How to Play American Mahjong: A Beginner's Guide to Your First Game

American mahjong looks busy from across the room, but it is a simple loop. You collect tiles until your 14 match one hand on a printed card, and you get there by drawing, discarding and trading. This guide covers a first game in the order it happens at the table, then plays one through from the deal to the win.

How do you play American mahjong?

Short answer: Four players build walls of tiles and take 13 tiles each, with 14 for the dealer, called East. Everyone trades unwanted tiles in a passing round called the Charleston. Then players take turns drawing and discarding. The first player whose 14 tiles match a hand on this year's National Mah Jongg League card calls "Mah Jongg" and wins.

What you need at the table

Four players. The official rules also allow two or three, without the Charleston, but learn with four.
152 tiles in play: three suits of 36 (Dots, Bams and Craks, 1 to 9, four of each), 16 winds, 12 dragons, 8 flowers and 8 jokers. Set aside spare jokers or blanks unless your group has a house rule for them.
Four racks with pushers to hold your tiles and push your wall forward.
Two dice to choose the dealer and where the wall breaks.
A card for each player, all from the same year.

New to the tiles? Our guide to reading American mahjong tiles explains each kind, and The Tile Key names every tile in our designs.

The card, and why you buy it from the League

The card is what makes the American game different. It lists every winning hand allowed for the year. The National Mah Jongg League publishes it and changes the hands every year, so a new card comes out each spring and the old hands stop counting.

Each player needs a card, bought from the League through its online store or by mail, in a standard or large-print size. The League also sells a rule book, Mah Jongg Made Easy. Buying direct keeps you on its list for the yearly bulletin about rule updates. Copies from other marketplace sellers may be counterfeit.

We do not print any hands here, since they belong to the League. Here is how to read a line:

Each line is one complete hand of 14 tiles.
Hands sit in sections by theme, such as even numbers, runs of consecutive numbers, or winds and dragons.
Colors on a line show how many different suits the hand uses, not which suits. You pick the suits.
An X beside the hand means you may build it by calling discards. A C means it stays concealed until you win.
The number beside it is the hand's value.

Setting up and dealing

Turn all the tiles face down and mix them.
Each player builds a wall in front of their rack, 19 tiles long and 2 tiles high. Four walls of 38 tiles use all 152.
Everyone rolls the dice. The highest roll is East, the dealer, for the first game.
East rolls again, counts that many stacks from the right end of East's own wall, and breaks the wall there.
Starting with East and moving to the right, each player takes four tiles at a time until everyone has 12.
East takes two more tiles and every other player takes one. East now holds 14 tiles and the others hold 13.

Stand your tiles on the rack facing you and sort them by suit and number.

Choosing a hand to aim for

Before any tile moves, compare your tiles with the card. Look for sections that already use what you hold: pairs, three of one number, a cluster of even numbers, several winds. Pick two or three possible hands, not one, because the Charleston will change your tiles.

The Charleston: three rounds of passing

The Charleston is a trade before play starts. Each pass is three tiles, handed over face down.

The first Charleston, which is required

Pass three tiles to the player on your right.
Pass three tiles to the player across from you.
Pass three tiles to the player on your left. On this pass you may blind pass: hand on some or all of the tiles you just received, without looking at them, in place of tiles from your rack.

The second Charleston, which is optional

If all four players agree, repeat the passes in reverse: left, across, then right, with a blind pass allowed on the last one. Any single player can decline, and then the second Charleston is skipped.

The courtesy pass

Last, you and the player across may trade up to three tiles. Each of you says how many you want to trade, and you both pass the smaller number.

One rule covers every pass: jokers are never passed. Beyond that, give away the tiles that fit none of the hands you are considering.

Playing a turn

East starts by discarding one tile, without drawing. Play then moves to the right. On your turn, take the next tile from the wall and discard one tile face up in the middle, saying its name out loud: "five dot," "north," "flower."

Between turns you hold 13 tiles. You hold 14 only after you draw or call a tile, until you discard.

