American Mahjong for Beginners

A free beginner quick-start that walks you through one full American Mahjong game in order, spells out the terms you will hear at the table, and flags the slip-ups that trip up almost every new player. You do not need to have played before. Every rule here stays the same each year; only the winning hands on the NMJL card change each April.

Your First Game in 10 Steps

Build the wall, then deal 13 tiles to each player (the dealer, East, takes 14 and discards first). Do the Charleston (pass 3 tiles right, across, then left, with an optional second round). Pick 2 to 3 target hands on the current card without locking in yet. On each turn, draw one tile and discard one face-up, calling it out loud as play moves counter-clockwise. Call discards that complete a Pung or Kong for a hand you are building. Use jokers only inside groups of 3 or more. Watch the discards for what is safe and what opponents want. When your 14 tiles exactly match one card hand, declare Mah Jongg and expose your hand, then settle payment based on the hand's printed value.

What Is in the Set (152 tiles)

The set has Bams, Craks, and Dots (1 to 9, four of each), 16 Winds, 12 Dragons, 8 Flowers, and 8 Jokers, for 152 tiles. Retail sets often ship with extra pieces (spare jokers, flowers, and blanks); set those aside.

Must-Know Terms

Charleston (the opening 3-tile passing ritual), Pung (3 identical tiles), Kong (4), Quint (5, needs a joker), Joker (wild only in groups of 3 or more), Exposure (a group placed face-up after a call), Wall (the face-down stack you draw from), and Dead hand (a hand ruled out for the rest of the round).

Top Beginner Mistakes to Avoid

Passing a joker during the Charleston, committing to one hand too early, using a joker for a pair or single, calling a discard for a pair before the winning tile, losing track of your tile count (14 after a call, then discard back to 13), and ignoring the discards.

Going deeper

• How to play American Mahjong: the full beginner walkthrough in prose
• American Mahjong cheat sheet: the master 2-page reference for every rule
• Charleston cheat sheet: a one-page guide to the opening tile-passing ritual
• Scoring cheat sheet: who pays what when a hand is won
• Joker rules cheat sheet: where jokers are allowed and how exchanges work
• Common beginner mistakes: a deeper look at the pitfalls above