American Mahjong Rules Explained (2026 Edition)

American mahjong has a reputation for being complicated, and the first time someone rattles off "right, over, left, courtesy, you can't call that for a pair," it absolutely feels that way.

But here's the secret: the rules are logical. Once you see the structure, the whole game clicks. Let's go through it, one piece at a time.

The Setup

American mahjong is played by four players with 152 tiles: three suits (Bams, Craks, Dots) numbered 1 to 9, four Winds, three Dragons, eight Flowers, and eight Jokers. (If your set has 160 or 166 tiles, the extras are spares. Set them aside.)

Every player needs the current National Mah Jongg League card, the official list of winning hands. It changes every spring, so make sure yours is this year's.

After the wall is built and broken, each player gets 13 tiles. East, the dealer, gets 14.

The Charleston

Before anyone plays a tile, the table swaps unwanted tiles in a structured sequence called the Charleston. It's uniquely American, and it's where a lot of games are quietly won.

• First Charleston (required): pass three tiles to the right, then three across, then three to the left. (Say it with us: "ROL.")
• Second Charleston (optional): left, across, right. Any single player can stop it.
• Courtesy pass (optional): you and the player across from you swap zero to three tiles. If you disagree on how many, you go with the lower number.

Two more things to know. Jokers can never be passed. And on the first left and the last right, you can do a blind pass: send along tiles you just received without looking at them. (We wrote a whole piece on why that's genius. Find "Why Would Anyone Do a Blind Pass?" in The Clubhouse.)

Taking Your Turn

East starts by discarding. Play then moves to the right. On your turn you'll either:

1. Draw the next tile from the wall, or
2. Claim the tile that was just discarded, if it helps you (see below)

Then discard one tile face up and name it out loud ("Five Bam!"). Naming discards isn't just polite. It's the rule.

Claiming Discards and Making Exposures

You can claim the most recent discard to complete a pung (3 identical tiles), kong (4), quint (5), or sextet (6). You place that group face up on your rack, called an exposure, then discard.

What you can't do: claim a discard for a pair or single tile, unless that tile completes your hand for Mahjong. And if you're playing a hand marked C (concealed) on the card, you can only claim a discard to win.

Joker Rules

• Jokers can substitute for any tile in a pung, kong, quint, or sextet.
• Jokers can never be used in a pair or as a single tile.
• Joker exchange: on your turn, if any player (you included) has an exposure with a joker in it, and you hold the real tile it represents, you can swap your tile in and take the joker. You can make as many exchanges as you like on your turn.
• Jokers can never be passed during the Charleston.
• Once play begins, you can discard a joker. Just know that nobody can claim a discarded joker, not even for Mahjong.

Calling Mahjong

When your 14 tiles exactly match a hand on the card, whether you drew the last tile yourself or claimed a discard, call "Mahjong!" and expose your whole hand for the table to check.

Called it in error? If you haven't exposed your tiles yet, you can take it back. Once your hand is exposed and wrong, it's dead: you're out for the rest of that game. (And if another player has already thrown in her tiles because of your call, expect to pay a penalty. Check your card's rules page.)

Dead Hands

A hand is declared dead when it can't possibly be a legal winner. Common culprits: the wrong number of tiles, or an exposure that doesn't fit any hand on the card. A dead hand stops playing but still pays the winner.

Scoring

Each hand on the card lists its value. Most tables play for small change, and the payout works like this:

• Won on a discard: the player who threw the winning tile pays double; the other two pay the hand's value.
• Self-drawn: all three players pay double.
• Jokerless: a hand won with no jokers doubles, except Singles & Pairs hands, which never use jokers anyway.
• Wall game: if the wall runs out and nobody wins, nobody pays. Reshuffle and deal again.

The Most Common Beginner Mistakes

• Calling Mahjong before triple-checking the card. Read every tile. Then read them again.
• Calling a discard for a pair. Only for Mahjong!
• Exposing too early. Every exposure tells the table what you're building and locks you in.
• Falling in love with one hand. Stay flexible and pivot when the tiles tell you to.
• Forgetting to name your discard. Say it out loud, every time.

Practice Makes It Stick

Rules make sense on paper, but they become instinct at the table. Bird Bam lets you drill the Charleston, discards, and pivots against the current card, with Bammie coaching each decision, so you walk into your next game already confident.

Brand new? Start with our Complete Beginner's Guide to American Mahjong in The Clubhouse, then come back here for the details.

Practice with Bird Bam →