How to Play

How to Play Modern American Mah-Jongg 

There are several different kinds of Mah-Jongg. The rules that follow are known as modern American rules. Mah-Jongg is played with four players, and a fifth person may be a bettor. The object of modern American Mah-Jongg is to make the tiles match up with a hand on a Mah-Jongg card. 

The National Mah Jongg League publishes a card each year at the end of March. You may purchase the card on their website, www.nationalmahjonggleague.org, or by mail by sending a check to: National Mah Jongg League, 450 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10123. I recommend the larger card of the 2 sizes.  You can also get the card on Amazon.

The cards change yearly. 

TOPICS COVERED HERE: 

1.      The tiles 

2.      Dealing 

3.      Passing 

4.      The Play 

5.      The Hands 

6.      Reading the Card 

7.      Picking a Hand 

8.      Calling Tiles 

9.      Jokers 

10.   Making Mah-jongg 

11.   Going Dead 

1. THE TILES 

The modern American Mah-Jongg set has 152 tiles. 

The tiles consist of: 

CRAKS - 1 through 9 - four each. 

BAMS - 1 through 9 - four each. 

DOTS 1 through 9 - four each. 

Four red dragons 

Four green dragons 

Four white dragons ("soaps") 

Four each of: 

North Wind, East Wind, 

South Wind and West Wind. 

8 FLOWERS 

8 JOKERS 

The tiles are mixed, turned face down, and each player makes a wall in front of their rack - nineteen tiles long and two tiles deep. 

2. DEALING 

One person is selected to be the dealer of the first game (East). You can choose East by throwing the dice, arbitrarily choosing the hostess or by actual seating arrangement.  For the next game, the dealer, or East, will be the person sitting to the right of East in Game 1, and so on.  East rotates each game so everyone gets the opportunity to be East throughout the set of games. 

To begin dealing, East throws the dice. The number on the dice indicates where East will break their wall. If, for example, East throws a 10 on the dice, they will take ten groups of two tiles from the right end of the wall and keep them separate. They are reserved until the end of the game.  Alternatively, you can forego using the dice.  The dealer can begin dealing from the right side of their wall and continue along to their left as described below. 

East takes four tiles (two groups of two) from their wall. Then the player to the right of East gets four tiles to the left of the last tiles taken, and then the next player to the right is dealt four, etc. When East's wall is exhausted of tiles, the player to the left of east pushes out their wall and the players continue to pick until each player has three groups of four (12 tiles).   

When each player has 12 tiles, East then picks the first and third tile from the wall. The player to the right of East takes the bottom tile, the next player takes the tile on top, and then the last tile gets picked so that each player has 13 tiles and East has 14.  

Tip:  

3. PASSING - also known as "Charleston" 

Each player puts their tiles on their rack, facing them but concealed from the other players. The player then organizes their tiles in groups and pairs according to the categories on the card. Three unwanted tiles are picked for passing. The passing is organized into two "Charlestons," as follows: 

First Charleston (compulsory): 

Each player gives 3 tiles to the player on their RIGHT; then 

Each player gives 3 tiles to the player ACROSS from her; then 

Each player gives 3 tiles to the player on their LEFT. 

At the end of the first Charleston, any player may decide to halt the passing and proceed to the final Optional pass. If no one halts the passing, then the second Charleston begins, in which: 

Each player gives 3 tiles to the player to their LEFT; then 

Each player gives 3 tiles to the player ACROSS from her; then 

Each player gives 3 tiles to the player to their RIGHT. 

A player is permitted to STEAL one, two or three tiles on the last pass of each Charleston. For example, if a player only has one tile they wish to pass on the first left (last pass of first Charleston), they may take two tiles which are passed to them and add their one tile and pass them to the next player. A player may only "steal" a tile on the FIRST LEFT and LAST RIGHT. 

At the end of the second Charleston, an OPTIONAL pass is permitted. The players exchange either 0, 1, 2 or 3 tiles with the player across from them. 

