How to Play American Mahjong — A Beginner's Guide

American Mahjong is a four-player tile game built on strategy, pattern recognition, and a touch of luck. While it shares its roots with the traditional Chinese game, the American version has its own card, its own hands, and its own rhythm — most notably the use of Jokers and the annual scoring card that resets the hands every January.

This guide walks through everything a new player needs to know: the tiles, the setup, the Charleston, the play, and how to call “Mahjong!” when a hand finally comes together. By the end you’ll know enough to sit down at a table and play your first game.

The Goal of the Game

The objective is simple to state and surprisingly rich to master:

Be the first player to build a 14-tile winning hand that matches one of the patterns printed on the current year’s American Mahjong card.

Each player draws and discards tiles in turn, slowly shaping their hand toward one of dozens of possible patterns on the card. The card changes every year, so even seasoned players come back to a fresh challenge each January.

Official rules reference

Need the full American Mahjong rules?

This beginner guide teaches the flow of play. For the complete NMJL-style rule reference, including the Charleston, jokers, calling, dead hands, scoring, and FAQ answers, use our official American Mahjong rules guide.

Read the official rules

What You Need to Play

To set up a game of American Mahjong, you’ll want the following:

A mahjong tile set — typically 152 to 166 tiles depending on the set
The current year’s American Mahjong card — one for each player
Four racks and pushers — one per player
Two dice
A playing mat (optional, but it protects your table and quiets the tiles)

You’ll also need four players seated around a table. Variations exist for two and three players, but the classic experience is four.

Meet the Tiles

An American Mahjong set is built around three suits, two specialty groups, plus Flowers and Jokers. Knowing what each tile does is the first step in reading the card.

The three suits — 36 tiles each

Dots (Circles) — numbered 1 through 9, four of each. Sometimes nicknamed “balls.”
Bams (Bamboos) — numbered 1 through 9, four of each. The 1 Bam is often illustrated as a bird.
Craks (Characters) — numbered 1 through 9, four of each. These are the tiles with Chinese characters.

Winds — 16 tiles

Four each of North, East, South, and West. These are the only tiles with letters instead of numbers.

Dragons — 12 tiles

Four each of three Dragons, and each one is paired with a suit:

Red Dragon — pairs with the Crak suit. Often just called “red” when discarded.
Green Dragon — pairs with the Bam suit. Called “green.”
White Dragon — pairs with the Dot suit. Called “soap” at the table, and it doubles as the number 0 in year hands (such as a 2026 hand).

Flowers — 8 tiles

Flowers don’t belong to any suit. They appear in many hands across the card and are often used as bonus tiles inside a pattern.

Jokers — 8 tiles

The wildcard of American Mahjong. A Joker can stand in for any tile inside a Pung (three of a kind), Kong (four of a kind), or Quint (five of a kind). Jokers cannot be used as a single tile or as part of a pair, and they cannot be used to complete groups of singles like the year (e.g., 2026) or NEWS.

Setting Up the Game

Once you have your tiles, racks, and cards in front of you, here’s how to get the game started.

1. Build the wall

Place all the tiles face-down in the middle of the table and shuffle. Each player then builds a small wall in front of their rack — a row of 19 stacks, each two tiles high (so 38 tiles per wall).

2. Choose East

All four players roll the two dice. The highest roll becomes East, the dealer. East has a small advantage and goes first, but the role rotates as games are played.

3. Break the wall

East rolls the dice again. The number rolled determines where on the wall the deal begins — counting from the right end of East’s wall, leave that many stacks intact and break the wall at the next stack. The tiles past the break are pushed forward, ready to be dealt.

4. Deal the tiles

Going counter-clockwise, each player takes two stacks (4 tiles) at a time from the broken wall, until everyone has 12 tiles. East then takes 2 more tiles (the 1st and 3rd from the top of the next stack), and the other players each take 1 more. East ends up with 14 tiles; everyone else has 13.

Players sit their tiles up on their rack so only they can see them.

Reading the Card

The American Mahjong card is the heart of the game. It’s published annually by the National Mah Jongg League (and other publishers). Each card lists dozens of valid winning hands, organized into categories such as:

Year Hands — hands that include the current year (the white “soap” Dragon plays as the 0)
2468 — hands built around even numbers
13579 — hands built around odd numbers
Consecutive Numbers
Any Like Numbers
369
Winds–Dragons
Singles and Pairs
Quints

Each line on the card shows a specific 14-tile hand. Colors on the card represent suits, but the colors don’t refer to a particular suit — they tell you whether a hand needs one, two, or three different suits. Hands marked with a “C” must be played concealed, meaning you cannot pick up a tile from another player’s discard for an exposure (you can still call the very last tile to declare Mahjong).

