Mahjongg School Feedback

Learn to play

Short lessons for someone who has never played. Each one takes about four minutes.

Start the first lesson Play a game with the Coach helping

Read the rules instead · Sign in and we'll remember where you stopped.

The suggested order

Take them in this order if you are new; any order if you are not. Nothing is locked. To keep the rules at the table, print the quick reference.

1

American Mah Jongg basics

The tiles, the four players, who is East, the wall, the deal and the goal. Start here.

Start the lesson

  1. The tiles
  2. Sort the tiles by suit
  3. Who is East, and the wall
  4. The deal
  5. Find East's rack
  6. Play, and how you win
4 minutes, 6 steps
2

The tiles

The three suits, four of every tile, the winds and dragons, the flowers and jokers: all 152.

Start the lesson

  1. The three suits
  2. Find the 1 Bam
  3. Four of every tile
  4. Make four of a kind
  5. Winds and dragons
  6. Which dragon goes with Dots?
  7. Flowers, jokers, and all 152
  8. Sort the tiles that have no number
4 minutes, 8 steps
3

Pairs, three of a kind, and more

The groups every hand is made of, where a joker can go, and how a hand adds up to 14.

Start the lesson

  1. Groups of the same tile
  2. Which is three of a kind?
  3. Where a joker can go
  4. Which one is allowed?
  5. Make five of a kind
  6. A hand adds up to 14
  7. Which is a whole hand?
4 minutes, 7 steps
4

Reading a Mah Jongg card, part 1

How the card writes a hand, what its colours mean, and where a joker can go. You build each hand.

Start the lesson

  1. How the card writes a hand
  2. Finish the hand
  3. One colour means one suit
  4. Build it in Craks
  5. Two colours mean two suits
  6. Build a hand in two suits
  7. Jokers
  8. Finish it with a joker
  9. Find the mistake
4 minutes, 9 steps
5

Reading a Mah Jongg card, part 2

Dragons, the White Dragon, winds, runs that start on any number, and what a hand pays. You build each one.

Start the lesson

  1. D is a dragon
  2. Finish the dragons
  3. 0 is the White Dragon
  4. Finish the second 2026
  5. N, E, W and S are the winds
  6. Finish the winds
  7. Some hands start on any number
  8. Build 4, 5, 6
  9. What a hand pays, and C for concealed
  10. Taking a thrown tile
  11. Which hand is this?
4 minutes, 11 steps
6

The Charleston

Before the first turn, everyone passes tiles: the passes, the blind pass, the courtesy pass, and what to pass.

Start the lesson

  1. Right, across, left
  2. Where does the first pass go?
  3. The blind pass
  4. Which pass may be blind?
  5. The second Charleston and the courtesy pass
  6. How many tiles go across?
  7. What to pass
  8. Which three would you pass?
4 minutes, 8 steps
7

A turn: draw one, throw one

How play goes round the table, calling a thrown tile, and the tiles nobody takes.

Start the lesson

  1. Draw one, throw one
  2. Who goes after you?
  3. Calling a thrown tile
  4. Can you call it?
  5. And this one?
  6. A thrown tile nobody takes
  7. Too late?
4 minutes, 7 steps
8

Jokers

Taking a joker back with the real tile, a thrown joker, and the tiles a joker can never stand for.

Start the lesson

  1. Taking a joker back
  2. Can you take this joker?
  3. Two more joker rules
  4. A thrown joker
  5. Which one is allowed?
3 minutes, 5 steps
9

Winning and paying

How you win, who pays what, and what happens when the wall runs out.

Start the lesson

  1. How you win
  2. Is this a win?
  3. Who pays what
  4. What does each player pay?
  5. When the wall runs out
3 minutes, 5 steps
10

Reading your own rack

How to look at thirteen tiles and pick a hand to build.

Read it · Do it at the table

  1. Suits together
  2. Your pairs and three of a kinds
  3. The card list does the counting
  4. The numbers
  5. Change your mind
  6. Turn the help down
4 minutes, 6 steps
11

Using this table

Where everything is on the screen.

Read it · Do it at the table

  1. Your tiles are along the bottom
  2. Where everyone is sitting
  3. A colour for each player
  4. The card is on the right
  5. The log
  6. The wall
  7. The Menu, and the card
  8. Nothing is timed
4 minutes, 8 steps

Read next

The lessons teach the rules and the table. These say how the game is played well.

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.

Read it

How 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.

Read it

The 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.

Read it

When 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.

Read it

Jokers, 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.

Read it

Defensive 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.

Read it

The 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.

Read it

Choosing 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.

Read it