How many jokers are in American mahjong?
An American mahjong set has 8 jokers. A joker can replace any tile in a group of three or more identical tiles: a pung, kong, quint or sextet. A joker can never be in a pair, and it can never stand for a single tile.
Last checked: 14 November 2026. Sources: public pages on the League rules. See how American Mahjong Coach is made.
The count
The set in play has 152 tiles, and 8 of them are jokers. Many sets in the shops hold more than 152 tiles. The extra tiles are spare blanks, and some sets add 2 extra jokers. Count your jokers before you play, and put the spares away.
Where a joker can go
A joker can replace any tile in a pung (3), a kong (4), a quint (5) or a sextet (6). This is true for number tiles, winds, dragons and flowers. It is true in an exposed group and in a group in your hand.
Legal: a kong of 7 Bam with two jokers.
Legal: a pung of flowers with one joker.
A group can hold any number of jokers. A quint or a sextet of a number tile always needs a joker, because the set has only four of each number tile.
The sources say the same for a group of zeros (White Dragons) that the card prints as 000 or 0000. We found no League text that names this case.
Where a joker can never go
- In a pair.
- In the place of a single tile.
- In N E W S, in the digits of a year such as 2026, or in a run of different numbers. The card prints these tiles together, but each one is a single tile.
- In any hand of the Singles and Pairs section of the card.
Not legal: a pair of flowers with a joker. A pair needs two real tiles.
Not legal: a joker for the West in N E W S.
Jokers in the Charleston
You may never pass a joker in the Charleston. If a player passes a joker to you by mistake, give it back at once. That player then passes another tile.
Teachers' sites say that this rule covers the courtesy pass too. We found no League text that names the courtesy pass, and no League text that sets a penalty.
A discarded joker
You may discard a joker. Nobody can call a discarded joker, also not for mah jongg. For this reason a joker is a safe discard near the end of a game.
How to exchange a tile for a joker
An exposure on a rack can hold jokers. If you hold the real tile, you can take the joker.
- Wait for your turn. Pick your tile from the wall first, or complete your call first. You must hold 14 tiles.
- Say that you want to exchange. Hold out the real tile.
- The other player gives you the joker. Do not touch the rack of another player.
- Then discard as usual.
- The joker can be in any exposure on any rack. Your own exposures count too.
- You can make more than one exchange in a turn.
- The real tile can be the tile that you just picked.
- You cannot use a tile that another player discarded.
- If you exchange before you pick, your hand is dead.
- A player with a concealed hand may exchange too. An exchange is not an exposure.
Another rack shows this kong. You hold a 2 Crak.
In your turn, you give the 2 Crak and you get the joker.
Jokers and payment
- If the exchange gives you the last tile of your hand, the win counts as self-picked.
- A winning hand with no joker in it pays double. The winner must say "jokerless". This bonus does not apply in the Singles and Pairs section, where no joker is possible.
More: Scoring and payment.
- Keep your jokers in the rack as long as you can. Do not decide early which group gets a joker.
- An early exposure with a joker shows your plan, and another player can take that joker.
- If you hold the real tile for an exposed joker, make the exchange soon. Another player can hold the same tile.
- With two or more jokers, look at hands with quints. With several jokers, a hand of only singles and pairs is a poor choice, because it can use none of them.
Teachers agree on these points. They are strategy, and no rule demands them.
Practise it
Level 3 of drill 1 asks where a joker can go. Drills 3 and 4 deal racks with jokers, and each answer says which tile a joker stands for.
Related guides
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