How to play mahjong

The aim, in one sitting

American mahjong is played by four people with a set of 152 tiles. The Air Mahjong House Card 2026 lists thirty house-card lines. Each line has a point value, from 25 to 50, and shows the groups you need: three of a kind, four of a kind, pairs, singles, and so on. Your hand may use jokers in the larger groups. It may not invent a combination the card does not print.

East holds fourteen tiles after the deal and throws the first one. From then on, a turn is a draw and a discard. You may also take someone else’s discard when it completes a group the card allows. The rules page is the precise version of those limits. This page is the order of events.

From the dice to Mah Jongg

1. Roll for East

   Everyone rolls two dice. The highest total deals, and that seat is East. If players tie for the lead, only they roll again.

2. Build four walls

   The tiles are stacked into four walls of nineteen stacks, two tiles high. At the usual pace the table builds those walls for you. Manual setup is there when you want to practice the stacking yourself.

3. Break the wall and deal

   East rolls again and counts that many stacks along East’s own wall. The deal starts just past the break. Each player takes four tiles, three times. East then takes two more, and each other player takes one. East has fourteen tiles. The other seats have thirteen.

4. Pass the first Charleston

   Nobody draws yet. Each player passes three tiles to the right, then three across, then three to the left, and receives three each time. Jokers stay in your rack. On the pass to the left you may send on tiles you just received without adding them to your hand. That is a blind pass.

5. Vote on a second Charleston

   The second round reverses direction: left, across, then right. If anyone declines, it is skipped. Blind passing is offered again on the last pass, the one to the right. If all four players blind-pass every tile on a pass where that is allowed, the Charleston ends and East discards.

6. Offer a courtesy pass

   You and the player opposite may each set aside up to three tiles. The smaller offer is how many actually swap, and you may offer none. Jokers still do not travel. Both pairs of opposite seats do this together.

7. Draw and discard

   East begins by discarding, already holding fourteen. Play continues to the right. On your turn you draw one tile from the wall and then discard one. There is no clock. The tile guide names what you are holding.

8. Call a discard only when the card agrees

   You may claim a discarded tile to finish a pung of three, a kong of four, a quint of five, or a sextet of six, and only when that group fits a line. You cannot claim a discard to build a numeric run. A call does not give you an extra tile to draw. Mah Jongg takes priority over any other claim.

9. Declare Mah Jongg

   When your fourteen tiles match a line, declare it, whether the last tile was your draw or someone else’s discard. The number printed on that line is the value. Who pays, and when a hand with no jokers doubles, is on the scoring page. If the wall empties before anyone wins, the hand stops and nobody pays.

What the card is asking for

Open Card at the table and the line is written out in groups. Garden steps, worth 25, is a flower pair plus four consecutive pungs in one suit. Blooming trio, also 25, is the same number in all three suits, a dragon pung, and a flower pair. Four winds garden, worth 30, is a pung of each wind and a flower pair. Quiet path, worth 50, is seven consecutive pairs in one suit, and it is concealed: you may not call a group before the tile that wins.

Those are four of the thirty lines, composed for this game. They are not the hands on an annual league card. Follow this hand keeps the line you chose beside the rack, which matters once the Charleston has rearranged everything you were counting on.

Other games in the same lobby

The lobby can also open Hong Kong mahjong or riichi. Both are thirteen-tile games scored for patterns in the hand, without this card and without a Charleston. Hong Kong needs three fan and sets flowers aside. Riichi needs a yaku, and a riichi declaration locks a closed hand. Choose American if you want the game these guides describe. The short guide inside a Hong Kong or riichi table covers that table’s own rules.

A practice match against the computer is the least stressful way to see the sequence once. Play mahjong online free explains how to open one. For what to pass and when to call, the strategy notes pick up after this walkthrough.

More guides

• Learn mahjongThe map of these guides, and which game they describe.
• Mahjong rulesLegal calls, the Charleston, concealed lines, and the wall game.
• Mahjong tiles explainedCraks, bams, dots, winds, dragons, flowers, and jokers.
• Mahjong scoringThe printed value, discard and self-pick payments, and the jokerless double.
• Mahjong strategy tipsChoosing a line, passing with a purpose, and when to leave a discard.
• Play mahjong online freeOpen a free table in the browser with friends or with the computer.

One decision at a time

Get comfortable with the tricky parts.

• The mahjong Charleston, one pass at a timeLearn the Charleston passing order with an actual Air Mahjong rack, a keep-or-pass explanation, blind-pass rules and a worked example of why 14 tiles may not win.
• American mahjong joker rulesSee exactly how a joker exchange can complete Crosswind, where jokers are legal, why a natural pair still matters, and which tempting swaps are not allowed.
• How to read a mahjong cardRead a real American mahjong rack against Crosswind, identify missing and unused tiles, and check group sizes, suit relationships, joker limits and concealment.
• When can you call a mahjong discard?Follow a real Air Mahjong hand from a legal pung call through the next discard to a winning pair. Learn the decision order and the claims that fail.