Articles
How to read the card, what to pass, when to call, where the jokers go, and how not to pay double. Free, checked against the rules the school's table plays, and written for people who learn from a person.
The basics
How to play American Mah Jongg
The whole game in eight steps, from the 152 tiles to a winning hand: the card, the deal, the Charleston, a turn, calling a discard, jokers, how a game is won and paid, and the mistakes beginners make.
9 minAmerican Mah Jongg cheat sheet
One printable page with the whole game on it: the tiles, the Charleston in order, a turn, calling a discard, jokers, winning and paying, and the habits of the table. Free, and made to sit next to your rack.
4 minHow many tiles, jokers and flowers are in American Mah Jongg
152 tiles: 108 suit tiles, 16 winds, 12 dragons, 8 flowers and 8 jokers. Why most sets come with more than 152, what the blank tiles are for, and why older sets have fewer jokers.
4 minAmerican Mah Jongg tile names
Every tile in an American Mah Jongg set with its picture and the name players say out loud: Bams, Craks and Dots, the winds, the dragons and Soap, the bird on the 1 Bam, flowers and jokers, and how the card writes each one.
5 minHow to say mah jongg, and what the name means
Mah-JONG or mah-ZHONG, both heard in America. The name means sparrow, it was coined for a trademark in 1920, and that is why there are so many spellings.
2 minHow to play mah jongg with two players
The National Mah Jongg League's two-player rule, the Siamese variant people mean when they say two-handed mah jongg, and how two people can play the full four-seat game instead.
3 minSiamese Mah Jongg, explained
The two-player mah jongg game with two racks each: who created it, the setup, why there is no Charleston, how you win with two mah jonggs, and how it is paid.
3 minHow to play mah jongg with three players
The League's three-player rule (four walls, no Charleston), the "ghost wall" most tables use instead so they keep the Charleston, and how three people can play the full game with one computer player.
3 minHow to find mah jongg lessons near you
Where American Mah Jongg classes and teachers are found (JCCs, libraries, recreation departments, Facebook groups, tile shops), what a beginner series covers, what it costs in 2026, and how to practise between lessons.
4 minAmerican Mah Jongg tournaments: how they work and how to find one
Who runs American Mah Jongg tournaments, how a round of four games is played against the clock, how tournament scoring differs from home play, what entry costs, and how to get ready.
4 minHow American Mah Jongg is scored
Where a hand's value comes from, who pays the winner and how much, the doubles for the thrower, a self-drawn win and a hand with no jokers, worked examples, and how tournament scoring differs.
3 minTen mistakes beginners make in American Mah Jongg
A joker in a pair, passing a joker, calling a tile for a pair, mixing suits, calling too late and five more. What each mistake looks like in tiles, and what to do instead.
4 minTeaching your friends to play American Mah Jongg
An order that works for a first lesson at your own table: the goal first, the tiles in groups, a first game played face up, house rules agreed before you start, and mistakes explained after the turn.
3 minCan the computer see my tiles?
At Mahjongg School the computer players see only what a person in their chair would see: their own tiles, the tiles thrown, the sets face up and how many tiles are left in the wall. Here is exactly what each one is given.
2 minStrategy
American Mah Jongg strategy, from the deal to the last tile
The habits that win hands, in the order a hand asks for them: reading the card for your tiles, passing, the first five turns, choosing and changing a line, when to call, jokers, and when to stop attacking and defend.
4 minHow to read the card
The card is written in a notation nobody explains. Here is what every line is telling you, and how to find the two or three lines your tiles are already close to.
6 minThe Charleston in American Mah Jongg, and what to pass
The mahjong Charleston explained: three tiles right, across and left, all at once, then the optional second Charleston and the courtesy pass. The rules, blind passes, and the one habit that makes it work for you.
6 minWhen to call a discard
Any player may claim a discard, which is what makes the game American. The claim also locks you in. When it is worth it, and when it is a trap.
3 minJokers, and the edges of the rules
Eight jokers: they make three of a kind or more but never a pair, with allowed and not-allowed examples in tiles, how to swap one off another player's rack, and why a thrown joker is dead.
5 minDefensive play, and knowing when you are dead
The discarder pays double. Reading the exposures, counting the visible tiles, and the one calculation that tells you to stop attacking.
3 minThe first five turns, and what they are for
The opening is not about winning. It is about staying able to win. What to throw, what to hold, and the two mistakes that cost most beginners the hand before anyone has exposed anything.
3 minChoosing a line, and when to change it
How to pick the hand you are building from what you already hold, how to tell when it has died, and how to move to another one without wasting the tiles you kept.
3 minThe card
The kinds of hand on a Mah Jongg card, in tiles
Every kind of hand an American Mah Jongg card is built from, each with a full fourteen-tile example: the year, 2468, 13579, 369, like numbers, quints, runs, winds and dragons, and singles and pairs, with where jokers may go in each.
6 minThe 2026 mah jongg card: which hands actually win
We counted 33,607 hands played on the 2026 National Mah Jongg League card by the school's computer players. Two sections took more than half of all wins, one took almost none. What that means for the line you choose.
4 minThe card, and why it changes every year
What stays the same on the annual card, what moves, where the printed card comes from, and how the school plays whichever card is in front of you.
2 minThe 2027 mah jongg card: when it comes out and how to get it
When the National Mah Jongg League's new card usually goes on sale and arrives, how to order it online or by mail, what it costs, the large-print card, and how to get ready for a new card before it lands.
3 minPlay what you read
The school's table plays any card, its opponents read the discards, and every game ends with a report card. Free while the school is in beta.
Sit down at the tableA letter from the school, now and then.
New articles, the card of the month, what changed at the table. A few times a year, never more than once a month, and a leave link at the foot of every one.