How to play mahjong
Mahjong is a four-player game from China, played with tiles instead of cards. Like rummy, you draw and discard to build sets, and the first player to complete a full hand calls “mahjong” and wins. This guide covers the common Chinese and Hong Kong style; American mahjong works differently in a few big ways.
What is mahjong?
Mahjong (also written mah-jongg or mah jong) is a tile game that took its modern form in China in the 1800s and spread to the US in the 1920s. Four players build sets from 144 tiles, and the first to complete a winning hand wins. Regional styles share the tiles but differ in scoring: Chinese and Hong Kong mahjong, Japanese riichi, and American mahjong with its yearly card. Mahjong solitaire, the computer game, borrows only the tiles.
What you need
- A set of 144 mahjong tiles: three suits, winds, dragons, and flowers.
- Four players, each seated at a wind: East, South, West and North. East is the dealer.
- Dice to decide where the wall is broken, and something to keep score.
Setting up
- Shuffle the tiles face down and build a wall: each player stacks a row two tiles high.
- Roll the dice to choose where to break the wall, then deal from that point.
- Each player takes 13 tiles; East takes 14. Flowers are set aside face up and replaced from the wall.
Taking a turn
- East starts by discarding one tile face up in the middle.
- Play then moves counterclockwise. On your turn, draw a tile from the wall, then discard one.
- You can also take the last discarded tile to complete a set, which you then lay face up.
The sets
| Set | What it is | Calling a discard |
|---|---|---|
| Pung | Three identical tiles | From any player |
| Kong | Four identical tiles; draw an extra tile after making one | From any player |
| Chow | Three in a row in one suit, like 4-5-6 of bamboo | Only from the player on your left |
| Pair | Two identical tiles, the “eyes” of the hand | Only to win |
If two players want the same discard, a call to win beats a pung or kong, and a pung or kong beats a chow.
Winning in Hong Kong mahjong
A standard winning hand is four sets and a pair: fourteen tiles. Complete it with a tile you draw or with someone’s discard, call “mahjong”, and show your hand. Scoring varies a lot between regions and house rules; Hong Kong rules, for example, count fan for things like an all-pung hand or a hand in one suit.
Learn mahjong online
Play a few hands of Hong Kong mahjong against the computer: the game shows you when you can pung, kong, chow or win, and explains the score of every winning hand.
The fastest way to learn the tiles is to play with them. Mahjong solitaire uses the same set: match identical pairs until the board is clear.
Questions
How many people play mahjong?
Four is standard. Many groups also play with three, and some variants allow two.
How many tiles does each player get?
Thirteen. The dealer (East) starts with fourteen and discards first. A winning hand has fourteen tiles.
What is a winning hand in mahjong?
In most Chinese styles, four sets plus a pair: each set is a pung (three alike), a kong (four alike) or a chow (a run of three in one suit). American mahjong instead uses the hands printed on that year’s card.
What is mahjong?
A four-player tile game from China, played somewhat like rummy: you draw and discard tiles to build sets, and the first player with a complete hand wins.
Is mahjong hard to learn?
The basics take one game: draw, discard, and build sets. Scoring and the special hands take longer, which is why most people learn from friends or a club.
