How to Play American Mahjong: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

What do you need to play American Mahjong?

American Mahjong is played by four people at one table. Before you sit down, you’ll want four things.

• A set of 152 tiles. That includes 8 jokers and 8 flowers.
• A rack for each player. A rack is the long stand that holds your tiles facing you, so only you can see them.
• This year’s card, one for each player. The card lists every hand you’re allowed to win with. A new one comes out each spring from the National Mah Jongg League, and everyone at the table uses the same one. Mahj Call is independent and isn’t affiliated with the League.
• Dice. East rolls them to decide where the wall is broken. Some tables also roll to choose the first dealer.

Some newer sets come with 160 tiles, adding extra jokers and blank tiles. Standard play uses 152, so set the extras aside unless your group has agreed to use them as a house rule.

Four players is the standard table. If you have fewer, see three- and two-player Mahjong. For a closer look at every tile, read American Mahjong tiles.

What is the goal of American Mahjong?

Each hand on the card is printed as one row, called a line. Your goal is to be the first player to hold 14 tiles that match one line. When you do, you call “Mahjong,” and the hand is yours.

Between turns you hold 13 tiles. The 14th tile, drawn from the wall or taken from another player’s discard, is the one that wins.

Lines are built from groups

Each line on the card is a row of groups, and each group is a set of the same tile.

• Pair: two of the same tile.
• Pung: three of the same tile.
• Kong: four of the same tile.
• Quint: five of the same tile. There are only four of each tile, so a quint always needs a joker, unless it’s flowers.

A few lines also use single tiles, like numbers in a row or one of each wind.

What else the card tells you

The card groups its lines into families by theme, such as even numbers, odd numbers, or winds and dragons. Each line has a point value, and lines worth fewer points are usually easier to finish. Each line is also marked X or C. X means exposed: you may call other players’ discards to build it. C means concealed: you build it from your own draws, and the only discard you may call is the one that wins.

To learn the card’s shorthand of numbers, letters and colors, read how to read a Mahjong card.

How to play American Mahjong, step by step

Here’s a whole hand, start to finish. Each step is explained further down.

1. Set the table. Four players, 152 tiles, a rack each, and this year’s card for everyone.
2. Build the wall. Mix the tiles face down. Each player builds a row of 19 stacks, two tiles high, in front of their rack.
3. Choose East and deal. East is the dealer. East rolls the dice to break the wall, then everyone takes 13 tiles. East takes 14.
4. Pick a direction. Look at your tiles and choose one or two lines on the card to aim for.
5. Play the Charleston. Pass three tiles right, across, then left. If everyone agrees, pass three more left, across, then right. Then you may swap up to three tiles with the player across.
6. East starts. East already has 14 tiles, so East discards one without drawing.
7. Take your turn. Play moves to the right. On your turn, draw one tile from the wall, check for Mahjong, then discard one tile face up and say its name.
8. Watch every discard. If the newest discard finishes a pung, kong or quint you need, call it before the next player draws. Lay that group face up.
9. Trade for jokers. On your turn, you can give the exact tile a joker stands for and take that joker from any exposed group.
10. Call Mahjong. When your 14 tiles match a line, say “Mahjong” and lay them face up so the table can check.
11. Start again. If the last tile is drawn and thrown with no Mahjong, it’s a wall game and nobody wins. Either way, mix the tiles, pass East to the right, and deal the next hand.

How do you build the wall and deal the tiles?

Turn all 152 tiles face down and mix them in the middle of the table. Then each player builds a wall in front of their rack: a row of 19 stacks, each two tiles high. Four walls of 38 tiles make 152.

The four walls are one shared supply. Your wall isn’t saved for you; everyone draws from it in turn.

Choose East

East is the dealer, and East plays first. At a home game, the host often takes East for the first hand. Otherwise everyone rolls the dice, and the highest roll is East. East passes to the right after each hand, so everyone gets a turn to deal.

Deal 13 tiles, and 14 for East

East rolls the dice to decide where the wall is broken, and the deal starts from that gap. Players take tiles in turn, four at a time, until everyone has 12. Then the deal is finished so that everyone holds 13 and East holds 14.

The standard way is for each player to take their own tiles. Many tables let East hand out everyone’s tiles instead. The count is the same either way.

Stand your tiles on your rack, facing you, and sort them by suit and number so you can scan them quickly.

What is the Charleston in American Mahjong?

Before the first turn, everyone trades tiles. This is the Charleston, and it’s your best chance to shape your hand. Look at your tiles, pick one or two lines to aim for, and pass the tiles that don’t fit them.

Everyone passes three tiles at the same time. New tiles always arrive from the other side from where yours went: when you pass right, the player on your left passes to you.

