A Beginner's Guide · Updated for 2026
2026 NMJL card · Last updated May 2, 2026
A complete beginner's guide to American mahjong — the tiles, the Charleston, the 2026 NMJL card, jokers, and your first game. Free, in your browser.
Mahjong was born in 19th-century China, near the Yangtze delta. Its tiles encode centuries of symbolism: three suits (bamboo, dots, characters), four winds, three dragons (red, green, white), and flower and season tiles. Before the Western adaptations, it was — and still is — a Chinese game. We start here, always.
American mahjong is a four-player tile game adapted from the Chinese original in the 1920s. The National Mah Jongg League publishes a new official card each spring listing every legal winning hand for the year. The game is part skill, part luck, and entirely social. Most rounds last 30 to 45 minutes.
Practice the basics →A complete mahjong set (152 playable tiles, usually shipped as 166 with spares), four racks with pushers, the current year's NMJL card, four players, and ideally a felted mat to soften the shuffle. Tea and snacks improve the odds, statistically.
There are 108 suit tiles — bamboo (bams), dots, and characters (craks) — numbered one through nine, four copies each. Add 16 winds (north, east, south, west), 12 dragons (red, green, white), 8 flowers, and 8 jokers. Each dragon pairs with a suit: red with craks, green with bams, white with dots.
Drill the tiles →A pair is two of the same tile. A pung is three. A kong is four. A quint is five. A chow (three consecutive in one suit) exists in Chinese play but is not used in American mahjong. Jokers may stand in for pungs, kongs, and quints, but never for pairs, singles, NEWS, or year hands.
Joker rules in depth →Before play begins, every hand starts with the Charleston: pass three tiles right, then across, then left. A second Charleston in the reverse order is optional and requires table agreement. After that, an optional 0-to-3-tile courtesy pass with the player across. The Charleston is how good hands take shape.
The Charleston, explained →Every winning hand must come from the year's NMJL card. The 2026 card is divided into sections — 2026 (the year), 2468, Quints, Consecutive Run, 13579, Winds and Dragons, 369, Singles and Pairs. Pick a target early, but stay flexible: the tiles you draw and the tiles your neighbors discard will steer you.
Walk the card →Invite three friends who don't mind a slow first round. Print the current card. Set the table the night before. Brew oolong. Plan snacks that don't need a fork — dumplings, pineapple cake, melon. Don't worry about playing perfectly. The best mahjong nights are eighty percent conversation.
Try a coached round →Glossary
The vocabulary of American mahjong — pungs, kongs, jokers, the Charleston, and everything in between.
aka pong
Three identical tiles, e.g. three 5-dot tiles. A foundational set in most NMJL hands.
Four identical tiles. In American mahjong a kong counts as one set; jokers are allowed in an exposed kong.
aka sequence, run
Like 4-5-6 of bamboo. Note: chows are NOT used in American (NMJL) mahjong — only in Chinese variants. The NMJL card uses pungs, kongs, pairs, singles and quints.
Five identical tiles, only possible by using jokers. Required by a handful of NMJL hands each year.
Two of the same tile. Most NMJL hands need exactly one pair — and jokers may NEVER be used in a pair.
Exactly one tile, no joker substitution allowed. Singles-and-pairs hands on the NMJL card use these.
Substitutes for any tile in a pung, kong, or quint — but never in a pair, single, or in groupings such as NEWS or 2026. Eight jokers per American set.
Decorative tiles. In American mahjong, flowers are played as a group within hands that call for them — they are not set aside as in Chinese variants.
aka expose, claim
When a discarded tile completes a pung, kong, or quint in your hand, call it before the next player draws. Your set is then exposed face-up on your rack.
When you need just one more tile to complete your hand, you're 'calling.' You may declare it aloud before discarding.
After drawing, you place one tile face-up in the center and announce it. Other players may call it for a set (not a pair).
Call this when your hand exactly matches a hand on the NMJL card. Stop play immediately and expose your full hand.
The remaining undrawn tiles. When the wall runs out, the hand is a wall game — no winner.
Before play: pass 3 tiles right, across, then left. Then the across player can opt for a second Charleston (left, across, right). Finishes with an optional courtesy pass of 1–3 tiles. American only.
After the Charleston, you and the player across may pass 0, 1, 2, or 3 tiles face-down to one another. Each player chooses their own number — agreement is not required.
During the second Charleston you may pass up to 3 tiles you've just received without looking — useful when you don't want to give up tiles you've drawn.
Numbered 1–9. Often green; the 1-bam is traditionally a bird.
Numbered 1–9. The character is 萬 (wàn, ten thousand). Usually red.
Numbered 1–9, shown as circles. Usually blue.
East, South, West, North — 4 of each. They cannot form chows and don't have numeric value.
Red 中, Green 發, White 白 (the blank, sometimes called 'soap'). On the NMJL card each dragon pairs with a specific suit: Red with Craks, Green with Bams, White with Dots.
Published yearly by the National Mah Jongg League. Lists every legal winning hand for the year — you must match one exactly to call mahjong.
A concealed hand must be built from tiles you draw yourself — you may not call discards during play. The one exception: you may call the final winning tile from a discard to complete the hand. Some NMJL hands are required to be concealed and are worth more.
Once you call a tile, that set sits face-up. Opponents can read what you're building.
Frequently Asked