Siamese Mah Jongg is the best-known way for two people to play American-style mah jongg. Each player works on two hands at once, one on each of two racks, and the game is won with two mah jonggs.

Where it comes from. It was created by Gladys Grad, of Florida, and is sold under a registered trademark. It is not a National Mah Jongg League game, and the League's card does not print its rules. It is played with American-style hands, and dedicated Siamese cards are also published.

Setting up

  1. Sit opposite each other, with two racks in front of each player.
  2. Shuffle all the tiles. Grad's published rules build two walls, 19 stacks long; the same rules also allow leaving the tiles face down in a pool, and many tables play it that way.
  3. Deal until each player has 27 tiles. The dealer, East, takes one more, for 28.
  4. There is no Charleston.

Part of a Siamese rack. Each player sorts 27 or 28 tiles across two racks and builds two hands at once.

Playing

  1. East throws first, discarding the 28th tile.
  2. Each turn: take a tile, then throw one, as in the four-player game.
  3. You may move tiles between your own two racks as your hands take shape.
  4. Calling a discard works as in the four-player game: to finish a group of three or more, or to win.

Winning and paying

  • A player who completes a hand on one rack declares a mah jongg and keeps playing for the second.
  • The game ends when one player has declared two mah jonggs, or when the tiles run out.
  • The first mah jongg is paid at the card's value; the second is paid double. A hand with no jokers doubles again.
  • Payment is settled at the end of the game.

Details vary from table to table, as they do in every home game. Agree before you start on the walls or a pool, and on what happens to jokers in a hand already declared.

Questions

What is Siamese Mah Jongg?

A two-player version of American-style mah jongg, created by Gladys Grad, in which each player has two racks, there is no Charleston, and the winner must make two mah jonggs.

How many tiles does each player get in Siamese Mah Jongg?

27 each, and the dealer takes one more for 28 before throwing the first tile.

Is Siamese Mah Jongg on the National Mah Jongg League card?

No. It is a separate game sold under its own trademark, not a League game. It uses American-style hands, and separate Siamese cards exist.

Two people, the real game

Siamese is a different game from the one you play with four. If you would rather play the four-seat game itself with two people, Mahjongg School seats two of the school's strong computer players in the empty chairs. More on all the ways to play with two in How to play mah jongg with two players.

Sources

Mah Jongg Madness, Siamese rules, American Mahjongg for Everyone, I Love Mahj and Sloperama, Mah-Jongg FAQ 13a.