Quick answer
American Mahjong is a four-player game of 152 tiles. After the deal and a tile-passing round called the Charleston, players take turns drawing and discarding, calling discards to complete exposed groups. The first player whose 14 tiles exactly match a hand on the current National Mah Jongg League card declares mahjong and wins.
American Mahjong (also called American Mah Jongg) is the four-player tile game played in clubs, community centers, and living rooms across the US, to a card the National Mah Jongg League publishes every year. It looks intimidating, 152 tiles, a passing ritual called the Charleston, a card full of cryptic patterns, but it breaks down into five learnable pieces. Here's the whole game, in plain English.
What you need
Four players, an American Mahjong set of 152 tiles (three suits numbered 1 to 9, winds, dragons, flowers, and eight jokers), four racks, and the current year's card from the National Mah Jongg League. The card lists every legal winning hand for the year. The League issues a new one every spring, and the old card's hands stop counting once your table switches to the new one.
The League sells the 2026 card for $14, or $15 in large print, plus postage outside the US. Sets vary widely in price, so before you buy one, ask a local club or group whether they have a set you can learn on.
Step 1: The deal
Each player rolls the dice, and the highest roll is East, the dealer. All tiles go face-down and get shuffled. Each player builds a wall 19 tiles long and two high. East rolls the dice to choose where the wall breaks. Players take four tiles at a time, East first, for three rounds. Then East takes two more tiles and everyone else takes one, so everyone holds 13 and East holds 14.
Rack your tiles and sort them by suit and number. A sorted rack is the difference between seeing your hand and staring at noise.
Step 2: The Charleston
Before play begins, players pass unwanted tiles three at a time, first to the right, then across, then to the left. That's the first Charleston, and it's mandatory. If all four players agree, a second Charleston runs in reverse, left, across, right. Whether or not it runs, the passing can end with an optional 'courtesy pass' of up to three tiles with the player opposite you.
Two rules always apply. Every Charleston pass is exactly three tiles (the courtesy pass is up to three), and a joker can never be passed, in the Charleston or the courtesy pass. The Charleston is where a random deal becomes a hand with a plan. Our interactive Charleston simulator lets you practice it, and the coach grades every pass.
Step 3: Pick a hand from the card
Every winning hand in American Mahjong must exactly match a line on the year's card, combinations of single tiles, pairs, pungs (three of a kind), kongs (four), and quints (five), built from specific numbers, suits, winds, dragons, and flowers.
Don't try to memorize the card. Learn the recurring families instead, such as evens, odds, consecutive runs, like numbers, and winds-and-dragons. Read your dealt tiles, see which family they lean toward, and pick two candidate lines. Our free Hand Analyzer does the first half for you while you learn. It names the categories your tiles are closest to and the tiles worth keeping, and you pick the lines from your own card.
Step 4: Draw, discard, call
East opens by discarding one tile, since the dealer already holds 14. After that, on each turn you draw one tile from the wall and discard one, naming it aloud, as in 'four Bam.' Play moves counter-clockwise.
When an opponent discards a tile that completes a pung, kong, or quint for an exposed hand, you may call it, say 'call,' take the tile, and expose the completed group on your rack. Anyone can call the latest discard to complete their entire hand, even when that tile finishes a pair or a single. That's the 'mah jongg' call, and it wins the game. Either call has to come before the next player racks or discards a tile.
The card marks every hand with an X or a C. On an X hand you may call discards and expose sets as you go. A C hand is concealed. You build it in your own rack, and the only discard you may call is the tile that completes it. Calling a set for an exposure ends every concealed line for that hand.
Jokers stand in for any tile in a group of three or more, but never for a single tile or in a pair. And if any exposed group on the table contains a joker, you can swap the real tile for it on your turn and take the joker.
Step 5: Winning (and the wall game)
Declare 'mah jongg' when your 14 tiles exactly match a card line. All three opponents pay you the value printed beside that line on the card. Under League rules, if you won on a discard, the player who threw it pays double and the other two pay the value, and if you drew the winning tile yourself, all three pay double. A hand won with no jokers in it doubles again, except a Singles and Pairs hand.
If the wall runs out before anyone wins, it's a wall game and nobody pays. Under League rules the deal then passes to the player on East's right. It passes the same way after every win, East's included. Some home tables keep the same dealer after a wall game and redeal, so agree it before it comes up. When your own hand is out of reach, discarding safely so nobody else wins is a legitimate defensive goal, and a wall game is a fine result.
With two or three players
Four is the standard game, and the League's rules also cover three players and two with the same set. You still build all four walls, but only the players at the table are dealt in. East starts with fourteen tiles and everyone else with thirteen.
There is no Charleston with two or three, so East opens with the first discard and play goes on as normal. With fewer players sharing a wall built for four, each of you draws more often. Our two-player and three-player guides give the full setup.
With five or six, four play and the rest sit out in turn. After each game the player who was East steps out and the next one waiting comes in.
To practice on your own, Play a Hand is our free practice table. It puts you in the middle of a hand against three bots and grades every discard.
How long does it take to learn?
It depends on how often you play, and a regular game with patient players helps. Learn it in the order this guide follows, starting with the tiles, then reading which family a hand leans toward, then the Charleston until passing feels automatic. Our first three lessons are free and cover the tiles, the table and the deal, and the pattern families, right in your browser with no app to download. The free Hand Analyzer and Charleston simulator let you practice the next two pieces, and the Club's lessons go on to the Charleston, jokers, calling, hand-reading, and defense.
Put it into practice
New to the game? Start the course at Lesson 1, Meet the Tiles. The first three lessons are free and need no account.
Already play? Have the coach read a real dealt hand for you, free. It names the direction the hand goes for, what to keep, what to pass, and the reasoning behind each call.
Reading the rules and sitting at a table are different experiences. One real hand bridges the two. Our AI coach deals you a hand, reads it tile by tile, and explains every move. Free, no account needed.