How to play American mahjong

What you need

You need four players, a set of 152 tiles, four racks to hold your tiles, two dice, and a card for each player.

The card lists every winning hand for the year. Groups usually buy a new official card each year. This site uses its own free House Card. It works the same way, so what you learn here works at your own table too.

If you are buying tiles, make sure the set is made for American mahjong. It needs 8 jokers. Our guide to choosing a mahjong set explains what to look for.

The tiles

There are 152 tiles in seven kinds. Three of the kinds are suits, numbered 1 to 9: Dots, Bams and Craks. There are four of each suit tile.

• Suits: Dots, Bams and Craks, 1 to 9, four of each. That is 108 tiles.
• Winds: North, East, West and South, four of each. 16 tiles.
• Dragons: Red, Green and Soap (the white dragon), four of each. 12 tiles.
• Flowers: 8 tiles. The pictures can differ, but they all count as the same tile.
• Jokers: 8 tiles. A joker can stand in for a tile in a set of 3 or more.

Each dragon goes with a suit: Red with Craks, Green with Bams, and Soap with Dots. Soap also stands for zero in hands that spell out a year, like 2026. For pictures of every tile, see the mahjong tiles guide.

The goal: match a hand on the card

You win by turning your 14 tiles into one exact hand from the card. Each hand is made of sets of matching tiles:

There are no runs in American mahjong. A 3, 4, 5 of Dots is not a set. Every set is made of matching tiles. Numbers in a row still matter, because some hands ask for a pung of 3s, a pung of 4s and a pung of 5s.

Here is one line from our House Card, and a set of tiles that matches it:

Colors on the card show suits. Everything in one color is the same suit, and each color is a different suit. You pick which suits. The full explanation is in how to read a mahjong card.

Setting up and dealing

One player is East, the dealer. Play always moves to the right, so after East comes South, then West, then North.

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 2 tiles high.
3. East rolls two dice and breaks the wall at that count.
4. Players take 4 tiles at a time, three times around, then 1 more each. East takes 2.

East starts with 14 tiles. Everyone else has 13. The step-by-step version, with the dice count, is in how to set up mahjong.

The Charleston

Before play starts, everyone trades tiles in a fixed order. This is called the Charleston. You pass 3 tiles at a time, face down. Pass the tiles that don't fit the hands you want.

• First round: pass right, then across, then left.
• Second round, if everyone agrees: left, across, then right.
• Last, an optional courtesy pass of 0 to 3 tiles with the player across.

You may never pass a joker. Our Charleston guide explains blind passes, stopping the second round, and what to pass.

Taking a turn

East starts by discarding one tile. To discard means to throw a tile out, face up. East does not draw first, because East already has 14 tiles. After that, every turn has the same two steps:

1. Draw the next tile from the wall.
2. Discard one tile face up in the middle of the table, and say its name out loud, like "5 Bam".

You end every turn with 13 tiles. Then the player on your right goes.

Early on, keep two possible hands in mind. As you draw, one of them will get closer. Then go for that one. Our strategy guide for beginners has more on choosing a hand and safe discards.

Calling a discard

When someone discards a tile you need, you can say "Call" and take it, as long as you do it before the next player puts their new tile on their rack. There are only two reasons to call a tile:

• To finish a pung, kong or quint. You lay that set face up on your rack. This is called an exposure.
• To finish your whole hand for mahjong. For mahjong you can call any tile, even one that finishes a pair.

After you call, you discard, and play goes on to your right. Anyone in between loses their turn. If two players want the same tile, the one who needs it for mahjong gets it. If two players both need it for mahjong, the one next in turn gets it. Otherwise the player next in turn gets it. Hands marked C on the card are concealed. For those, you can only call your last tile, for mahjong. See calling tiles for the details.

Jokers

A joker can stand in for any tile in a pung, kong, quint or larger set. It can never be used in a pair or as a single tile.

If a joker is in an exposed set on any rack, you can swap the real tile for it on your turn and keep the joker. A discarded joker can't be called. The joker guide covers swaps step by step.

Winning and paying

When your 14 tiles match a hand on the card, say "Mahjong" and lay them all face up. The other players check your tiles against the card.

Each hand on the card has a value. If you won on a discard, the player who threw it pays double and the others pay the value. If you drew the winning tile yourself, everyone pays double. A hand with no jokers doubles again, except hands made only of singles and pairs. The scoring guide has worked examples.

If the wall runs out and no one has won, it is a wall game. No one pays, the tiles are mixed, and the deal moves to the right.

Where to go next

If you are new, start with our free course. It shows the tiles moving, one short lesson at a time. If you'd rather read, these guides go into more detail:

• American mahjong rules: every rule on one page.
• Mahjong etiquette: how to be a good player at a new table.
• American vs Chinese mahjong: what changes if you learned another style.
• How to host a mahjong night: table, snacks and teaching friends.
• Glossary: what each mahjong word means.