American Mahjong Table Setup: A Checklist for Your First Game

Hosting your first American mahjong game is easier than it looks. Once the right equipment is on the table and everyone knows how the wall and the deal work, the game runs itself. This checklist covers what to buy or borrow, how to set up the table, and a few house rules to agree on before the first tile is turned.

The equipment checklist

1. An American mahjong set (152 tiles)

An American set contains:

• 108 suit tiles: bams, craks and dots, numbered one to nine, four of each.
• 16 winds: North, East, West and South, four of each.
• 12 dragons: red, green and white (the "soap"), four of each. The soap also counts as zero in year hands.
• 8 flowers.
• 8 jokers.

Check a new or second-hand set before you play: count the jokers and flowers, and make sure the tiles are all the same size. Many sets come with extra blank tiles that you can use to replace a lost tile.

2. Four racks, ideally with pushers

Racks hold your tiles upright so other players can't see them, give you a ledge to display exposed groups, and, with pushers attached, make it easy to push your section of the wall toward the center. Racks are the single piece of equipment that most speeds up a game.

3. The current card, one per player

The card lists every winning hand for the year. Each player needs the current card at their rack; old cards are useful for practice but won't match what the rest of your table is playing. The card is published every year by the National Mah Jongg League and sold directly by them. Large-print versions are available, and many players keep a spare in their mahjong bag.

We never reproduce the official card. Our Mahjong Coach uses its own practice patterns, and lets you enter your own card's hands privately in My card.

4. Two dice

The dice decide where the wall is broken for the deal. Any standard six-sided dice work.

5. Something to keep score

Most groups play for points recorded on a pad, or with chips or coins in agreed colors. Decide the stakes before you start; plenty of tables play purely for fun and simply keep a running score.

6. A table and chairs

A square card table about 34 to 36 inches (86 to 91 cm) across fits four racks with room for the discard area in the middle. A felt or cloth mat keeps the noise down and protects the tiles.

Nice to have

• A tile bag or case for carrying the set.
• A wind indicator or marker to show who is East.
• Snacks that don't leave sticky fingers. A mahjong table is a social table.

Setting up the table

Choose seats and East

Players sit on the four sides. One way to choose the first East is for each player to roll the dice; the highest roll is East. The player on East's right is South, then West, then North, counter-clockwise. After each hand, East moves to the player on the right.

Shuffle and build the walls

Turn all 152 tiles face down in the middle of the table and mix them well. Each player then builds a wall two tiles high and 19 tiles long (38 tiles) in front of their rack. Use the pushers, or both hands, to push the four walls forward into a square.

Break the wall and deal

East rolls the dice and counts that many stacks from the right end of their own wall, then separates the wall at that point. Tiles are taken from the wall next to the break:

1. Starting with East and going to the right (counter-clockwise), each player takes four tiles at a time (two stacks of two) until everyone has 12.
2. East then takes two more tiles and everyone else takes one, so East has 14 and the others 13.

Many tables let East take the 13th and 14th tiles together as a small shortcut.

Arrange your hand

Stand your tiles on the rack and sort them by suit and number, with winds, dragons, flowers and jokers grouped. Then compare your tiles with the card and start picking two or three candidate hands before the Charleston begins.

Play in brief

1. The Charleston: pass three tiles right, across and left; vote on an optional second Charleston (left, across, right); finish with an optional courtesy pass across. Read our Charleston guide for the details.
2. East discards first. Play then goes counter-clockwise: draw a tile, discard a tile.
3. Calling discards: you may claim a discard only to complete an exposed pung, kong or quint, or to win. There is no chow.
4. Jokers fill groups of three or more but never a pair or a single. See our joker guide.
5. Mahjong: when your hand matches a line on the card exactly, call "Mahjong" and show your tiles.

House rules to agree on first

Every table has a few local customs. Settle them before the first hand:

• Stakes and scoring: points only, or chips? What does a jokerless hand pay?
• Calling time: how long players have to call a discard before the next player draws.
• Dead hands: how you handle a player whose exposures can no longer match any hand. The common rule is that they keep playing but can't win.
• Mistaken mahjong: what penalty applies if someone calls mahjong on a hand that doesn't match.
• Talking during play: friendly tables often allow help for beginners; competitive ones don't.

Etiquette for new players

• Name every discard out loud ("five dot") so everyone can hear it.
• Don't pick up a discard until you have announced your call.
• Keep your rack tidy and your exposures in order, so others can read them.
• Be patient with beginners. Everyone was new once.

Teaching a table of beginners

If you are introducing friends to the game, a few adjustments make the first evening much smoother:

• Play open hands first. For the first two or three hands, everyone plays with their tiles face up. You can talk through the Charleston together and point out which card lines each player's tiles suggest.
• Pick a small part of the card. Ask beginners to aim for one or two families, such as 2468 or like numbers, instead of reading every line. They will still win hands, and they will learn to read the card faster.
• Skip the second Charleston at first. The first Charleston alone teaches the order and the idea of passing. Add the vote and the courtesy pass once everyone is comfortable.
• Keep the score simple. Track points on paper without money for the first session. Nobody should be worried about paying while they are still learning to call a pung.
• Explain dead hands kindly. A new player's first dead hand can be discouraging. Remind them that experienced players go dead too, and that playing safe discards still matters.

A sample first evening

A relaxed three-hour session for four new players might look like this:

1. Fifteen minutes: unpack the set, count the tiles, and look at the jokers, flowers and soap together.
2. Thirty minutes: two open practice hands with the first Charleston only.
3. A short break, then ninety minutes of regular hands with the full Charleston and scoring.
4. The last half hour: talk about the best hand of the night and which card families everyone enjoyed.

By the end of the evening most players can build the wall, deal and pass without help.

Before your game: practise at home

If you are learning with friends, a little practice between games goes a long way. The Mahjong Coach's American table deals real hands against three computer opponents, walks you through the Charleston in two guided lessons, and reviews every hand afterwards with your key decisions and the patterns you were closest to.