American mahjong looks complicated the first time you sit down, but most of the game comes down to a few habits: building the wall, dealing, passing tiles in the Charleston, and working toward one hand on the card. This guide walks through a first game night step by step.
What you need
- Four players. American mahjong is built for four. Three-player and two-player variations exist, but learn with four if you can.
- A full American set. American mahjong uses 152 tiles: three suits (Bams, Cracks and Dots), Winds, Dragons, Flowers and 8 Jokers. Chinese and Japanese sets don't include Jokers, so they won't work for this game. Our complete sets come with 160 tiles, four racks with pushers, dice, betting chips and a carrying case.
- Four racks. Racks hold your tiles and help push the wall forward.
- A current National Mah Jongg League card for each player. The card lists every winning hand for the year, and it changes every year. See our guide to the league card.
1. Build the wall
Turn all the tiles face down and mix them. Each player builds a wall of 19 tiles long and two tiles high in front of their rack, then the four walls are pushed together into a square.
2. Deal
East (the dealer) rolls the dice to decide where to break the wall. Players take tiles in groups of four, going around the table, until East has 14 tiles and everyone else has 13. East starts the game by discarding.
3. The Charleston
Before play begins, players pass unwanted tiles to each other. This is the Charleston, and it is the part that confuses most new players.
- First Charleston (required): pass three tiles to the right, three across, then three to the left.
- Second Charleston (optional): if every player agrees, pass three to the left, three across, then three to the right.
- Courtesy pass (optional): you may trade zero to three tiles with the player across from you.
- Jokers are never passed.
Use the Charleston to drop tiles that don't fit any hand you're considering and to collect tiles that do.
4. Choose a hand and play
Look at your tiles and find two or three hands on the card you could be working toward. Each turn, you pick a tile from the wall, then discard one face up and name it out loud. As your tiles come together, narrow down to one hand.
When another player discards a tile you need to finish a group of three or more, you can call it. You then place that group face up on your rack, which is called an exposure. Hands marked "C" on the card are concealed, which means you can only call a discard for the final tile that completes your hand.
5. Jokers
Jokers can stand in for any tile in a group of three or more. They can't be used in a pair or as a single tile. If someone has exposed a group containing a Joker and you hold the real tile it replaces, you can swap your tile for that Joker on your turn.
6. Mahjong!
The first player whose 14 tiles exactly match a hand on the card calls "Mahjong" and wins the round. Players check the hand against the card, settle up, and the deal passes to the right.
Tips for a first game night
- Play your first few games with cards and racks face up so everyone can help each other.
- Keep it to two or three target hands after the Charleston. Chasing too many is the most common beginner mistake.
- Give the table plenty of room. A mahjong mat keeps tiles quiet and keeps them from sliding.
For a printable walkthrough, see our Learn to Play page. When you're ready for your own set, browse our curated American mahjong sets. Every set is inspected by our team before it ships.