Dealer

The player who occupies the East position for a given game. The dealer rolls dice to determine where the wall is broken, receives 14 tiles (one extra), and discards first. The dealer position rotates counterclockwise after each game.

What Is the Dealer in American Mahjong?

In American Mah Jongg, the dealer is the player who holds the East position for the current game. Being the dealer carries specific responsibilities and, in some scoring variations, special advantages. The dealer role rotates counterclockwise around the table after each completed game, so every player takes a turn dealing during a full round.

The dealer is sometimes simply called "East" because the dealing position is always associated with the East Wind seat. In American Mahjong, the wind positions (East, South, West, North) are assigned around the table, with East being the dealer. Unlike some Asian variants where the dealer can retain the deal after winning, in the standard American game, the deal always rotates regardless of who wins.

Understanding the dealer role is fundamental to American Mahjong because it determines who goes first, how tiles are distributed, and in some groups, affects scoring and payment.

How the Dealer Is Determined

At the very beginning of a session, the first dealer is determined by one of several methods:

• Rolling dice, Each player rolls the dice, and the highest roll becomes the first dealer
• Drawing Winds, Four Wind tiles are placed face-down, shuffled, and each player draws one. The player who draws East becomes the first dealer
• Mutual agreement, In casual games, the host or a volunteer simply takes the East seat

After the first dealer is established, the deal rotates counterclockwise after each game. So if Player A is the dealer in Game 1, Player B (to Player A's right) will be the dealer in Game 2, and so on around the table.

A complete round consists of four games, one deal for each player. Many groups play a set number of rounds (commonly four rounds, for a total of 16 games) as a complete session.

Dealing Responsibilities

The dealer has several specific duties at the start of each game:

1. Rolling the dice

The dealer rolls two dice to determine where the wall will be broken. The total of the dice dictates which player's wall section is used and the exact position where the break occurs.

2. Breaking the wall

After all four players have built their wall segments (each player builds a row of tiles in front of them, typically 18-19 stacks of 2 tiles high), the dealer's dice roll determines the break point. Counting counterclockwise from the dealer and then right-to-left along the selected wall, the wall is split open at that position.

3. Distributing tiles

Starting from the break point, the dealer distributes tiles in sets of 4 (two stacks of 2) going counterclockwise:

• Each player receives three sets of 4 tiles (12 tiles total in the initial deal)
• The dealer then takes 2 additional tiles (the first and third tiles from the next row), bringing the dealer's count to 14
• Each other player takes 1 additional tile, bringing their count to 13

The dealer ends up with 14 tiles while everyone else has 13 tiles. This is because the dealer will start the game by discarding rather than drawing.

4. Initiating the Charleston

After tiles are dealt, the Charleston begins. While the dealer doesn't lead the Charleston in a formal sense, the dealing process must be complete before passing starts.

5. Making the first discard

After the Charleston and any courtesy pass are complete, the dealer makes the first discard of the game. Since the dealer has 14 tiles (one more than the other players), the dealer's first action is to discard rather than draw from the wall.

The Dealer During Gameplay

Once the game is underway, the dealer plays like any other player with one exception: the dealer went first. Turn order proceeds counterclockwise from the dealer (East to South to West to North), though any player may interrupt the sequence by calling a discarded tile for an exposure or for Mah Jongg.

In standard American Mahjong as governed by the National Mah Jongg League, the dealer has no ongoing special privileges during gameplay. The deal is simply a matter of table position and rotation.

However, there are a few practical implications of being the dealer:

• First-mover advantage, The dealer gets to discard first, which means the dealer is the first player to begin shaping their hand. This is a very slight advantage
• 14-tile start, Starting with 14 tiles means the dealer has already "drawn" and can immediately assess a full hand. In extremely rare cases, the dealer could declare Mah Jongg before even discarding if the dealt tiles complete a hand
• Wall break position, The dealer's dice roll determines where the wall breaks, which is purely random but affects which tiles each player eventually draws

Dealer and Scoring Variations

In standard NMJL American Mahjong, the dealer has no scoring bonus. The value of a winning hand is determined entirely by the NMJL card pattern, and payment amounts are the same regardless of who dealt.

However, some home groups and regional variations include dealer-related scoring rules:

• Dealer pays or receives double, In some groups, if the dealer wins, each losing player pays double. Conversely, if another player wins by discarding, the dealer might pay double. This rule is borrowed from Asian Mahjong variants and is not part of official NMJL rules
• Dealer retention, In Chinese and Japanese Mahjong, the dealer retains the deal after winning (the deal doesn't rotate). This is not standard in American Mahjong, where the deal always rotates
• East round bonuses, Some variants assign bonus points during the East round (the first four games). Again, this is not part of NMJL rules

If you play in a group that uses any of these house rules, make sure the scoring and payment rules are clarified before the session begins.

In a wall game (where no one wins), the dealer position still rotates to the next player. There is no concept of a "re-deal" or keeping the deal in standard American Mahjong, every game, win or draw, advances the dealer rotation.