During the passing, players are concentrating on the card and how the tiles they are receiving can fit together to make any hand on the card. 

*Note: A Joker may never be passed.* 

4.  THE PLAY 

After the optional last across-pass, East discards a tile from their rack, placing it face up on the table and naming it out loud. The player to East's right then picks a fresh tile from the wall, looks at it, and decides if they want to keep it. If they keep it, they put it in their rack and then discard a tile. If they don't want it, they place it face up on the table and name it. The play continues in turn, with each player picking and then discarding. When a wall is exhausted, the wall to the left gets pushed out.  Remember, all picking is to the right, the walls come out to the left. 

PLAYERS MUST HAVE 13 TILES IN THEIR HANDS AT ALL TIMES. 

The only time a player may have 14 tiles is at the beginning of a game if they are East, at the moment of picking a tile and before discarding, and at the time they call Mah-Jongg. If a player miscounts and has more or less than 13 tiles, they are declared DEAD and are excluded from play for the rest of the game. 

5. THE HANDS 

The Mah Jongg card is organized in categories. They are: 

YEAR hands or other special hands. (Usually the current year.) 

These hands utilize tiles which make up the year: i.e., 2's and 4's in 2024. 

The white dragon, (soap), represents a zero, as there is no tile with an actual zero. 

You cannot use a joker for any tile in a year; i.e., 2024.  They are considered "singles and pairs". 

2468 - Self-explanatory. Hands concentrate on even numbers. 

MULTIPLICATION/ADDITION - These hands perform a math function, e.g. multiplication, such as FFFF 5555 (in red) x 5555 (in blue) = 25 (in green). You would need four flowers, four fives of one suit, four fives of a second suit, and a 2 and a 5 of a third suit.  The colors only mean that it is a suit.  Green doesn't mean it has to be a bam, for instance.  Three colors = three suits.  Two colors = two suits.  One color = one suit

ANY LIKE NUMBER - These hands are great if you have many of the same number in multiple suits

QUINTS - Quints (five of a kind) require the use of jokers, since there are only four of each number tile. However, a quint of five flowers is possible. 

CONSECUTIVE RUNS - These hands require groups of number tiles in consecutive order, sometimes interspersed with flowers or dragons. 

13579 - Hands focus on odd numbers. 

WINDS/DRAGONS - Hands made up primarily of wind and dragon tiles, sometimes interspersed with numbers or flowers. Winds and dragons may also be referred to as "honor" tiles. 

369 - As per the name, hands consist of 3's, 6's, 9's. 

SINGLES & PAIRS - Singles and pairs are the most difficult hands to attain, since you are not allowed to use jokers and they are all concealed, since you can't call for a pair unless it's for mah jongg. The singles and pairs hands often contain a representative sample of many of the hands above; i.e., one wind hand, a consecutive run hand, a 2468 hand, etc. 

6. READING THE CARD 

Mah-Jongg cards are printed in three colors; red, blue and green. If a hand is printed entirely in one color, it means that all tiles in that hand are to be from ONE SUIT. 

Similarly, if a hand is printed in two colors, the tiles are to be selected from TWO DIFFERENT SUITS; and three colors, THREE DIFFERENT SUITS. 

For example, in consecutive runs, a hand may read: 11 222 3333 444 55, in all one color. In order to make mah-jongg, you must have all the above tiles, in the above order in one suit only. In other words, if you are using dots, you must have two one-dots, three two-dots, four three-dots, etc. 

Another hand may read: 444 555 6666 777, written in two colors with a parenthetical following it, (Any 2 suits, 4 consecutive Nos.) This means that you must use two suits, but you may use any four consecutive numbers, you are not bound to play four through seven. You may play the hand 666 777 8888 9999, wherein the sixes and sevens must be one suit and the eights and nines must be another suit. 

The instructions may refer to "pung" and "kong." 

A "pung" is three of a kind, a "kong" is four of a kind. 

