Prevailing Wind and Game Wind
To start off and to determine the Player Game Wind each player throws the dice and the player with the highest total when the scores are added is the dealer.

The dealer's Wind is now East, the player to their right is South wind, the next player to the right has West and the last player is North.

The Game Wind changes after every round unless the dealer wins. The Prevailing Wind is always East when starting. It changes after the Game Wind has rotated around the board, that is, after each player has had a turn at dealing and lost.

Dealing The Tiles
All tiles are set face down and shuffled around, then the players stack a row of tiles two deep in front of them using up an equal number of tiles each.

The dealer then throws the dice and adds up the total points. Using that number and counting counter-clockwise making the dealer number 1, a player's row is chosen. Starting at the right edge, sum tiles are counted and shifted to the right.

The player sitting on the right side of the dealer takes 4 tiles to their left, and players working anti-clockwise take tiles from their right.

The board is now ready to play and tiles will be taken the wall from where the dealing left off working clockwise. Unless the dealer has already won they then discard a tile.

Each turn involves a player drawing off a tile from the wall and putting it in their hand, the player then discards another tile onto the table. Normally tiles that have been discarded are placed neatly in front of the player although sometimes they are placed face down.