Mahjong Rules

Quick Facts

Objective

Be the first to complete a winning hand of four sets and a pair by drawing and discarding tiles.

The best way to teach Mahjong is to start with that objective, then explain what players are allowed to do on a turn. New players do not need every rare penalty before the first card is dealt. They need the goal, the setup, the turn shape, and one scoring example. The edge cases below are there for the second pass, once everyone understands the basic flow.

In Mahjong, the best decisions come from connecting the legal move to the scoring goal. Read the table first, then choose the move that moves you closest to the objective.

Setup

Shuffle all 144 tiles face down, build them into a walled square two tiles high, deal 13 tiles to each player, and give the dealer a 14th tile to start the hand.

Before play begins, agree on the house rules that affect scoring or legal moves. For example, some shedding games vary on how many cards you draw, and solitaire variants often vary on redeals or rank wrapping. State the version up front so that every later decision is judged against the same rule set.

A clean setup also makes the rules easier to audit. Count the players, confirm the deck or layout, and make sure the first player is known before anyone makes a strategic choice. If you are using this page to settle a dispute, reset to the setup step and confirm that the table is playing the same version described here.

Turn Order

Draw one tile from the wall and discard one face up, or claim the latest discard to complete a chow, pung, kong, or a winning hand.

Example turn

In a teaching round of Mahjong, pause after the first legal move and ask why that move was legal. That habit reveals the core rule faster than reading a paragraph twice. If the game uses suit-following, point to the led suit. If it uses matching, point to the rank or suit match. If it uses tableau movement, point to the rank direction and any color or suit limit.

A helpful table habit is to separate "whose turn is it?" from "what can that player do?" The first question is answered by the turn order. The second question is answered by the legal-move rule. Keeping those questions separate prevents most arguments in Mahjong, especially after a draw, trick, discard, redeal, or completed scoring action changes the table state.

Scoring

The first player to hold four sets plus a pair declares mahjong and wins the hand; point values differ by style, so agree on a scoring chart before the first deal.

Scoring is where many card game rules become fuzzy, so separate the score from the legal move. First decide whether the move was legal. Then count only the points created by that move, trick, hand, or completed layout. This keeps Mahjong fair even when players disagree about strategy.

When teaching, count one example in public even if the math is simple. Say which cards, tricks, books, runs, or layout events created the score. That turns scoring from a number announced at the end into a rule players can use while deciding what to do next.

The Tiles

A full set has 144 tiles. Three suits run from one to nine with four copies of each tile: dots (circles), bamboo (sticks), and characters (cracks), for 108 suit tiles. The honors add four copies each of the four winds, east, south, west, and north, and the three dragons, red, green, and white.

The last eight tiles are bonuses: four flowers and four seasons. They never form sets. When you draw one, set it aside face up and draw a replacement tile; in most scoring styles each bonus tile adds a small premium to a winning hand.

Chow, Pung, and Kong

A winning hand is built from sets. A chow is a run of three consecutive tiles in one suit. A pung is three identical tiles. A kong is four identical tiles, and because it uses an extra tile, declaring one means drawing a replacement from the back of the wall. The pair that completes a hand, two identical tiles, is often called the eyes.

Claims are what make mahjong interactive. A discarded tile can be claimed to complete a set: a chow only from the player to your left, a pung or kong from anyone. A claim to win beats a pung or kong claim, which beats a chow. Claimed sets are melded face up and stay fixed for the rest of the hand.

American, Hong Kong, and Riichi Styles

The flow above describes the Hong Kong style, the most common starting point and the version closest to what our play site teaches. Hands score by pattern difficulty, and the game moves quickly because almost any four sets and a pair can win.

American mahjong, played under National Mah Jongg League rules, is a different experience: hands must match the patterns on the annual NMJL card, the set includes jokers, and play opens with the Charleston, a structured round of passing three tiles. Japanese riichi mahjong removes the bonus tiles, adds the riichi bet declared on a ready hand, and scores with dora bonuses. Learn one style well before mixing tables.

