american mahjong

01Start with the right equipment

Use a 152-tile American set: 108 suited tiles, 16 winds, 12 dragons, eight flowers and eight jokers; four racks, dice and a current-year card for each player. Additional blanks or spare tiles stay out of play. Set contents vary by supplier: a rules card is not included unless a product listing explicitly says so. Your aim is to match one exact 14-tile hand on the card, including its permitted suits, numbers, groupings and exposure rules.

Reference: NMJL — American game overview.

02Walls, deal and reading the card

Shuffle face down and build four walls, each 19 stacks long and two tiles high. Choose a dealer, East, and use the dice to break East’s wall: count the total from East’s right, leaving that many stacks on the right. Deal counterclockwise from the break in packets of four, three times; then complete 13 tiles each, with an extra for East. Keep the order of the remaining wall. Review the card legend: colors distinguish required suits, not physical tile colors; X permits exposures and C means concealed. Read the parentheses, not just the tile picture.

Reference: American Mah Jongg Association — setup and play.

03Pass in the Charleston

Normally pass three unwanted tiles right, across, then left. Never pass a joker. A second Charleston occurs only if nobody stops it before it begins: left, across, right. Blind passing is allowed only on the last pass of either Charleston, using incoming tiles without looking at them. Opposite players can then agree a courtesy exchange of zero to three tiles; use the smaller number requested. A dealer already holding a valid mahjong is an exception to beginning the Charleston; consult the current rules for that unusual case.

Reference: AMJA rulebook — Charleston and exceptions.

04Draw, call and discard

East discards first. In normal counterclockwise play, draw from the wall and discard one tile face up, naming it. Instead of a normal draw, you may call the latest discard to complete a legal exposed group of at least three identical tiles for an exposed hand. Expose that group and discard; play continues from you. No extra replacement draw is taken for an American kong. A single or pair may be called only for the winning tile. A concealed hand cannot expose groups before winning, but may claim its final tile for mahjong. Mahjong takes priority over an ordinary exposure call.

05Use jokers correctly

Jokers substitute within identical groups of three or more, not singles or pairs—even when those singles sit beside each other on the card. On your own turn after acquiring your tile, exchange a matching natural tile from your rack for a joker in an exposed group, including your own. You cannot pick up a discarded joker. Flowers count as flowers; they are not Chinese-style bonus tiles to replace.

Reference: American Mah Jongg for Everyone — joker questions.

06Finish, score and check an example

Call mahjong only when all 14 tiles match a current card line legally. Show the hand and verify the card’s value and payment instructions; self-draw and jokerless adjustments must follow the current rules. If the wall empties with no winner, the hand is a draw. For teaching, record wins without money. Example: two natural 5-dots and one joker can form an allowed pung of 5-dots; one 5-dot plus a joker cannot form the required pair. This is a grouping example, not a reproduced winning card hand.

Common errors: using last year’s card, treating a sequence as an exposed chow, passing jokers, or drawing after a call. If an exposure or tile count makes a hand invalid, pause and consult the current NMJL rules rather than silently continuing. Official questions can be referred to the League.

Reference: NMJL — rules questions and disputes.