Definition
A misdeal is a deal in which a player ends up with the wrong number of tiles. Under League rules, a wrong count found before or during the Charleston means everyone throws their tiles in and the walls are built again.
Count your tiles before the Charleston. East should hold fourteen and everyone else thirteen. After the Charleston, League rules still have everyone throw in until East makes the first discard, with one exception that lets the player at East's left who holds twelve take a thirteenth from the wall. Once East has discarded, the player with the wrong count has a dead hand and there is no redeal.
At the table
Count your tiles before the Charleston, every single time. Thirteen for everyone, fourteen for East. A miscount caught before or during the Charleston is thrown in and redealt, and it costs nothing. The same miscount found after East's first discard makes that hand dead under League rules, and that is a painful way to learn to count.
Read the full guide: Dead Hands and Wrong Mahjong Calls: What Happens Next.
See it on real tiles. The AI coach reads a dealt hand, free, and names the direction it goes for, what to keep and what to pass, at the free read.
Want the coach on call? The Club adds the coach for your own tiles and for each morning’s hand, all 10 lessons, and every new NMJL card taught the week it lands, for $14.99 a month, cancel anytime. See what the Club includes.
Related: Dead hand, Wall game, Mah Jongg, Pie. All 52 terms.