of the wall with no particular order in mind).