How to play American mahjong
Four players build walls, deal 14 tiles to East and 13 to everyone else, exchange tiles in the Charleston, then take turns drawing and discarding. You can call the newest discard for certain groups, use jokers in groups of three or more, and win by completing a valid 14-tile hand on the current official card.
What you need before the first round
Four people play around one table. You need a standard tile set, two dice, four racks, and one current official National Mah Jongg League card for each player. Buy the card from the League before you play; you need it to identify a valid winning hand.
A standard set has 152 tiles. The numbered suits are Bams, Craks, and Dots, while the other families are winds, dragons, flowers, and jokers. There are four copies of every numbered tile, wind, and dragon, plus eight interchangeable flowers and eight jokers.
The pictures feel much friendlier once you can sort them into families. Learn the tile names first if you still have to study each face before saying its name.
Quick check: everyone has a rack and current official card before the tiles come out.
Set four places and build the walls
Turn every tile face down in the middle and mix them. Each player then builds a wall in front of their rack that is 19 stacks long and two tiles high. A mat can help you place the four walls without crowding the center.
Each player rolls the dice, and the highest total becomes East. East rolls again, counts that many stacks from the right end of East’s wall, and opens the wall after the last counted stack.
The deal starts at that opening. Players take four tiles at a time, moving to the right, until everyone has 12. East takes two more and each other player takes one, leaving East with 14 and everyone else with 13.
Keep your tiles on the sloped front of the rack so only you can see them. Sort them in whatever order helps you read them; grouping families and putting each suit in number order is a good place to start. Follow the full setup and deal when you have a set on the table.
Common mistake: count wall stacks, not individual tiles.
Exchange tiles in the Charleston
Before regular play, everyone exchanges face-down tiles in a set of directional passes called the Charleston. Every pass in the two main sequences contains exactly three tiles, and you may not pass a joker.
Unless East already has a winning opening hand and declares it before any pass, the first Charleston is required: pass right, then across, then left. After that final left pass, any player may stop the optional second Charleston before anyone looks at the next left pass. If it starts, everyone completes all three passes: left, across, then right.
At the end of the first sequence’s left pass, you may send along up to three face-down tiles arriving from the player on your right. At the end of the second sequence’s right pass, those blind tiles arrive from the player on your left. Do not look at tiles you forward this way. After the main sequences, opposite players may agree to exchange zero to three tiles; each pair uses the smaller number requested.
Use the Charleston guide beside the table. Its diagrams show every direction from your seat.
Quick check: right, across, left; pause; left, across, right.
Start regular play
East begins by discarding one tile. From there, turns move counterclockwise, which means play passes to the person on your right.
On an ordinary turn, pick one tile from the live wall, then discard one tile face up in the center. Racking the drawn tile first is a helpful habit, not a requirement. Racking, discarding, declaring mah jongg, or beginning a joker exchange closes the call window for the previous discard. Say your discard’s name clearly so everyone hears it.
For a beginner, pick, rack, discard is a dependable routine. If nobody calls your discard, the next player begins the same cycle.
Common mistake: the players take turns to the right even though tiles come off the walls clockwise.
Call the newest discard
You may interrupt the turn order by calling the most recent discard for an allowed exposed group. The discarded tile must be the matching tile the group needs, and the rest of the group must be matching tiles or permitted jokers.
A call can make a group of three, four, five, or six matching tiles. You cannot call merely to expose a single tile or a pair, although you may call one of those when that tile completes your hand and you declare mah jongg. A hand that must stay concealed follows the same exception: no exposure call during play, but the winning tile may be called.
After calling, put the discard and the completed group face up on top of your rack before you discard. You may fix that new exposure until you exchange a joker or discard; once your turn ends with a discard, the exposure stays as shown.
The chance to call is short. It closes when the next player racks or discards a drawn tile, declares mah jongg, begins a joker exchange, or when another player starts exposing. A call for mah jongg beats a call for an exposure. If two calls have the same purpose and neither player has begun exposing, the player next in turn after the discarder has priority.
Quick check: point to the newest discard and the matching group before you call.
Use and exchange jokers
A joker can replace a matching tile inside a group of three or more. It cannot stand alone or fill either spot in a pair.
You may take a joker from any exposed group by replacing it with the exact matching tile. The exposure can be on another player’s rack or your own. Make the exchange during your turn, after you have drawn or completed a called exposure and before you discard.
A joker in the discard area is finished. Nobody may call it or pick it up for an exchange, even if the player said “joker,” “same,” or repeated the previous discard’s name. See the joker examples step by step, then try the calls and jokers practice.
End the round
When your 14 tiles complete a valid hand, say “mah jongg” and display them so the table can check the win against the current official card. After the final live tile is drawn, finish that turn and its claim window. If nobody wins during that last chance, the round ends without a winner. That is a wall game.
You now have the shape of a whole round. Go back to the part that still feels slippery: tile names, setup, the Charleston, or jokers.
Common questions
What are the basic rules of American Mahjong?
After the deal and Charleston, East makes the first discard. Play moves to the right. On an ordinary turn, you draw from the live wall, rack the tile, then discard one face up and name it aloud. You may call the newest discard only when it completes an allowed group or finishes the hand. A player with a valid 14-tile hand declares mah jongg; if the live wall runs out first, the round is a wall game. Learn more in Start regular play.
What equipment do you need to play Mahjong?
For a four-player American mahjong table, you need a standard 152-tile set, two dice, four racks, and one current official card for each player. Buy the current official card directly from the National Mah Jongg League. We do not show or reproduce it. Once those pieces are in place, you are ready to shuffle and build the walls. Learn more in Shuffle and build four walls.
How many tiles do you need to play American mahjong?
Standard American mahjong uses 152 tiles: 108 numbered suit tiles, 16 winds, 12 dragons, 8 flowers, and 8 jokers. The numbered tiles come in three suits, with ranks 1 through 9 and four copies of each rank. Some sets include extra blanks, flowers, or jokers. Put those extras aside before you build the walls. Learn more in Meet the tile families.
How many charlestons are in mahjong?
American mahjong has a required first Charleston and an optional second Charleston. The first goes right, across, left. After it ends, any player may stop before anyone looks at the next left pass. If nobody stops, the second goes left, across, right and must be completed. After either stopping or completing the second Charleston, opposite players may separately agree to a courtesy exchange of zero to three tiles. Learn more in What the Charleston does.
Can you use three jokers in a pung?
Three jokers may fill a concealed three-tile group because jokers can stand inside groups of three or more matching tiles. A called exposure is different: the discard being called must be the matching natural tile, so a three-tile exposure made by calling would include that natural discard rather than three jokers alone. Jokers still cannot stand as singles or in pairs. Learn more in Find a possible exchange.
Why would anyone discard a joker in mahjong?
Players discard jokers for different reasons, but once a joker is discarded, you cannot call it, pick it up, or use it for an exchange. The player may announce it as “joker,” “same,” or by the previous discard’s name. None of those words makes the joker or the earlier discard available again, so watch the tile that was placed down as well as listening to its name. Learn more in Find a possible exchange.