Each hand also has a point value — easier hands earn fewer points, harder hands earn more.

Sort Your Hand

After the deal, take a quiet minute to look at your tiles. Most players line them up on the rack in this rough order:

Jokers → Flowers → Winds → Dragons → Dots (low to high) → Bams (low to high) → Craks (low to high)

Now look for the strongest patterns hiding in your tiles:

Pairs, Pungs (three-of-a-kind), and Kongs (four-of-a-kind) are gold.
Look for matching numbers across two or three suits.
If your tiles are mostly small numbers, scan the card for hands using 1–5; mostly large, look at 5–9.
Year hands and 2468 hands tend to be popular targets for beginners.

Your goal at this stage is to commit to one hand on the card, while keeping a backup plan in case the Charleston or the discards push you in a different direction.

The Charleston

The Charleston is a series of tile passes at the start of every game. It gives players the chance to swap away tiles they don’t want for tiles other players don’t want, in the hope that everyone’s hand improves.

It works in two rounds:

First Charleston (mandatory)

Pass three tiles to the player on your right.
Pass three tiles across to the player opposite you.
Pass three tiles to the player on your left.

Second Charleston (optional)

Pass three to the left.
Pass three across.
Pass three to the right.

Any player can stop the second Charleston before it begins, as long as no one has yet looked at the tiles passed to them. After the second Charleston, players sitting opposite each other may agree to a courtesy pass of zero, one, two, or three tiles. The lower number rules — if one player wants to pass two and the other wants three, you both pass two.

Charleston rules of thumb

Jokers cannot be passed at any point during the Charleston.
Pass tiles you don’t need, but pass defensively — avoid handing pairs, matching numbers, Flowers, or Dragons to opponents who might be building toward them.
If you only want to pass one or two of your own tiles, you can do a blind pass on the first Left and last Right: you take 1 or 2 of the tiles you just received face-down and pass them along without looking.

Game Play

After the Charleston, East starts play by discarding one tile face-up and announcing it aloud. From there, play moves counter-clockwise:

The next player draws a tile from the wall.
They look at it, decide whether to keep it, and either rack it or discard another tile face-up — always announcing the tile by name as it leaves their rack.
Play continues to the next player, and so on.

Once a tile is discarded and named, it cannot be taken back. When one wall runs out, the player whose wall is next (clockwise) pushes their wall forward to continue the draw.

Calling a Discarded Tile

This is where Mahjong gets exciting. When a tile is discarded, any player at the table can call it — not just the next player in turn — to use that tile in their own hand, but only under specific conditions.

You can call a tile if:

It completes a Pung (3 of a kind), Kong (4 of a kind), or Quint (5 of a kind, usually with a Joker).
It is the final tile you need to declare Mahjong (the only time you can call for a single tile or a pair).

How to call:

Say “Call,” “Take,” or “Pause” before the next player draws and racks their tile.
Pick up the discarded tile and combine it with the matching tiles from your rack.
Expose the group on top of your rack for everyone to see. This is now a permanent exposure.
Discard one of your own tiles to continue the game.

A few key rules to remember:

A discarded Joker cannot be picked up — once a Joker is discarded, it’s dead.
You cannot call a tile to complete a concealed hand, except as the final tile to declare Mahjong.
You cannot call a tile to complete singles like the year (2026) or NEWS, except as the final tile for Mahjong.
If two players want to call the same tile, the player closer in turn gets it — unless the further player is calling for Mahjong, in which case Mahjong wins.

The Joker — Used Wisely

Jokers are the most flexible tile in the set, but they come with limits.

What Jokers can do:

Stand in for any tile inside a Pung, Kong, or Quint.
An entire Pung, Kong, or Quint can even be made up of Jokers.

What Jokers cannot do:

Stand in for a single tile or a pair.
Be used in a group of singles like the year or NEWS.
Be picked up from the discard pile once discarded.

Joker exchange

If another player has an exposed group containing a Joker, you can swap a real tile from your hand for that Joker on your turn — as long as you have already drawn from the wall or completed an exposure. You can do this multiple times in a single turn, and you can also swap Jokers in your own exposures. It’s one of the most satisfying moves in the game.

Declaring Mahjong

When the 14th tile clicks into your hand — drawn from the wall or called from a discard — you say “Mahjong!” and lay your hand down to show the line on the card you’ve completed.

