What Is American Mahjong?

American mahjong is the style most often played at community centers, clubs and kitchen tables across the United States. If you have been invited to a weekly game, this is almost certainly the version your friends play. It shares its tiles and its four-player table with Chinese mahjong, but the way you build a winning hand is completely different. This guide explains what makes American mahjong unique, walks through a hand from the deal to the win, and suggests the best way to start learning.

A short history

Mahjong arrived in the United States in the 1920s and quickly became a craze. Players invented many house rules, so in 1937 a group of players founded the National Mah Jongg League to standardize the game. Their central idea was a card: a printed list of the hands that are allowed to win. The card changes every year, which keeps the game fresh and gives players a reason to relearn strategies each season.

The tiles: 152 in total

An American mahjong set includes everything in a Chinese set plus a few additions:

• Three suits numbered one to nine: bams (bamboo), cracks (characters) and dots, four of each. 108 tiles.
• Winds: North, East, West and South, four of each. 16 tiles.
• Dragons: red, green and white, four of each. 12 tiles. The white dragon, often called the soap, also serves as a zero in year hands such as 2026.
• Flowers: eight tiles that are used as a group in many hands.
• Jokers: eight tiles that can substitute for other tiles in certain groups.

Most American sets also come with racks, which hold your tiles and give you a place to display exposed groups.

The card: winning hands are listed in advance

In Hong Kong mahjong you can win with any combination of sets and a pair. In American mahjong you can only win with a hand that exactly matches one of the hands on the current card. Each line on the card shows a pattern and a point value, and notes whether the hand may be exposed or must be concealed.

Hands are grouped into families, such as:

• Year hands built around the digits of the current year.
• 2468 hands using only even numbers.
• Like numbers using the same number in several suits.
• Addition hands where the tiles form a simple sum.
• Quints, which need five identical tiles and therefore jokers.
• Consecutive run hands with numbers in sequence.
• 13579 hands using only odd numbers.
• Winds and dragons hands.
• 369 hands using the threes, sixes and nines.
• Singles and pairs, special concealed hands.

The card is copyrighted and sold each year by the National Mah Jongg League. Serious players keep the current card beside them during play. Our coach never reproduces the official card: the practice hands in our trainer are our own patterns written in the same spirit, and you can enter your own card privately in My card for personal practice.

Groups you will build

• Pair: two identical tiles. Jokers cannot be used.
• Pung: three identical tiles.
• Kong: four identical tiles.
• Quint: five identical tiles, which always needs at least one joker.
• Single tiles appear in some hands, such as a year or a single flower. Jokers cannot be used for singles either.

Jokers

Jokers are the heart of American strategy. A joker can replace any tile in a pung, kong or quint, including flowers and dragons. They cannot be used in a pair or as a single tile.

Jokers can also be rescued. If another player has an exposed group that contains a joker and you hold the real tile it represents, you may swap your tile for the joker on your turn. That makes exposed jokers valuable targets and is one reason players think carefully about what they expose. See how to use jokers for strategy.

The Charleston

Before the first tile is discarded, players pass tiles to one another in a ritual called the Charleston. It gives everyone a chance to trade away tiles that do not fit a hand on the card.

1. First Charleston (required): pass three tiles to the right, then three across, then three to the left.
2. Second Charleston (optional): if every player agrees, pass three to the left, then three across, then three to the right. Any player may stop the second Charleston.
3. Courtesy pass: players sitting across from each other may agree to exchange zero to three more tiles.

On the last pass of each Charleston, a player may pass on tiles received without looking at them, known as a blind pass. Jokers may never be passed.

Choosing which three tiles to pass is a skill of its own. Good players decide on two or three candidate hands from the card early and pass tiles that fit none of them. Our Charleston guide walks through every pass with an example.

Playing a hand

After the Charleston, East discards first. Play continues counter-clockwise. On each turn you draw from the wall and discard one tile. Unlike Chinese mahjong, there is no chow. You may claim another player's discard only to:

• complete a pung, kong or quint that you will expose, or
• complete your winning hand.

Once you expose a group, it must match the hand you are building. If you expose tiles that do not fit any hand on the card, you may later find that you cannot win, so exposures are commitments.

Winning and scoring

When your tiles exactly match a hand on the card, you call "Mahjong" and show your hand. The value printed on the card is the base score:

• If you win on a discard, the player who discarded pays double, and the other two players pay the base value.
• If you win by self-draw, all three players pay double.
• A hand with no jokers is often worth extra according to the card.

Players who call Mahjong incorrectly or expose groups that cannot win may face penalties, and a player who can no longer complete any hand is said to have a dead hand and plays on without being able to win.

How American mahjong compares

If you already know Hong Kong mahjong, read our Hong Kong mahjong rules to see what carries over. Tile recognition, pungs and kongs, and reading the table all transfer directly.

How to start learning

1. Buy the current card. The card is the rulebook of the year, and every table uses it.
2. Learn the tiles and the Charleston. Practice passing three tiles until the order feels natural.
3. Pick two target hands early. Beginners do well by choosing flexible families such as like numbers or 2468.
4. Play slowly with friends. Many clubs offer beginner tables where experienced players talk you through each decision. Hosting at home? Use our table setup checklist.
5. Practice between games. A coach that suggests which tiles to pass and which hand you are closest to will speed up your learning.

American mahjong in the Mahjong Coach

The Mahjong Coach now has an American table. It starts with two guided Charleston lessons where the coach suggests which three tiles to pass and explains why, then deals practice hands against computer opponents that aim for real patterns, call exposures, swap jokers and defend against your exposures. The coach panel shows the three practice patterns you are closest to, how many tiles you still need and how many jokers you can use, and warns you before your hand goes dead. After each hand, the review walks through your key decisions and your Charleston passes.

The practice card has 44 patterns written by Mahjong Station, grouped in families like the ones above. To practise the hands on your own card, enter them in My card: they are saved to your account only.

Quick reference