American Mah Jongg is a game for four players, built around a card of winning hands that changes every year. Each player tries to be the first to collect fourteen tiles that match one line on the card. This page walks through a whole game in order. When you want to practise a step, every one of them has a lesson, and the table plays all of it with you.
1. Know the tiles
There are 152 tiles.
Every tile in the set comes four times over: here are all four 5 Dots. That is why five of a kind always needs a joker.
A bam, a crak and a dot of each of the first three numbers, the four winds, the three dragons, a flower and a joker. A full set has four of each of these, and eight flowers and eight jokers.
- Three suits, bams, craks and dots, each numbered 1 to 9, with four of every tile.
- Winds: north, east, west and south, four of each.
- Dragons: green, red and white, four of each. Each dragon belongs to a suit: green to bams, red to craks, white to dots. The white dragon, called soap, also reads as a zero in hands that spell a year.
Each suit with its dragon: a 3 Bam with the Green Dragon, a 3 Crak with the Red Dragon, a 3 Dot with the White Dragon.
- Flowers: eight, all the same tile.
- Jokers: eight. A joker can stand in for any tile, with limits (step 7).
The tiles lesson shows each one up close, and American Mah Jongg tile names says how players name each tile out loud.
2. Know the card
The card lists the hands that win this year, in families such as 2468, consecutive runs, winds and dragons, and singles and pairs. Every hand is exactly fourteen tiles, made of groups of the same tile: singles, pairs, pungs (three), kongs (four), quints (five) and sextets (six). Colours on the card show which groups must be in the same suit and which in different suits. A line marked C is concealed: you may not lay any group face up before you win, so the only thrown tile you can take is the winning one. A line marked X may be built with tiles you call.
The kinds of hand on the card shows each family with real tiles.
The National Mah Jongg League publishes a new card every spring, and most tables play it. The school also has its own practice card, free to play. How to read the card goes through a line tile by tile.
3. Sit down and deal
Four players sit east, south, west and north. Play and passing move to the right: east, then south, then west, then north. The tiles are shuffled face down and built into walls, and the dealer, East, ends up with fourteen tiles while everyone else has thirteen.
Pick your tiles up and stand them on your rack so only you can see them. Then look for two or three lines on the card that your tiles are closest to. You do not need to choose yet.
4. Pass tiles in the Charleston
Before anyone plays, the table passes tiles. This is the Charleston, and nothing like it exists in any other kind of mahjong.
- Everyone passes three tiles to the right, then three across, then three to the left, all at the same moment. You give before you see what comes back.
- If all four players agree, a second Charleston runs the other way: left, across, right. One player saying no stops it.
- Then players opposite each other may swap up to three tiles in a courtesy pass, the same number each way.
Jokers are never passed. On the last pass of each Charleston you may pass on one, two or all three of the tiles you just received without looking at them, a blind pass, so that you give up fewer of your own. The Charleston, and what to pass is about choosing the three.
5. Take turns: draw one, throw one
East starts by throwing one tile into the middle of the table, face up, and naming it out loud. After that, each turn is the same: take the next tile from the wall, then throw one tile and name it. You always end your turn with thirteen tiles.
What you throw matters as much as what you keep. A tile nobody needs is safe; a tile that finishes somebody's hand gives them the game.
6. Call a discard you need
Any player may claim the tile just thrown, not only the next player. You call it to complete a group of three or more: a pung, kong, quint or sextet. You lay that group face up on your rack, an exposure, then throw a tile, and play carries on from your seat, skipping anyone in between.
You cannot call a tile for a single or a pair unless it finishes your whole hand. If two players want the same tile, a call for mah jongg beats a call for an exposure, and between equal calls the player next in turn wins it. An exposure cannot be taken back, so call only when you are sure of your line.
7. Use jokers in groups of three or more
Jokers can be used to make 3 of a kind or more, but not pairs. A joker can take the place of any tile in a pung, kong, quint or sextet. It can never be a single tile or part of a pair, so a hand made of singles and pairs uses no jokers at all.
Allowed: three 5 Bams with one joker, and four 7 Craks with three jokers.
Not allowed: a 2 Dot and a joker is not a pair, and a joker cannot stand for a single East. A pair is always two real tiles.
When a joker sits in a face-up group on anyone's rack, you may take it on your turn, after you have drawn, by putting the real tile it stands for in its place (the joker swap). A joker hidden on someone's rack can never be taken. A thrown joker is dead: nobody may take it. Jokers, and the edges of the rules has every case.
Four 6 Dots face up on another rack, one of them a joker. You hold the fourth real 6 Dot, so on your turn it goes into their group and the joker comes to you.
8. Win, or see the game end
The first player whose fourteen tiles match a line on the card says "mah jongg" and lays the hand face up. They can win with a tile they drew or with a discard they called.
- Won on a discard: the player who threw the winning tile pays twice the hand's value, and the other two pay it once.
- Won on a drawn tile: all three pay twice.
- The wall runs out: a wall game. Nobody wins and nobody pays.
A game won with no jokers in the hand doubles every payment again, except in the Singles and Pairs and Quints sections. How American Mah Jongg is scored has worked examples.
If the tiles you can see make every line on the card impossible for you, your hand is dead: you keep playing, cannot win, and still pay. Then the next game is dealt.
Mistakes beginners make
- Choosing one line straight after the deal. Keep two or three open through the Charleston.
- Putting a joker in a pair. A pair is always two real tiles.
- Reading a colour as a suit. Green on the card does not mean bams; it means "a different suit from the other colour".
- Calling a tile for a pair. You may call a thrown tile only for three of a kind or more, or to win.
- Calling early. A face-up group cannot be taken back, and it tells the table what you are making.
- Throwing a joker. It is dead the moment it lands, and nobody can use it, you included.
Where to go next
The ten lessons teach each step on its own, with the tiles drawn. The rules page has every rule and every house-rule option. And the table deals you a game against three opponents right now, no account needed, with help that explains each move.
Questions
How long does a game of American Mah Jongg take?
A game usually takes ten to twenty minutes at a real table once everyone knows the card, and longer while you are learning. Players usually agree to play a set number of games or a set time.
Do I need the National Mah Jongg League card to play?
Most tables play the League's card, which is printed and sold each year. To learn, you can play the school's own practice card for free, and the League card plays at the school for anyone who owns the printed one.
Is American Mah Jongg the same as Chinese mahjong?
No. They share the tiles, but American Mah Jongg adds jokers, plays from a card of set hands that changes every year, and has the Charleston and the rule that any player may call a discard.
How many players does American Mah Jongg need?
Four. Three-player and two-player versions exist as house variations, and the school's table fills empty seats with computer opponents so you can play alone.