A few notes on declaring:

You can call a discarded tile as your final tile, even for a single or a pair. This is the only time singles and pairs may be called.
Always confirm the hand against the card. Other players will check.
If a game ends with no winner — the wall runs out and no one has Mahjong — it’s called a wall game.

Dead Hands

Sometimes a hand becomes unwinnable. This is called a dead hand. Only opponents — not the player themselves — can declare a hand dead. Once declared, the player stops drawing and discarding, but other players can still swap tiles for any exposed Jokers on their rack.

Common reasons for a dead hand include:

Having too few or too many tiles.
Making an incorrect exposure of singles (such as NEWS or the year).
Discarding before drawing from the wall.
Drawing out of turn.
Exposing tiles in a pattern that can no longer be completed because the needed tiles are already used or discarded.
Showing exposures while attempting a concealed hand.

Scoring

How you score depends on how casual or competitive your table is. Here are the three most common approaches:

1. Counting wins

The simplest method. After several games, the player with the most Mahjong calls wins the day. Great for beginners.

2. Playing for points

Each hand on the card carries a point value (typically 10 to 85 points). The winner collects the value of the hand they completed, plus bonuses for harder ways of winning:

Self-Picked — you draw your own winning tile from the wall, not a discard.
Jokerless — you complete the hand without using any Jokers.
No Exposures — you win without ever calling a tile from a discard.

3. Playing for money

Many home tables play for small stakes (a few dollars per game). Common rules of thumb:

If the winner self-picks, all other players pay double.
If the winner takes a discard, the player who discarded the winning tile pays double.
Jokerless wins typically pay extra — often 4× a self-pick or 2× from each non-discarder.

Whichever method you use, the most important rule is to agree on scoring before the game starts.

Table Rules

“Table rules” — also called “house rules” — are the variations a particular group of players agrees to use. Common ones include:

Including blank tiles as wild substitutes (rules vary widely).
Adding extra Jokers or Flowers beyond the standard count.
Allowing or disallowing the second Charleston by default.
Setting the size of the courtesy pass.
Treating misnamed discards strictly or leniently.

If you’re joining an established table, ask before you play — every group has a few quirks of its own. If you’re starting your own group, write the rules down and revisit them as you all gain experience.

Tips for Brand-New Players

Pick one hand and commit early. Beginners often lose by trying to keep two or three hands open at once.
Watch the discards. They’re the single biggest source of information about what your opponents are building.
Don’t hoard Jokers. A Joker is most valuable when used — sitting on three Jokers does nothing.
Learn to read the card. Spend a few minutes on a quiet evening just studying the year’s card. Recognizing patterns at a glance is half the skill.
Play with patience. Most games last 15 to 30 minutes. The rhythm rewards calm decision-making.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a game take?

A single hand of American Mahjong usually takes 15 to 30 minutes. Most groups play four to six hands in a sitting.

Do I need a brand-new card every year?

Yes. The American Mahjong card is updated annually, and that’s a deliberate part of the game’s appeal — every January brings a fresh set of hands to learn. You’ll want one card per player.

Can I play with two or three players?

The traditional game is built for four, but two- and three-player variants exist. Tile counts and Charleston rules adjust slightly, and many groups invent their own variants for casual play.

What’s the difference between American and Chinese Mahjong?

The two games share the same tile set roots, but American Mahjong introduces several major differences: the use of Jokers, the annual card with its specific hands, the Charleston tile-passing phase, and a different scoring system. American Mahjong is closer to a structured pattern game; Chinese Mahjong is more open-ended.

Where can I find the current year’s card?

The most widely used card is published annually by the National Mah Jongg League and is available through their website and many specialty retailers. Other publishers also produce cards each year. Most players renew their cards each January.

How do I get better?

Three things, in this order: play often, learn to read the card quickly, and watch experienced players. Most American Mahjong skill is pattern recognition and risk reading — both come with reps.

Ready to Play?

The best way to learn American Mahjong is, simply, to start playing. Round up three friends, set up a table, and accept that the first few games will feel slow. By the third or fourth game, the rhythm settles in — and once it does, the game has a way of pulling you back week after week.

If you’re shopping for your first set or upgrading from a starter set, take a look at our collection of mahjong sets and accessories. We pick our products with everyday play in mind — tiles that feel right in the hand, racks that hold up, and cases that travel well.

Questions about a set, the game, or anything in this guide? Email us anytime at support@sagemahjong.com.