The lessons · lesson 4 of 11

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.

1. How the card writes a hand

   This is a winning hand. It has 14 tiles in four groups. Two flowers, four 2 Bams, four 4 Bams, and four 6 Bams. The card prints this hand in one line, like this. F means a flower. Four 2s are printed as 2 2 2 2. Each part of the line is one group of tiles.

   A 22-second video, with captions.

2. Finish the hand

   Finish this hand: put four 6s under 6666.

   You try it. You build this from a tray of tiles, and a wrong tile tells you why.

3. One colour means one suit

   The card never says which suit. When every number in a line is the same colour, they are all one suit, and you choose which. Here is the same hand in Bams. In Craks. And in Dots.

   A 18-second video, with captions.

4. Build it in Craks

   This time the hand is in Craks. Finish the 4s and the 6s.

   You try it. You build this from a tray of tiles, and a wrong tile tells you why.

5. Two colours mean two suits

   This line is printed in two colours. The 1s, 3s and 5s are one colour, so they are one suit. Here, Dots. The 7s are the other colour, so they are another suit. Here, Craks. Four 7 Dots would not fit this line. They are the same suit as the rest.

   A 20-second video, with captions.

6. Build a hand in two suits

   This line is printed in two colours: 22 44 6666 in one, 8888 in the other. The 2s, 4s and 6s are Bams. Finish it with 8s.

   You try it. You build this from a tray of tiles, and a wrong tile tells you why.

7. Jokers

   Jokers can be used to make three of a kind or more, but not pairs. A joker in the four 6s is allowed. A joker in the pair of flowers is not.

   A 13-second video, with captions.

8. Finish it with a joker

   There are only three 4 Bams left. Finish the 4s, and use the joker for the fourth.

   You try it. You build this from a tray of tiles, and a wrong tile tells you why.

9. Find the mistake

   Each rack below is one of the hands you built. One of them breaks a rule.

   Which rack has a mistake? Yes. The 8888 is printed in another colour, so the 8s must be another suit. Here they are Craks, like the rest.