Learn American Mah Jongg
Free, plain-English guides for new players. Read them here, then practice them in the app.
How to play American Mah JonggThe rules of American Mah Jongg in plain English: the 152 tiles, the card, the Charleston, calling, jokers, and how a hand is won. Written for brand-new players.How to read the card: the nine sectionsThe NMJL card is built from nine sections that keep the same shape every year: 2468, 13579, Consecutive Run, Like Numbers, Winds and Dragons, 369, Quints, Singles and Pairs and the Year hand. Learn to spot each one on a rack.The Charleston, explainedHow the Charleston works in American Mah Jongg: the three passes, the optional second Charleston, blind passes, the courtesy pass, and a simple strategy for choosing which three tiles to pass.Jokers in American Mah JonggEvery joker rule in American Mah Jongg: groups of three or more only, never in pairs or singles, never passed in the Charleston, dead when discarded, and how joker redemption (swapping) works.Scoring and table rulesHow payment works when someone wins at American Mah Jongg, when a call is too late, what happens after a wrong mah jongg, dead hands, and wall games.Mah Jongg glossaryA plain-English glossary of American Mah Jongg terms: craks, bams, dots, soap, pung, kong, quint, exposure, Charleston, blind pass, courtesy pass, joker swap, hot tile, wall game and more.
About these guides
Everything here comes from the same reference material built into Mahj Trainer, written for people who learned the game at someone's kitchen table and want the rules straight before next week. The examples are original teaching hands. The card itself belongs to the National Mah Jongg League, changes every spring, and is the one thing you still need to buy.