American mahjong has two layers: the play procedure is stable, while the winning hands change with the annual card. This guide teaches the stable procedure. Use the current official card for the exact hand patterns.
1. Prepare the table
A standard American game uses four players, four racks, dice, the current annual card, and 152 active tiles: 108 suited tiles, 16 winds, 12 dragons, 8 flowers, and 8 jokers. Mahjong Belle collections contain 160 tiles; set aside any clearly identified spare or house-rule tiles unless your group agrees otherwise.
2. Complete the Charleston
Everyone passes three unwanted tiles at the same time. Flowers and suited or honor tiles may be passed; jokers may not.
*The second Charleston is played only when all four players agree. A courtesy pass with the player across may follow. Groups should state any blind-pass convention before play.
3. Play one clean turn at a time
- Draw one tile from the wall.
- Compare your rack with likely hands on the current card.
- Discard one tile face up and name it clearly.
- Continue to the right.
4. Know when a discard can be called
You may call a live discard when it completes a grouping required by your chosen hand and you can expose that entire grouping immediately. A discard normally cannot be called merely to form a single or a pair; it may be called when it is the final tile that completes Mahjong. Once the next player has drawn or racked, the prior discard is dead.
5. Use jokers precisely
May substitute in a grouping of three or more identical tiles when the annual card allows that grouping.
May not represent a single or pair, may not be passed in the Charleston, and cannot be claimed after it is discarded.
On your turn, after drawing, you may exchange the matching natural tile for an exposed joker. The joker joins your concealed hand; the natural tile remains in the exposure.
6. Check a declared Mahjong
- The tiles match one complete hand on the current card.
- Suit labels, numbers, winds, dragons, flowers, and group sizes match exactly.
- Any concealed requirement has been preserved.
- Jokers appear only where permitted.
- The hand contains the required total of 14 tiles.
2025 and 2026: what actually changes?
The annual card changes the available winning hands, groupings, suit requirements, exposure status, and values. The table procedure—deal, Charleston, drawing, discarding, calling, exposing, and checking jokers—remains the learning foundation. When a new card arrives, first scan section headings, mark hands that resemble your preferred patterns, and play several open-card practice rounds before adding speed.
Get the current official card from the National Mah Jongg League. For table-specific questions, use the printed instructions supplied with the card or an accredited teacher.