How to read the mahjong card

All guides

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

The examples on this page are hands of the American Mahjong Coach practice card. They are not hands of the League's card. American Mahjong Coach shows no line of the League's card on a page. Keep your own card next to you and compare.

The symbols

The card never prints a joker. You decide where a joker goes, inside the joker rules.

Groups

The same symbol two or more times is a group of identical tiles.

The colours: how many suits

The card prints the groups in up to three colours: blue, red and green. A colour does not name a suit. The colours tell you how many different suits the hand uses.

• One colour: all number groups are in one suit. You choose the suit.
• Two colours: two different suits.
• Three colours: three different suits.

Groups in the same colour are in the same suit. Groups in different colours are in different suits. Flowers, winds and zeros have no suit, so their colour means nothing.

Example 1: one colour

FF 111 222 333 444 (Any 1 suit, any 4 consecutive numbers)  X 25

All groups are blue: one suit. The note says that the run can start at any number. So this line also stands for 3, 4, 5, 6 in Bams:

Example 2: three colours

FFFF 111 111 1111 (Any 3 suits, any like numbers)  X 25

The number groups are blue, red and green: three suits. "Like numbers" means the same number in each group. The card prints 1, but you can use any number.

Dragons on the card

• A D in the same colour as a number group is the dragon of that suit: Red with Craks, Green with Bams, White with Dots.
• A D in another colour is a dragon of another suit. Players name it an "opposite" dragon.
• A note such as "any dragon" wins over the colour.

FF 111 111 111 DDD (Any 3 suits, any like numbers, dragon matches the first suit)  X 25

Zero is the White Dragon

A 0 on the card is always the White Dragon. As a zero it has no suit, and it goes with any suit. The card uses it in numbers such as a year.

• A zero is only for a place where the card prints a 0. It is not "any number".
• A group printed 000 is a pung of White Dragons.

1111 1111 000 FFF (Any 2 suits, any like numbers)  X 25

Tiles that look like a group but are singles

The card prints some different tiles together, with no space. They are single tiles, not a group:

• N E W S: one North, one East, one West, one South.
• A year such as 2026: four single tiles.
• Different numbers in one block, such as three numbers in a row.

No joker can stand for a single tile. You cannot call a discard for a single tile, except for mah jongg.

NEWS DDD DDD FFFF (Any 2 dragons)  X 30

The notes in brackets

A note after the line tells you what you can change. If a note and the colours disagree, the note wins. With no note, use the numbers as printed.

X, C and the value

Each line ends with a letter and a number.

• X = Exposed. You may call discards for pungs, kongs, quints and sextets, and show them.
• C = Concealed. You may not call a discard for an exposure. You may call only the last tile, for mah jongg.
• The number is the value of the hand, in points or cents. See Scoring and payment.

11 22 33 4444 5555 (Any 2 suits, any 5 consecutive numbers)  C 30

The sections

The card groups its lines in sections. Most section names come back each year: the year itself, 2468, Any Like Numbers, Quints, Consecutive Run, 13579, Winds - Dragons, 369, and Singles and Pairs. Some sections come and go between years.

• In the Any Like Numbers section, the lines are printed with 1s but mean any number.
• In the Consecutive Run section, most lines are printed from 1 but can start at any number, unless a note fixes the numbers.
• The hands in Singles and Pairs are concealed and take no jokers.

Related guides

• How to choose a hand in American mahjongEight steps that teachers agree on, from the sort of the rack to two or three options.
• American mahjong rulesThe full game in plain words, from the deal to the payment.
• American mahjong termsThe words of the game from Bam to Zero, each in one or two plain sentences.
• How many flowers are in American mahjong?Eight, and all eight are the same tile. With the joker rule for flowers.

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