American Mahjong Rules for Beginners: NMJL Card, Jokers, Charleston

What Is American Mah Jongg?

American Mah Jongg is the most popular form of Mahjong in the United States. It evolved in the early 20th century as the game swept the country and was standardized by the National Mah Jongg League (NMJL), which still issues an annual card of official winning hands.

American Mah Jongg keeps the four-player draw-and-discard core of Chinese Mahjong, but changes three big things: it adds eight jokers, it requires you to match a hand printed on the yearly NMJL card, and it opens every round with a tile exchange called the Charleston.

Because the winning hands change every year, even experienced players buy a new card each spring. That is part of the appeal — the game never gets stale.

The 152-Tile Set

American Mah Jongg uses 152 tiles: the standard 144-tile Chinese set plus eight jokers.

The 144 base tiles are the same as in Chinese Mahjong — three numbered suits (bamboo, characters, and dots), four winds, three dragons, four flowers, and four seasons. The eight extra jokers are the defining feature of the American game; they are wild tiles that can stand in for other tiles in a hand.

If you are shopping for a set, make sure it says "American Mah Jongg" or confirms it includes the eight jokers. A 144-tile Chinese set will not work. Our best Mahjong sets for beginners guide explains the difference.

The NMJL Card

In Chinese Mahjong, a winning hand is usually "four melds plus a pair," and you can mix and match freely. American Mah Jongg is stricter: you must build one of the specific hands printed on the current NMJL card.

The card lists roughly 50 to 70 hands each year, grouped into categories by color and suit. Each line shows the exact combination you need — for example, a run of consecutive numbers, a kong of one suit, a pair, and so on. There is no improvisation; if your hand does not match a line on the card, it is not a winning hand.

The card is a physical (or digital) reference that most players keep on the table. It is also the one part of American Mah Jongg that is copyrighted, so players buy an official card rather than copying it.

Setup and Dealing

American Mah Jongg is played by four players around a square table. Each player builds a wall of 19 tiles wide and two tiles high (38 tiles total). The four walls form a square in the center.

Players roll two dice to choose the dealer, called East. The dealer breaks the wall, and tiles are dealt so each player holds 13 tiles. The East player starts with 14 and begins the first turn by discarding.

Most American players use a rack to keep their tiles hidden. You will also want the two dice, a wind indicator to track the round, and the current NMJL card.

The Charleston

Before any play begins, American Mah Jongg has a unique warm-up called the Charleston, a structured exchange of tiles designed to help everyone improve their starting hand.

In the first Charleston (mandatory), each player passes three tiles in this order:

1. Three tiles to the right
2. Three tiles across the table
3. Three tiles to the left

After the first Charleston, players may agree to a second Charleston (optional). There is also an optional courtesy pass where players may exchange up to three tiles with the player across.

One rule to remember: jokers can never be passed in the Charleston. If you are dealt a joker, it stays with you.

How Jokers Work

The eight jokers are wild, but with important limits:

• A joker may stand in for any tile, but only inside a set of three or more — a pung (three), a kong (four), or a quint (five).
• A joker cannot be used as part of a pair or as a single tile.
• A joker cannot be passed in the Charleston.
• A joker cannot be claimed from a discard pile.

If someone discards the real tile that one of your jokers is standing in for, you may sometimes redeem the joker by swapping in the actual tile. This lets you reuse the joker elsewhere in your hand.

Turns and Exposures

Play flows like other Mahjong variants. On your turn you draw a tile and discard one, announcing the tile's name out loud ("3 bam," "West," "Red Dragon").

When you complete a set, you expose it face up on your rack so the table can see what you are building. Exposures in American Mah Jongg include pungs (three of a kind), kongs (four of a kind), and quints (five of a kind — the fifth tile is always a joker).

The strategy is a balancing act: exposed sets bring you closer to a card hand, but they also tell opponents which hands you can no longer play.

Calling Mah Jongg

You win by completing a hand that matches a line on the NMJL card and calling "Mah Jongg." When you declare, you reveal your hand and show that it matches the card exactly.

Because hands are tied to the card, part of the skill is deciding early which category to pursue and watching what other players expose so you do not accidentally discard a tile they need.

The game then resets, and the next round begins with a fresh Charleston. Most groups play several rounds in a sitting, which is why American Mah Jongg has become such a social fixture in clubs and living rooms across the country.

American vs Chinese Mahjong

If you are coming from Chinese Mahjong, here is the quick translation:

The two games share the same bones — drawing, discarding, and building sets — so learning one makes the other much easier. If you want to start with the classic foundation, our How to Play Mahjong guide covers the shared rules. If you are weighing which variant to commit to, see Riichi vs American vs Chinese Mahjong.

Author

This guide was written by the MahjongSolitaireOnline.com team, Mahjong enthusiasts based in Beijing, China. Last updated 2026-08-17.