How to Play American Mahjong: Your First Game, Step by Step

American mahjong is a four-player race to match 14 tiles to one hand printed on that year's National Mah Jongg League card. Every game runs the same five beats: build the wall, deal, pass tiles in the Charleston, draw and discard, then declare "Mah Jongg." Learn that flow first. The card's hands can wait until you are sitting at the table with one.

First, check which mahjong you are learning

"Mahjong" names a family of games, and a search for the rules lands on all of them. If your group plays with racks, jokers and a folded card, you are learning the American game. Wikipedia's American mahjong entry describes the game by exactly those, plus the Charleston, a tile exchange that Yellow Mountain Imports calls unique to American play.

Tile counts are from Wikipedia's mahjong tiles comparison; the win rules are from the entries for mahjong and Japanese mahjong. A Hong Kong set can't play American hands without jokers, which is why the complete-set checklist matters before your first night.

What goes on the table

• 152 tiles: three suits (Bams, Craks, Dots), winds, dragons, flowers and jokers. Spares stay in the box.
• Four racks, ideally with pushers: Yellow Mountain Imports' rules page calls them optional but highly recommended, since pushers move your wall forward without exposing your hand.
• Two dice: one roll picks the dealer, a second decides where the wall breaks.
• This year's card, one per player: the National Mah Jongg League sells its 2026 card directly, including by mail. It is not in the box.

A set such as the 166-tile American Mah Jongg Set covers the tiles and racks. The card is always a separate purchase.

Your first game in 7 steps

This is the sequence Mahjong 4 Friends' rules guide and Yellow Mountain Imports both describe.

1. Shuffle and build. All 152 tiles go face down and get mixed. Each player builds a wall 19 tiles long and 2 high, and the four walls push together into a square.
2. Pick East. Everyone rolls the dice. The highest roll is East, the dealer.
3. Break the wall. East rolls again and counts that many stacks in from the right end of their own wall, then splits it there.
4. Deal. Players take four tiles at a time, counterclockwise from the break, until everyone holds 12. East then takes two more and everyone else one: East holds 14, the others 13.
5. Choose a direction. Set your tiles on your rack and find one or two card hands that look closest.
6. Do the Charleston. Pass tiles in the fixed pattern below to trade away what you don't need.
7. Play. East discards first. Each turn after that, draw a tile, then discard one face up and say its name aloud. Play moves to the right.

When the round ends: the first player whose 14 tiles exactly match one card hand declares Mah Jongg. If the wall runs out first, Wikipedia notes the round is a draw.

The Charleston, pass by pass

Every pass is three tiles, face down. Mahjong 4 Friends gives the mnemonic ROLLOR: right, over, left, left, over, right.

A blind pass means sending on tiles you just received without looking at them, topped up from your rack so the pass still totals three. In the courtesy pass, the two players across from each other agree on the number and swap up to three tiles each.

Jokers never travel: Yellow Mountain Imports says no joker may be passed during the Charleston or the courtesy pass. Keep every one you are dealt.

How to read the card without memorizing it

The card changes every year, so learn its grammar, not this year's lines. Here is what Yellow Mountain Imports' card guide explains:

• Colors mean "different suits," not specific suits. Three 2s in one color and three 2s in another means two different suits of your choice.
• Letters are honors: N, E, W, S for winds, R and G for red and green dragons, F for any flower.
• Zero is the white dragon, nicknamed Soap, so it can stand in for the 0s in a year pattern.
• X or C beside each value: X hands may use called discards; C (concealed) hands must come from the wall, apart from the winning tile.

The hands are grouped into themed sections. Yellow Mountain Imports lists categories such as the year, 2468 (even numbers), 13579 (odd numbers), 369, consecutive runs, quints, winds and dragons, and singles and pairs. The exact hands are the League's published card, so buy your own rather than working from a copy.

Joker rules at a glance

Jokers make the American game feel generous, but only inside matching groups.

What jokers can do

• Stand in for any tile in a pung (3), kong (4), quint (5) or sextet (6).
• Be taken back: on your turn, swap the real tile for a joker sitting in anyone's exposed group.

What jokers can't do

• Fill a single or a pair, ever.
• Be passed in the Charleston or courtesy pass.
• Turn a run like 2-3-4 into a group. Those are singles, as Mahjong 4 Friends points out.

Calling a discard

Only the most recent discard can be claimed. Yellow Mountain Imports says you may call it to finish a pung, kong, quint or sextet, which you then lay face up on your rack where it can't be changed. You can call for a single or a pair only when that tile wins the game. After a call, you discard, and play continues from you.

The beginner's edge: Mahjong 4 Friends suggests narrowing to one or two hands right after the Charleston and not exposing too early, since every exposed group tells the table what you need.

A first night goes better with one experienced player talking through each step, the same approach in our guide to teaching a board game without ruining game night. Play a few open-handed practice rounds before anyone keeps score.