American Mahjong is played several genuinely different ways around the world. Learning three rule systems at once, from three different sources, is the fastest way to get confused at an American table.
“This book teaches American-style Mahjong rules only. No Chinese, Riichi, or regional-diaspora rules are mixed in.”
Every diagram in the book uses one tile set and one notation system (taught in Chapter 3), so a hand written on page 40 reads the same way on page 200.
A complete American Mahjong set holds 152 tiles:
| Family | What's in it | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Dots, Bams, Craks | 1–9, four copies each, three suits | 108 |
| Dragons | Red, Green, White — four copies each | 12 |
| Winds | East, South, West, North — four copies each | 16 |
| Flowers | eight, each one different | 8 |
| Jokers | eight, all identical | 8 |
| Total | 152 |
A complete hand is four groups and a Pair — fourteen tiles.
Every number tile belongs to one of three suits, and each suit runs 1 through 9, four copies of every number.
| Suit | Where the name comes from |
|---|---|
| Dots | Nickname for the round pips printed on the tile. Some tables call it Circles — this reference uses Dots. |
| Bams | Short for Bamboo. Shows a row of narrow vertical shapes, except the 1-bam, which usually shows a bird instead. |
| Craks | Short for Character. Shows a printed numeral, with a matching Chinese numeral symbol below it. |
Honor tiles don't belong to a number suit: three Dragons (Red, Green, White — the White Dragon is usually left blank or shows a plain border, sometimes nicknamed Soap) and four Winds (East, South, West, North), four copies each. Two more families round out the 152-tile set: Flowers (eight tiles, each one unique — picking one up earns a replacement draw) and Jokers (eight tiles, wild, standing in for other tiles inside a hand).
The Charleston is the tile-passing sequence that runs after the deal and before the first turn, always the same order:
| Phase | Order | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| First Charleston | Right, Across, Left | All three mandatory |
| Second Charleston | Left, Across, Right (reversed) | Only Left is mandatory; the table votes on Across and Right |
| Courtesy pass | runs after the Second Charleston finishes | Optional — two players agree to trade an equal number of tiles, up to three each |
| Blind pass | runs last | Optional — tiles pass face down, unseen by the passer |
One tile never leaves your hand in any of these passes: the Joker. It is never passed during the First Charleston, the Second Charleston, or the Courtesy pass.
Once the Charleston ends, play moves in a cycle: draw a tile from the Wall, then discard one, dropping back to thirteen. A Pung or Kong can be called by any player; a Run can only be called by the player whose turn comes next.
A hand is won one of two ways, and the way you won it decides who pays:
Self-draw win — you complete your hand with a tile you drew yourself from the Wall. Every other player pays double the hand's base point value.
Discard win — you complete your hand by calling a tile another player discarded. That player pays double the base amount; the other two players each pay the base amount once — not zero.
“If a question comes up while you're at the table, or you just want to tell me how your first real game went, write to me directly — I read every message myself.” — Allen S.C. Choi
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