American Mahjongg Rules

Choosing Seats & Wind Position

Before play begins, each player's seat determines their Wind position for the hand — East deals, and South, West, and North follow in order.

Building the Wall

Before the deal, all four players stack their tiles into a wall two tiles high in front of them.

Breaking the Wall & Dealing

A dice roll tells East where to open ("break") the wall; dealing then proceeds around the table from that point.

The Deal

Each player receives 13 tiles to start, except East, who receives 14 and immediately has a decision to make.

Rotating the Dealer

After a hand ends in a win, the East position moves to the next player so everyone takes a turn dealing over a session.

The First Charleston (Mandatory)

Every hand opens with three required passes of three tiles each — right, across, and left — before anyone plays a turn.

The Second Charleston (Optional)

After the mandatory First Charleston, players may vote to continue with a second round in reverse order — but any single player can stop it before it starts.

Blind Passing

A player happy with their hand may pass along the three tiles they just received, without looking at them, instead of choosing their own tiles to give up.

What Can't Be Passed

Jokers may never be passed during any Charleston step, blind or otherwise.

The Courtesy Pass

After the Charleston ends, players may optionally trade a small number of tiles one more time — but only if both sides agree.

Turn Order

After the Charleston, play moves around the table starting with East, with each player drawing and discarding in turn.

Picking a Tile

On your turn, you draw the next tile from your section of the wall and add it to your hand before deciding what to discard.

Discarding a Tile

After drawing, a player discards one tile face-up where everyone can see it, ending their turn.

Calling a Discard

Any player may claim a just-discarded tile out of turn to complete a Pung, Kong, or Quint — but the claimed set must immediately be exposed on the table.

Priority When More Than One Player Calls

A call for Mah Jongg always outranks a call for an ordinary Pung or Kong on the same tile — beyond that, priority conventions vary by group.

Calling Out of Turn

Calling a discard lets you jump ahead of players whose turn hasn't come yet — play simply resumes from the caller's seat afterward.

What a Joker Can Do

A Joker can stand in for almost any tile inside a Pung, Kong, or Quint — in your own hand or in an exposed set.

What a Joker Cannot Do

Jokers generally can't be used as a single tile or as part of a pair, and they're barred entirely from hands marked Jokerless on the card.

Exchanging a Joker

If an opponent has exposed a Joker standing in for a real tile, you may swap in that real tile from your own hand and take the Joker for yourself.

Limits on Joker Exchanges

Some hands restrict Joker exchanges, and the exact fine print can shift slightly from card to card — worth confirming any unusual case with your group before the swap is made.

Jokerless Hands

Some patterns on the NMJL card explicitly forbid Jokers anywhere in the hand, and are usually worth more points because they're harder to complete.

What Counts as an Exposure

Any set of tiles revealed face-up on the table — whether called from a discard or shown voluntarily — is considered exposed for the rest of the hand.

Exposing a Pung, Kong, or Quint

A set is exposed the moment it's completed by calling a discard, or when a player chooses to reveal it.

Concealed Hands

Some hands on the card require the entire hand to stay hidden — no exposures of any kind — right up until the winning tile completes it.

Once Exposed, Always Exposed

There's no taking a set back — anything placed face-up on the table stays that way for the rest of the hand, even if it turns out to be a mistake.

What Makes a Hand "Dead"

A hand becomes dead — unable to win for the rest of the round — when it can no longer possibly match any pattern on the current card.

Wrong Number of Tiles

A hand must always contain the correct tile count for its position in the turn — 13 tiles between turns, 14 right after drawing or calling.

Illegal Exposures

Exposing a set that doesn't match any hand on the current card — or that breaks a hand's specific exposure rules — can make a hand dead.

Consequences of a Dead Hand

A player with a dead hand keeps drawing and discarding like anyone else but can no longer declare a winning Mah Jongg for the rest of that round.

How a Wall Game Happens

If the wall runs out of playable tiles before anyone completes a hand, the round ends with no winner — known as a Wall Game.

The Last Few Tiles

Most groups leave a small number of tiles untouched at the very end of the wall so the game has a clear stopping point.

After a Wall Game

When a hand ends without a winner, groups typically follow their own house convention for whether East stays in place or rotates for the next deal.

Matching the Card Exactly

A winning hand must match one specific pattern on the current year's NMJL card exactly — suits, set types, and any Concealed or Jokerless requirements included.

Declaring Mah Jongg

The moment a player completes a valid hand, they announce "Mah Jongg" to stop play immediately — winning by self-pick or by calling the final tile from a discard.

Verifying the Winning Hand

After a Mah Jongg call, the other players check the winning hand against the card before the round is considered officially over.

False Mah Jongg

Declaring Mah Jongg with a hand that doesn't actually match any pattern on the card is a False Mah Jongg, usually caught by another player calling "Muggins."

How Hands Are Valued

Each pattern on the NMJL card lists its own point value — generally, the more restrictive a hand (Concealed, Jokerless, or both), the more it's worth.

Doubling a Hand

The current card sometimes allows a completed hand's point value to be doubled under specific conditions — the exact conditions change from card to card, so check the current year's rules.

Paying the Winner

When a hand ends in a win, the losing players pay the winner in points according to the hand's value — commonly, a win by calling a discard costs the discarder double what the other two players pay.

The Muggins Rule

Any player who spots a mistake — a False Mah Jongg, an illegal exposure, or a missed call — can speak up under the Muggins rule to have it corrected.

Table Etiquette & House Rules

Beyond the official rules, most groups layer on their own house conventions for pace of play, courtesy, and settling disputes — worth agreeing on before you sit down.