Scoring and table rules

Last updated October 21, 2026

American Mah Jongg scoring is a payment system in which the other three players pay the value printed beside the winning hand on the card. The rules that come up in the last five minutes of a hand, when the table gets quiet and everyone is counting.

Who pays what when someone wins?

When someone declares mah jongg, the other three players each pay the value printed beside the hand on the card, with these multipliers:

• Thrown winning tile. The player who discarded the winning tile pays double. The other two pay the printed value.
• Self-picked. If the winner drew the winning tile from the wall, nobody fed it, so everyone pays double.
• Jokerless. A winning hand with no jokers in it doubles the payment again. Singles and Pairs hands are the exception: they can never hold a joker, so they get no jokerless bonus.

The bonuses stack. Outside Singles and Pairs, self-picked and jokerless means each player pays four times the printed value.

How late can you call a discard?

You may call a discard until the next player has drawn a tile and racked it. After that the discard is gone. Speak up quickly, and say the tile's name when you throw so others have the chance to call.

Calling replaces your draw. Lay the completed pung, kong or quint face up on your rack, then discard, and play continues to your right from you.

When two players want the same discard for an exposure, it goes to whoever is next in turn after the discarder, unless the other caller has already put the tile on their rack or exposed tiles for it. A call for mah jongg beats any exposure.

Can you change an exposure?

No. Once you have discarded after exposing a group, it is locked. A pung never becomes a kong later; the fourth tile stays on your rack or goes to the discards. The one change still allowed is a joker swap: someone hands you the real tile and takes the joker.

What is a dead hand?

A hand that can no longer legally win is dead. The usual causes: an exposure that matches no hand on the card, or laying down a wrong mah jongg. Once another player calls it dead and the tiles prove it, that player stops drawing and discarding but still pays the winner. Nobody calls their own hand dead: if you know yours is hopeless, keep playing and play defense. Check the card before you expose, not after.

What happens after a wrong mah jongg?

Once a wrong hand is laid down, it is dead. The other three keep playing, and the player who called it still pays whoever eventually wins. Be sure before you say the word.

What happens in a wall game?

If the wall runs out before anyone wins, nobody pays. The tiles are reshuffled and the next hand is dealt. Wall games happen more often than beginners expect, which is why chasing a hopeless hand to the end costs nothing, and also earns nothing.

What are safe tiles and hot tiles?

A hot tile is one that plainly helps someone, usually because their exposures point at it: two even pungs on a rack means every even tile you throw is risky. A safe tile is one already discarded twice with no reaction, or one that clashes with every exposure on the table. Late in a hand, defense matters more than your own rack, and keeping a safe tile in reserve for the endgame is a habit worth building early.