How to Play Mahjong: A Beginner's Guide

Mahjong looks complicated for the first ten minutes and obvious by the second hand. The trick is to learn the shape of a round before you learn the rules — the sequence of build, deal, Charleston, draw, discard, expose, and call.

1. Build the wall

Each player builds a row of 38 tiles, two stacks tall. Push the four rows together to form a square — the wall. The dealer (East) breaks the wall and deals fourteen tiles to herself and thirteen to each of the other three players.

2. Sort and study your hand

Stand your tiles on the rack. Group them by suit. Pull out your jokers. Then open your NMJL card and look for the hands you are closest to completing — usually one or two are within reach.

3. The Charleston

Pass three tiles to the right, three across, three to the left. Then optionally do the second Charleston in reverse — left, across, right. End with an optional courtesy pass with the player across (zero to three tiles, by mutual agreement). The Charleston exists to redistribute the worst tiles in your hand toward someone who can use them.

4. Draw and discard

East starts. Draw a tile from the wall, decide whether to keep it, then discard one tile face-up and call its name aloud. Play moves to the right.

5. Calling exposures

If a player discards a tile that completes a pung (three of a kind), kong (four), or quint (five) you need, call 'pung' or 'kong' before the next player draws. Show the set face-up on your rack. Jokers may substitute for natural tiles in pungs, kongs, and quints — never in pairs.

6. Winning

Complete a full hand from the card — usually fourteen tiles in the right groupings — and call 'mahjong' on your own draw or off another player's discard. Reveal the hand. Pay out per the card's scoring column.

7. Settle and reset

Pay the winner. Rotate the dealer counter-clockwise. Build the next wall. The first player to complete four hands as East ends the round.

8. Play four rounds

A full game is four rounds — East, South, West, North — once each player has been dealer. By the end of the second round, the rules will have disappeared into the rhythm of the table.