Beginner's guide

How to play American mahjong

The whole game in plain English. Read it once, then practise each part with the drills linked along the way.

1. What you need

• Four players. Three-player and two-player versions exist, but four is standard.
• An American mahjong set of 152 tiles, with four racks. Chinese sets have no jokers, so they won't work.
• This year's card from the National Mah Jongg League. Every player needs one. The card lists every hand you're allowed to win with, and it changes every spring.
• Two dice, and something to keep score with: coins, chips or paper.

2. The tiles

There are three suits numbered 1 to 9: Bams, Craks and Dots, with four of each tile. Then there are four Winds (North, East, West, South) and three Dragons (Red, Green and White, which is called Soap), with four of each, plus eight Flowers and eight Jokers. That's 152 tiles.

Each dragon pairs with a suit: Red with Craks, Green with Bams, and Soap with Dots. Soap can also stand for zero in hands that spell out a year. See every tile on the tile guide, then test yourself with the tile quiz.

3. Building the wall and dealing

1. Turn all the tiles face down and mix them.
2. Each player builds a wall in front of their rack, 19 tiles long and two tiles high (38 tiles). Push the four walls together into a square.
3. Choose who's East, the dealer. East rolls the dice to decide where to break the wall.
4. Starting with East and moving to the right, players take tiles in groups of four until everyone has 12. Then East takes two more tiles and everyone else takes one. East has 14 tiles; everyone else has 13.
5. Stand your tiles on your rack so only you can see them.

4. The Charleston

Before anyone discards, players swap unwanted tiles in a fixed order. Everyone passes three tiles at the same time:

• First Charleston (required): right, across, left.
• Second Charleston (optional, only if all four agree): left, across, right.
• Courtesy pass (optional): up to three tiles with the player across.

Jokers can never be passed. Step through it on the Charleston page, and practise on a new deal every day with the Daily Charleston.

5. Taking turns

1. East starts by discarding one tile face up in the middle of the table, saying its name out loud ("five Dot").
2. Play moves to the right. On your turn, take the next tile from the wall, then discard one tile and name it. You always end your turn with 13 tiles.
3. Keep going until someone completes a hand on the card, or the wall runs out. If the wall runs out with no winner, it's a wall game: no one pays, and the tiles are reshuffled for the next hand.

6. Calling a discard

You don't always have to wait for your turn. When any player discards a tile you need, you can call it ("Call!") if it does one of two things:

• Completes a group of three or more (a pung, kong or quint) for your hand. You place that group face up on top of your rack. This is called an exposure. Then you discard, and play continues to your right.
• Completes your whole hand, so you can declare mahjong.

You can't call a discard to make a pair or a single tile, unless it's the last tile you need for mahjong. If two players call the same tile, a call for mahjong beats a call for an exposure. If both want it for the same reason, the player whose turn would come first gets it.

Some hands on the card are marked concealed. For those, you can't call discards at all except for the very last tile that gives you mahjong.

7. Jokers

A joker can stand in for any tile in a group of three or more identical tiles. It can't be used as a single tile or in a pair. On your turn, you can swap a real tile for a joker in any exposed group if your tile matches the group. A discarded joker can't be picked up. Test yourself on the joker quiz.

8. Winning and paying

When your 14 tiles exactly match a hand on the card, call "Mahjong!" and lay your tiles face up for everyone to check. Each hand on the card shows a point value. The usual payments are:

Many groups play for small stakes like nickels, or for points only. Agree your house rules before you start.

9. Common beginner mistakes

• Exposing the wrong group. Once tiles are exposed, they can't go back in your hand. If your exposures don't fit any hand on the card, your hand can be called dead. You stop playing for the rest of the hand, but you still pay the winner.
• Forgetting to name your discard. Say it every time. Other players are listening for tiles they need.
• Passing a joker in the Charleston. Not allowed.
• Using a joker in a pair. Not allowed, even if the pair is the last thing you need.
• Committing too early. Keep two possible hands in mind until the Charleston is over.

This guide covers the general rules of American mahjong. Your table may have house rules, and the official rules come with the National Mah Jongg League card each year.