Lesson 3 of 10 · 9 min · Free
How Hands Work: Pattern Families
The card is a menu of patterns. Learn the families that recur on the card from year to year, and read real hands yourself.
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The card is a menu
American Mahjong is played against a card of winning hands, published fresh each year by the National Mah Jongg League (buy it, the League is what keeps the game running). Fourteen tiles must match one printed line exactly.
We don't reprint the card, that's the League's copyright. We teach something more durable, the structural FAMILIES that recur on the card from year to year. Learn those, and a new card is easier to read.
What this lesson covers
- The card is a menu
- The recurring families
- X and C, one last code to crack
- You just read four hands
Lesson 3 of 10, about 9 minutes, with 6 graded steps where you make the call and the coach explains what a stronger answer would have been.
Where it sits in the track
It follows Lesson 2, The Table & the Deal, Racks, walls, rolling for East, and dealing 13 tiles without the table side-eye.
After it comes Lesson 4, The Charleston I: Mechanics, Right, across, left, then maybe again. The full passing ritual, the blind pass, and the courtesy.
This lesson is free to work through, no account needed. The rest of the track, the drills and the coach come with the Club.