• The second Charleston needs everyone. If any one player says no, the Charleston ends after the first three passes. Once the second one starts, all three passes happen.
• The blind pass. On the last pass of each Charleston, if you can’t spare three tiles, you may pass on some of the tiles coming to you without looking at them. You still pass three in all.
• The courtesy pass. When the Charleston is over, you and the player across may swap up to three more tiles. You each name a number from 0 to 3, and you both swap the smaller number. Zero is fine.

For what to pass and what to keep, read the full guide to the Mahjong Charleston.

How do turns work in American Mahjong?

East goes first. East already has 14 tiles, so East doesn’t draw. East simply discards one tile. After that, play moves to the right, counterclockwise around the table, and every turn has the same three steps.

1. Draw a tile from the wall. For a moment you hold 14.
2. Check for Mahjong. If your 14 tiles match a line, call Mahjong now.
3. Discard one tile. Place it face up in the middle and say its name out loud, like “5 Crak.” You’re back to 13.

Always check before you throw. It’s easy to discard a winning hand out of habit.

The live tile

The newest discard is the live tile. Anyone who needs it may call it, but only until the next player draws. After that, the tile is dead and no one can take it.

What to throw

When you’re not sure what to discard, start with tiles none of your lines use, lone tiles with nothing near them, and tiles you’ve already seen other players throw. Our strategy guide for beginners covers safer discards late in the hand.

How do you call a discard in Mahjong?

When another player throws a tile you need, you can call it: take the live tile to finish a group of three or more of the same tile.

• Pung: hold 2, call the 3rd.
• Kong: hold 3, call the 4th.
• Quint: hold 4, call the 5th. A quint always needs a joker, unless it’s flowers.

Jokers from your rack can count toward the tiles you hold.

What happens after a call

1. Expose the group. Lay the called tile and your matching tiles face up on top of your rack. This is an exposure. It stays there, unchanged, for the rest of the hand.
2. Don’t draw. The called tile was your draw.
3. Discard one tile. Play carries on to your right, so anyone in between misses that turn.

What you can’t call

• You can’t call a tile for a pair or a single, unless it’s the last tile you need for Mahjong.
• A discarded joker is dead. No one can call it.
• If you’re building a concealed (C) line, the only tile you may call is the one that wins.
• Once you’ve exposed a group, concealed lines are off the table for you.

If two players call the same tile, a call for Mahjong always wins. Otherwise the player whose turn comes first gets it. If you need a moment to decide, it’s fine to say “pause” and check your card.

Read more in calling discards and exposures.

How do jokers work in American Mahjong?

There are 8 jokers, and they’re the most useful tiles in the game. A joker can stand in for any tile in a group of three or more of the same tile: a pung, a kong or a quint.

• Never in a pair or a single. Jokers can’t go in a run of numbers or in a set of one of each wind, either. Those tiles must be the real ones.
• Never passed. Not in the Charleston, and not in the courtesy pass.
• Dead when discarded. You may throw a joker, but no one can call it.

Trading for a joker

When a joker sits in anyone’s exposed group, you can trade for it. On your turn, after you draw or call and before you discard, give the exact tile the joker stands for and take the joker. It works on your own groups too, and no one can refuse a trade.

Flowers

The eight flowers have different pictures, but any flower matches any other. Lines use them in pairs and bigger groups. Jokers can stand in for flowers in a group of three or more, and a quint of flowers needs no joker, because there are eight.

Read the full American Mahjong joker rules.

How do you win, and how does a hand end?

Declaring Mahjong

There are two ways to get the tile that finishes your hand.

• Draw it yourself from the wall.
• Call a discard. The winning tile may be called even when it completes a pair or a single, and even for a concealed line.

Say “Mahjong” and lay all 14 tiles face up. Walk the table through your groups so the other players can check them against their own cards. Everyone else keeps their rack as it is until your hand has been checked.

Dead hands

A hand is dead when it can no longer win. At a real table, that happens if you call Mahjong with tiles that don’t match a line, if you expose a group that fits no line on the card, or if you end up with the wrong number of tiles. Only your hand is dead; the other players keep going. Tables differ on the finer details, so ask your group how they handle it.

Wall games

Every draw makes the wall shorter. If the last tile is drawn and thrown and nobody has Mahjong, the hand ends with no winner. That’s a wall game.

After the hand

When a hand ends, everyone mixes the tiles and builds new walls, and East passes to the player on the right for the next hand.

Many social games don’t keep score at all. Tables that do start from the point value printed beside the winning line. A common custom is that the player who threw the winning tile pays double, and everyone pays double when the winner drew the last tile from the wall. House rules vary, so agree on them before you start.

Before your first game night, look over Mahjong etiquette and the Mahjong glossary. Hosting? Read how to host a Mahjong night. And when you’re ready to play with real people, find a table near you.