Every spring the new card arrives and every table argues about which hands are easy this year. We can count instead. The school's computer players, four of our strongest at one table, play the 2026 National Mah Jongg League card around the clock, and every hand is recorded. Between 28 September and 3 October 2026 they played 33,607 hands on it. This is what those hands say.
Two sections win most of the hands
| Section of the card | Share of all wins |
|---|---|
| Any Like Numbers | 29.5% |
| Consecutive Run | 24.8% |
| Winds and Dragons | 13.7% |
| 13579 | 12.3% |
| 2468 | 6.0% |
| Quints | 5.1% |
| 369 | 4.5% |
| 2026 | 3.2% |
| Singles and Pairs | 1.0% |
Any Like Numbers and Consecutive Run together took 54% of all wins. The five most-won hands, all from those two sections, took 39% between them.
The reason is flexibility. A like-numbers hand can be built from whichever number your tiles favour, and a run can sit in any stretch of consecutive numbers and often in any suit. Both accept a great many different racks, so a deal is more often already close to one of them.
A rack after the deal with fives in all three suits, two jokers and a short run of craks: a like-numbers line on the fives is the natural first choice, with a consecutive run as the second.
Two sections that rarely finish
Singles and Pairs: 1% of wins. No joker can stand in a single or a pair, so every tile must be the real one, and a single tile thrown by someone else cannot be called unless it finishes your hand. These hands pay well because they are hard.
The year hands: 3.2% of wins. They ask for specific digits of 2026, soaps as zeros and flowers, in exact numbers. Some deals hand you most of one; most do not.
Quints: 5.1% of wins, but the highest value. The quint hands the computer players won had a median value of 40, against 25 or 30 for most others. Five of a kind needs at least one joker, so a quint is worth considering when you are dealt jokers and not otherwise.
What a hand looked like
- 70% of hands ended with somebody winning; 30% were wall games.
- A third of wins came from a tile the winner drew; two thirds from a discard someone else threw.
- A typical hand lasted about 80 turns around the table, some 20 each.
What it means for your line
- When your rack is undecided, look at Any Like Numbers and Consecutive Run first. They are the sections most deals are closest to.
- Do not chase Singles and Pairs or the year hands unless the deal hands them to you. Most of the time they are where hands go to die.
- Count your jokers before you look at Quints. No jokers, no quint.
- Keep a second line. The most-won sections are also the ones the other three players are most likely to be collecting, so watch the exposures.
How far to trust these numbers
These are four computer players, not four people. Our strongest player chooses lines from what its tiles allow, which is exactly the question of which hands are easy, but people have favourite hands and avoid others, and a table of people will not match these shares exactly. The numbers are a strong guide to which sections deals tend to suit, not a rule.
Practise reading your rack against the card
The lesson Reading the card and the articles How to read the card and Choosing a line teach how to find the lines your tiles are already close to. The drills show a rack and ask which hand it is nearest, and score the answer. If you own the printed 2026 card, the table plays it: answer the ownership question once and deal yourself hands against three strong opponents. Everyone can practise the same skills on the school's own card, free.
Questions
What is the easiest hand on the 2026 mah jongg card?
In 33,607 hands played by the school's computer players, the Any Like Numbers section was won most often, 29.5% of all wins, followed by Consecutive Run at 24.8%. Hands in those two sections suit the most deals.
What is the hardest section on the 2026 mah jongg card?
Singles and Pairs, which took only 1% of wins, because jokers cannot be used in singles or pairs. The 2026 year hands were next hardest at 3.2%.
How often does a mah jongg hand end in a wall game?
In these games, 30% of hands ended with the wall exhausted and nobody winning. Tables of people may see more or fewer, depending on how cautiously they throw.