Calling discards and making exposures

When someone discards a tile you need, you can claim it. Speak up right away: a discard can be called only until the next player has drawn a tile and placed it on the rack. Say "call," or "Mah Jongg" if it finishes your hand.

Call a tile to complete a group of three or more matching tiles your hand needs: a pung (3), kong (4), quint (5) or sextet (6).
Never call for a single or a pair, unless it is the winning tile.
Put the finished group face up on top of your rack. This is an exposure. Then discard, and play continues to your right.
If two players call the same tile, a call for Mah Jongg comes first. Between two exposure calls, the player whose turn comes sooner gets it.
A hand marked C on the card can call only the winning tile.

Jokers: what they can and cannot do

The game uses eight jokers. A joker can stand in for any tile in a group of three or more. It can never be a single tile or part of a pair, and it can never be passed in the Charleston.

Nobody may call a discarded joker. A joker in an exposure can be won back, though: on your turn, if you hold the real tile it stands for, in anyone's exposure, you may trade your tile for it.

Winning, scoring and the next game

You win when your 14 tiles match one hand on the card exactly, including its number of suits and whether it must stay concealed. Say "Mah Jongg" and lay all 14 tiles face up for the table to check.

The other players pay the winner the hand's value from the card. The player who threw the winning tile pays double, and a win with no jokers, or on a tile drawn from the wall, is worth more. Many home games keep score on paper or with chips.

Wall game. If the wall runs out with no winner, nobody scores. Mix and deal again.
Dead hand. Call Mah Jongg by mistake, hold the wrong number of tiles, or lose any chance of completing a hand, and your hand is dead. You stop playing while the others go on.

After each game, East moves one seat to the right.

Your first game, played through

Here is a first game for a new player we will call Ann. The tiles are invented and copy no hand from the card.

The deal. Ann sits South with 13 tiles: two 6 Dots, a pair of 2 Bams, two flowers, a joker, two winds and four odd Craks.
Picking hands. In the even-number section of her card she marks two hands that could use her 6 Dots, 2 Bams and flowers.
The first Charleston. On the right and across passes she gives away the odd Craks and both winds. By the left pass she has nothing left she wants to give up, so she blind passes a tile she just received.
The rest of the passing. The table agrees to a second Charleston and a courtesy pass. Ann ends up with a second joker and more even Dots.
Her first call. Another player discards a 6 Dot. Ann calls it, exposes a kong of her two 6 Dots, the called 6 Dot and a joker, then discards.
A joker trade. Later she draws a 4 Bam. A joker stands in for a 4 Bam in another player's exposure, so on her turn Ann trades her tile for it.
One tile away. She needs one more flower to finish a pair. A pair can only be called for the win, so she watches every discard.
Mah Jongg. The player across discards a flower. Ann calls "Mah Jongg" and the table checks her 14 tiles against the card.

Along the way she never passed a joker, named every discard, and kept two hands open until the passing was over.

Habits that help in the first few games

Say every discard clearly, so no one misses a tile they could call.
Watch the discards. If the tiles you need keep going out, switch hands while you still can.
Keep the passing order in view. Many styles of our mahjong table mats print both Charlestons, the courtesy pass and the joker rule around the play area.

Hosting your first game?

Our guide to hosting an American mahjong night covers seating and keeping score, and our free mahjong printables include a score sheet, place cards and table signs. If you still need tiles, our American mahjong sets are printed to order, and on most designs every numbered tile carries a corner number, which helps new players sort quickly.

Questions beginners ask

How many people do you need to play American mahjong?

Four. The official rules allow two or three players without the Charleston, but the four-player game is the one to learn first.

Do I need a new card every year?

Yes. The National Mah Jongg League changes the hands each year, and everyone at the table should use the same year's card. Buy it from the League, online or by mail.

Is the Charleston required?

In a four-player game the first Charleston is required. The second Charleston and the courtesy pass are optional, and any player can stop the second one.

Can I play American mahjong with any mahjong set?

You need eight jokers and eight flowers along with the suits, winds and dragons. Sets made for other styles of mahjong often have no jokers, so check the tile list before you buy.