Learn the Language

Take this phase in pieces — it's the heaviest one. Start with the seven tile families:

Dragon–suit pairings: Red Dragon goes with Craks, Green Dragon with Bams, White Dragon with Dots. A “matching” dragon is the paired one; an “opposite” dragon is any other.

The White Dragon has a nickname — Soap — and a second job: it serves as zero in year hands (like 2026), where it's suitless so the year can be built in any suit. It is not a zero in Consecutive Run hands.

Every hand on the card is built from these groups:

Rule of thumb: jokers go only in groups of 3 or more identical tiles.

A group called from a discard and placed face up on the rack is an exposure.

American hands use groups of identical tiles — there are no sequence groups (chows) as in other variants. Numerical runs appear only as patterns across groups on the card.

The 2026 card has nine sections: 2026 (the year), 2468, Any Like Numbers, Quints, Consecutive Run, 13579, Winds-Dragons, 369, and Singles & Pairs. The structure stays broadly familiar year to year, but the specific hands change. Players refer to hands by section and line number — “2468, line 3.”

Colors: a line uses up to three colors. Same color means same suit; different colors mean different suits. Colors do not represent specific suits — you choose the suits based on your tiles. Flowers, winds, and Soap-as-zero are neutral regardless of print color.

X and C: X means exposed — you may call discards and build exposures. C means concealed — no exposures; only the final winning tile may be called. Playing an X hand without exposures earns no bonus.

Values: each line shows a point value, typically 25 to about 75; harder hands pay more. Singles & Pairs and Quints tend to be the highest-value sections — on the 2026 card the top value is 75.

Key phrases: “any like numbers” means the same number across groups, and you pick the number. “Any 3 suits” and “any consecutive numbers” define your freedom. Parenthetical notes contain essential conditions — always read them.

Tiles pass face down, 3 at a time, all players simultaneously. The first Charleston (required) goes right → across → left. The second Charleston (optional) reverses it: left → across → right. Any one player may stop the passing after the first Charleston is complete.

Memory aid for the full sequence: R-O-L-L-O-R — Right, Over, Left, Left, Over, Right.

The courtesy pass (optional, last): players across from each other may exchange 0–3 tiles; the player wanting fewer sets the number.

The blind pass: allowed only on the first left (last pass of the first Charleston) and the last right (last pass of the second). You pass 1–3 just-received tiles unseen, plus enough of your own to total 3.

Never pass a joker. A wrong tile count during the Charleston means throw in and redeal. And a rare curiosity: East declaring Mahjong before the Charleston is called a Heavenly Hand.

• Highest dice roll becomes East.
• Tiles are mixed face down; each player builds a wall 19 tiles long, 2 high.
• East rolls two dice, counts that many stacks from the right end of East's wall, and breaks the wall there.
• Starting with East and going counterclockwise, each player takes 4 tiles (2 stacks) at a time until all have 12. East then takes 2 more for 14; each other player takes 1 more for 13.
• Tiles are picked to the right; walls are pushed forward as play continues.

East begins by discarding. Play proceeds counterclockwise: pick, then discard. Every discard is named aloud. A discard is “down” when it touches the table or is named, whichever comes first — and down is dead; it can't be retrieved.

The window to call runs from when a discard is down until the next player racks their picked tile, discards, declares Mahjong, or announces a joker exchange. Tapping a tile on the rack isn't racking. If the next player has picked but not racked and someone calls, the picked tile goes back to the wall.

Only the most recent discard can be called. You can call for a pung, kong, quint, or sextet (then exposed), or for Mahjong — never for a single, pair, NEWS, or year group unless it completes the hand. In concealed hands, only the Mahjong tile may be called.

Say “call,” “wait,” or “pause” to hold play while you decide. Placing tiles on the rack commits you to the exposure. Conflicting claims: Mahjong beats an exposure; between two claims of the same type, the player next in turn wins.

Tile count check: 13 on the rack between turns, 14 on your turn before discarding. A wrong count can make your hand dead.

Jokers are allowed in any pung, kong, quint, or sextet — including groups made entirely of jokers. Never in a single, a pair, NEWS, a year group, or any Singles & Pairs hand.

A discarded joker is dead: no one may call it, even for Mahjong. When discarding a joker, you may say “joker,” “same,” or name the previous discard — saying “same” does not revive the previous tile.

Joker exchange: on your turn, after picking or calling, you may exchange the matching natural tile for a joker in any exposure, including your own — even while playing a concealed hand. Multiple exchanges per turn are allowed, and the exposure's owner must accept. Exchanging before picking makes your hand dead. If an exchange yields the joker that completes your hand, it counts as self-picked Mahjong. Etiquette: hand the natural tile to the owner and let them make the swap.

Common causes: a wrong tile count; an exposure that's illegal, fits no hand on the card, or exposes a concealed hand; an invalid joker exchange; picking out of turn; picking from the wrong wall or wrong end; declaring Mahjong in error and exposing the hand; or a table that shows the hand can no longer be completed.

Only an opponent can declare a hand dead — you can't declare your own. A hand unwinnable only because of tiles on your own rack is not dead; deadness is judged from what's visible on the table. Be certain before calling a dead hand — an erroneous claim carries a penalty (check the current rulebook for the amount).

A dead player stops picking and discarding, remains at the table, and still pays the winner. Jokers in exposures made before the hand went dead remain available for exchange; jokers in the exposure that caused it do not.

If the wall is exhausted with no winner, no one pays, the tiles are remixed, and the dealer role passes. Wall games happen to everyone.

Worked example for a 25-point hand: won on a discard, the discarder pays 50 and the others pay 25 each. Self-picked, each pays 50. Jokerless and self-picked, each pays 100.

Singles & Pairs hands never receive the jokerless bonus (they never use jokers) but do receive the self-pick bonus. A bettor — a fifth player sitting out — bets on one player; if that player wins, the payout doubles and is shared with the bettor.

Ask any new group about house rules before the first game.

• Mah Jongg Made Easy, the NMJL's official rulebook (Revised 2024, $15.95 from the League).
• The back of the current card.
• The annual NMJL bulletin, mailed to members who buy cards directly.
• The NMJL phone line printed on the card.
• Tom Sloper's Sloperama FAQ 19 — the most comprehensive free, unofficial index of NMJL rulings (Sloper is unaffiliated with the League).