A "quint" is five of a kind, of which one must be a joker (except for flowers). 

When the instructions refer to matching dragons, they are as follows (and as printed on the back of your card): 

White dragons are sometimes called "Soap." 

Be careful, as some hands require matching dragons and others require opposite dragons. When a hand calls for opposite dragons, if you are using Dots, the dragons must be either green or red; for bams, white or red, etc. 

A white dragon (soap) is used for the zero. 

Flowers do not belong to any suit and are used wherever there is an F. 

7. PICKING A HAND 

The most difficult aspect of modern American of Mah-Jongg is to determine which hand to aim for. While you may have many tiles that belong in one category, a player may be missing a whole family, or a pair of tiles that may prove difficult to obtain. 

Next to each hand is a number, which tells how much the hand is worth. The harder the hand, the more it is worth. A hand with a value of 25 is usually easier to work out than a hand with a value of 50. 

8. CALLING TILES 

If the hand you are playing has an X next to the value of the hand, the hand is designated as a calling, or open hand. A hand with a C is a closed hand and if a tile you need is discarded, you may not call it from the table unless it's for Mah Jongg and you win with that tile. 

If a tile you need is discarded, and you are playing an open hand, you may call the tile to complete a pung, a kong, a quint or to make mah-jongg. A tile may not be called to make a pair, unless it is your mah-jongg tile. Once you call a tile, you must expose the pung or kong and you may not make any further changes to the exposed tiles. 

If two players call for the same tile, the one whose turn is next gets the tile. If one of the players is calling the tile for mahjong, she/he has priority over a player who needs it for a component of their hand but they don't yet have mah jongg. 

Once the next player has picked a tile and put it in their rack, it is too late to call a tile that was discarded and is on the table. 

9. JOKERS 

A joker may be used as a wildcard to fill in any pung, kong or quint. A pung, kong or quint may be entirely composed of jokers. A JOKER MAY NEVER BE USED TO COMPLETE A PAIR. The singles and pairs hands are worth more because you may not use any jokers in these hands.  Keep in mind you cannot use a joker in a singles and pairs set such as NEWS or 2009 

If someone has called a tile and exposed a pung, kong or quint and they are showing jokers, if you have the tile they are using the joker for, you may exchange it and keep the joker for yourself. In other words, if East has called a six dot and they expose three six-dots and one joker, if you have the last six dot in your hand you should do the following: 

In this way, you will be assured of maintaining the necessary number of tiles in your hand.  Sometimes  you may find that you have too many jokers in your hand. This occurs when you need to complete a pair and are unable to use the jokers. In this event, you may discard a joker, but no one can call it. 

10. MAKING MAH-JONGG 

When all thirteen tiles match a hand on the card, and you either pick the 14th tile needed to complete the hand, or someone discards it, you may declare "Mah-jongg" and you are the winner. 

Scoring is as follows: 

Table rules can be added, depending on the preferences of the players. Some people like to "mush" all their unwanted tiles together at the end of the first Charleston. If you put in three tiles, you get to pick three tiles out. Other table rules may include using a "hot wall" where when the picking and discarding gets down to the last wall, no one can call a tile unless it's for mah-jongg. 

Table rules can also be used to clarify and make consistent some nuances of the game , "what happens if..." scenarios.  For example, if someone calls someone else Dead, and is wrong, is there a penalty for the caller?  You can decide this as a group and then play consistently.  

If you are playing with a bettor, East leaves the table and the bettor sits in their seat, the person to the right of them deals the next game.  This means that if playing with 5, each person plays 4 games and sits out 1 game , (during which they can bet on a winner).  

11. GOING DEAD 

A player "goes dead," (is out of the game) when: 

A player has exposed too many or too few tiles to make any 

HAPPY MAHJ!! 

If you have questions, you can e-mail me at: 

rachael@bamcrack.com 

 

*These rules were adapted from L. Fisher @ https://sites.google.com/site/mahjrules/home/rules/printable-rules-1