Mahjong strategy for beginners

Pick two hands, not one

When your tiles are dealt, sort them and look at the card. Find two or three hands your tiles could grow into. Look for:

• Pairs that match a hand. Pairs can't use jokers, so real pairs are valuable.
• Several tiles in one suit, or the same number in different suits.
• Flowers, winds or dragons that a section of the card uses a lot.
• Jokers. Each one fills a spot in a pung, kong or quint (3, 4 or 5 alike).

Here is a dealt hand of 13. It has lots of even numbers, a few flowers and a joker.

Two hands from our House Card fit. Both use even numbers and flowers, so the same tiles help both for now:

Count the tiles you still need

For each hand you are thinking about, count how many tiles you are missing. Then remember that jokers can fill pungs, kongs and quints, but never pairs or singles. A hand missing 5 tiles in kongs is often closer than a hand missing 3 tiles in pairs.

Hands made only of singles and pairs are worth a lot, but they can't use jokers. Go for them when the deal hands you most of the pairs already.

Use the Charleston

The Charleston is your best chance to improve your hand before play. Pass tiles that fit none of the hands you are thinking about. Keep pairs, flowers and anything that fits two hands at once. If you have nothing you want to give up on the last pass, use the blind pass: pass on tiles you were just handed, without looking.

Discarding

• Early on, discard tiles your hands don't need. Lone winds and stray numbers are common first discards.
• When you can, discard a tile that matches one already thrown. If no one called the first one, the second is often safe too.
• Don't break up a pair for a tile you only might need.
• Watch what every player exposes. Any player can call your discard, not just the next one. Late in the game, don't throw tiles they need.

Read the table

Everything that goes face up tells you something.

• Discards show what players don't want. If someone throws several Bams, they probably aren't building in Bams.
• Exposures show what players are building. A pung of 3s and a pung of 6s points to a 369 hand.
• Counts tell you what is left. There are four of each tile. If three 5 Craks are visible, you won't get a pung of 5 Craks without jokers.

When to pick one hand, and when to switch

Pick one hand when it is clearly closer than the others. This often happens a few turns into the game. Pick before you call, because once you expose a set, you can't take it back.

Switch if the tiles you need keep showing up in the discards, or someone exposes a set you need. It is better to switch early than to keep going for a hand you can't make.

Playing safe late in the game

As the wall gets short, someone is often one tile from mahjong. A tile that could finish their hand is a hot tile. If your own hand is far from done, stop chasing it and discard tiles that are already on the table. Giving away a win costs you double.

Make the most of jokers

• Keep jokers. Never discard one unless you have a strong reason.
• Use jokers for sets of 3 or more, and build pairs from real tiles.
• Watch exposed sets that hold jokers. If you draw the matching tile, swap it in on your turn.

Every joker rule is in mahjong jokers.