American mahjong rules

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Last checked: 14 November 2026. Sources: public pages on the League rules. See how American Mahjong Coach is made.

This guide gives the rules of the National Mah Jongg League, as public sources report them. Many groups add their own table rules. The last section tells you which common rules are table rules.

What you need

• Four players.
• A set of 152 tiles.
• Four racks. Most racks have an arm (a pusher) that moves a wall of tiles.
• Two dice.
• The current card for each player. The League prints a new card each year, around the start of April. The card lists the hands that win in that year.

The tiles

Each dragon goes with one suit. The Red Dragon goes with the Craks. The Green Dragon goes with the Bams. The White Dragon, also named Soap, goes with the Dots.

More on the tiles: How many tiles are in American mahjong?

The goal

Each line on the card is one hand of exactly 14 tiles. Your hand must match one line exactly. You can aim for any hand on the card. You can change your aim at any time, and you tell no one.

A hand is made of groups of identical tiles:

The American game has no runs such as 4, 5, 6 as a group. Different tiles that stand together on the card are single tiles.

Set up and deal

1. Each player rolls the dice. The highest total is East. East starts the game.
2. Mix the tiles face down. Each player builds a wall in front of the rack: 19 stacks long and 2 tiles high. Four walls of 38 tiles make 152.
3. East rolls two dice and counts that number of stacks from the right end of East's own wall. Those stacks stay behind. They are the last tiles of the game.
4. East takes 4 tiles (2 stacks) from the rest of the wall. Then each player in turn takes 4 tiles, until each player has 12.
5. East takes the first and the third top tile. Each other player takes one tile. East now has 14 tiles. Each other player has 13.

Turns go to the right (counter-clockwise). When East's wall is empty, the wall of the player on East's left comes next.

The Charleston

Before the first discard, the players exchange tiles. Each pass is three tiles, face down.

1. First Charleston: pass to the right, then across, then to the left. This part is compulsory.
2. Second Charleston: pass to the left, then across, then to the right. This part is optional. One player can stop it.
3. Courtesy pass: you and the player across can exchange 0, 1, 2 or 3 tiles. This pass is optional.

You may never pass a joker. The full rules are in The Charleston: the passes in order.

A turn

East has 14 tiles and starts with a discard. East does not pick first. After that, a turn has these steps:

1. Pick one tile from the wall.
2. If you can, exchange a tile for a joker in an exposure (see Jokers below).
3. Discard one tile face up and say its name, for example "3 Bam".

A discard is final when the tile touches the table or when you said its full name. You cannot take it back.

How to call a discard

You can take the last discard when it is not your turn. This is a call. Only the most recent discard can be called.

• For a group of three or more. You can call a discard to complete a pung, kong, quint or sextet. You must hold the other tiles of the group already. Say "call". Put the called tile on top of your rack, and put the matching tiles from your hand next to it, face up. This is an exposure. It stays there for the rest of the game.
• For mah jongg. You can call any discard, also for a pair or a single, when it is the last tile that your hand needs. A discarded joker is the exception: nobody can call it.

After a call for an exposure you do not pick a tile. You discard, and the turn goes to the player on your right. Players between the discarder and you lose their turn.

The time to call ends when the next player puts the picked tile in the rack, or discards.

If two players call the same tile, a call for mah jongg wins over a call for an exposure. If both want it for the same purpose, the player whose turn comes first after the discarder gets the tile.

Jokers

• A joker can replace any tile in a pung, kong, quint or sextet.
• A joker can never be in a pair or stand for a single tile.
• If an exposure on any rack holds a joker, and you hold the real tile, you can exchange them in your turn. Do this after you pick and before you discard.
• Nobody can call a discarded joker.

More: How many jokers, and where a joker can go.

Exposed and concealed hands

Each line on the card ends with an X or a C.

• X is Exposed. You may call discards for pungs, kongs, quints and sextets, and show these groups.
• C is Concealed. You may not call a discard for an exposure. You may call only the last tile, for mah jongg. You may still exchange a tile for a joker on another rack.

More: How to read the card.

How the game ends

Mah jongg. A player completes 14 tiles that match one line of the card. The last tile comes from the wall, from a joker exchange or from a called discard. The player says "mah jongg" and shows the full hand. The other players check the hand. Then they pay the winner. See Scoring and payment.

Wall game. If the last tile of the wall is discarded and nobody wins, the game is a draw. Nobody pays.

After each game, the player on the right of East becomes the new East.

A dead hand

A hand is dead when it cannot win by the rules. Common causes:

• The player has too many or too few tiles after the first discard of East.
• The exposures fit no hand on the card.
• The player exposed tiles, and the only hand that fits is a concealed hand.
• The player picked a tile out of turn, or discarded before the pick.
• The player exchanged a joker before the pick.

A player with a dead hand stops play: no picks, no discards, no calls. This player still pays the winner.

Table rules that are not League rules

A group can agree on its own rules. If the group agrees on nothing, the League rules apply. These common rules are table rules:

• Blank tiles in play. In the League rules a blank is only a spare tile.
• A "hot wall" or "cold wall" with special rules for the last tiles.
• A joker in the courtesy pass.
• A Charleston with three players.
• A look at the next tile before your turn ("picking ahead").
• The rule that the first player to speak gets the discard.

Ask your group which table rules it uses before the first game.

Where these rules come from

The League publishes its rules in a printed rulebook, on the back of the card and in a yearly bulletin. This guide uses the January 2026 bulletin and published sources that cite the rulebook with page numbers. The About page lists the sources and tells you how to report an error.

Related guides

• The Charleston in American mahjongThe six passes in order, the blind pass, the courtesy pass, and what teachers advise.
• How to read the mahjong cardLetters, numbers, the three colours, the notes in brackets, X and C. With own example hands.
• American mahjong scoring and paymentWho pays the winner, and how much. With a table for a hand of 25.
• American mahjong termsThe words of the game from Bam to Zero, each in one or two plain sentences.

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