Mahjong vs Mahjong Solitaire

The four-player game on this page is not the tile-matching puzzle that ships with most computers. Mahjong solitaire borrows the same 144 tiles but is a single-player game about removing matching pairs from a layered layout.

If that is the game you were looking for, the full Mahjong Solitaire rules are linked in the related pages below.

Edge Cases

• A chow can only be claimed from the discard of the player to your left, while pung, kong, and winning claims can come from any seat.
• Declaring a kong means drawing a replacement tile from the back of the wall, since a kong uses four tiles where a set normally uses three.
• Flower and season tiles never join sets; set them aside face up and draw a replacement immediately.
• If the wall runs out before anyone completes a hand, the deal is a draw and is usually replayed with the same dealer.
• A finished hand counts 14 tiles including the final draw or claim: four sets of three plus the pair, with special hands allowed in many styles.

Edge cases are easiest to handle when the table agrees on them before they matter. If your group uses a different family rule, write it down for the session and apply it consistently. The version here is designed to match the linked online game and to be clear enough for a new player to follow without memorizing several variants at once.

Teaching Notes

When teaching Mahjong, keep the first explanation practical. Say who plays, what the board or hand looks like, what counts as a legal move, and how someone wins. Then play one sample turn slowly. Most confusion comes from mixing legal-play questions with scoring questions, so answer those separately.

For a tile rummy game, the first strategic lesson should match the objective: be the first to complete a winning hand of four sets and a pair by drawing and discarding tiles. New players improve faster when they can connect every rule back to that goal. If a rule does not change the next decision, save it until after the first round.

Common Mistakes

The most common mistake is playing from memory of a related game. Similar games often differ on one small rule: whether a suit must be followed, whether aces are high or low, whether a stock can be redealt, or whether extra tricks help or hurt. Read the setup and turn order for Mahjong before assuming a rule carries over.

The second mistake is ignoring scoring until the end. Scoring changes incentives. InMahjong, remember this scoring rule while you play: The first player to hold four sets plus a pair declares mahjong and wins the hand; point values differ by style, so agree on a scoring chart before the first deal. A move that is legal can still be strategically poor if it gives away the scoring goal.

Do not import a rule from a similar card game without checking it here. Small changes in scoring, turn order, or card rank can change the correct play.

Practice Example

To practice Mahjong, take the first meaningful decision of a round and explain it in three parts: the current table state, the legal options, and the scoring consequence. For this ruleset, the turn rule says: Draw one tile from the wall and discard one face up, or claim the latest discard to complete a chow, pung, kong, or a winning hand. The scoring rule says: The first player to hold four sets plus a pair declares mahjong and wins the hand; point values differ by style, so agree on a scoring chart before the first deal. A good example should connect those two sentences so players understand not only what they may do, but why one legal option is better than another.

For a first practice round, keep the pace slow and resolve each edge case immediately. After one complete round, the repeated turn structure usually becomes natural.

House Rules to Confirm

Card games travel through families, apps, and regional tables, so the name Mahjong can hide small differences. Confirm player count, card rank, draw or deal behavior, scoring target, and tie handling before the first competitive round. If someone learned a different version, compare it to the setup and edge cases on this page instead of mixing rules mid-hand.

For online play, the linked site uses one consistent ruleset. That makes it useful as a reference when teaching because the game enforces legal moves and score timing automatically. For tabletop play, use the same sequence every time: setup, legal turn, scoring, edge case.

Related Game Context

If Mahjong feels close to another card game, compare the objective first. Related games may share a deck, a trick structure, or a matching mechanic while rewarding a completely different decision. The related rules below are useful when players ask whether a rule from one game carries over to another.

Online Play

The dedicated play site for this rule set is playmahjonggame.com. Use the rules page here as the reference, then open the play link when you want to practice decisions without shuffling, dealing, or scoring by hand.

FAQ