Plenty of people learn American Mah Jongg from a friend at a kitchen table rather than from a book. If you are the friend, here is an order that works.

Start with the goal

Before anyone touches a tile, say what winning is: fourteen tiles that match one line on the card. Everything else in the game, the Charleston, calling tiles, the jokers, serves that one goal. Once a new player knows where they are heading, the rest has a reason.

A whole hand: two Flowers and four each of 1, 3 and 5 Crak. Fourteen tiles that match one line on the card.

Show the tiles in groups

Don't spread all 152 tiles out at once. Show them in this order:

  1. The three suits: Bams, Craks and Dots, numbered 1 to 9, four of each tile.
  2. The winds and dragons.
  3. The Flowers and the jokers, eight of each.

One tile from the start of each suit. The Soap, the white dragon, also stands for zero on the card.

Play the first game face up

For the first game, everyone lays their tiles face up on the table. You can talk through each move together: which tiles to pass, which line a rack is closest to, why a tile is safe to throw. Nobody feels lost, and nobody is embarrassed by a wrong move, because everyone can see why it was wrong.

Agree the house rules before you start

Every table has a few choices to settle before the first deal, and settling them early saves an argument later:

  • whether you play the optional second Charleston;
  • what a point is worth, if you play for money at all;
  • what happens when someone calls Mah Jongg by mistake.

Let them make mistakes

New players will put a joker in a pair, pass a joker, or call a tile too late. Let the turn finish, then explain the rule. Stopping someone in the middle of a move teaches them to hesitate, and a rule explained once the turn is over is the one they remember. Our list of ten mistakes beginners make has the usual ones, with pictures.

Keep them playing

Your friends will learn more from their next ten games than from any explanation. Between game nights they can play free at the school against three computer players who see only their own tiles, with the Coach showing them a better tile when they throw one a strong player would keep.

Questions

What is the best way to teach someone American Mah Jongg?

Start with the goal, fourteen tiles that match one line on the card, then show the tiles in groups and play the first game with everyone's tiles face up so you can talk through each move together.

What should we agree before the first game?

Whether you play the second Charleston, what a point is worth if you keep score in money, and what happens when someone calls Mah Jongg by mistake.

Sources

The order above is the one in our video Teaching your friends to play, on our YouTube channel. The rules follow the school's rules page.