The American set is larger
A common Chinese set is 144 tiles when flowers are in, or 136 without them. American mahjong adds eight jokers, so you sit down to 152. Craks, bams, dots, winds, dragons, and flowers are still there. The extra tiles are the jokers.
Jokers appear only at the American table. They are not flowers, and they never travel in the Charleston. Sit down and name the eight jokers first: the tile marked Joker. Then match a line on the card.
Craks, bams, and dots are 36 each; winds 16; dragons 12; flowers 8; jokers 8. That is 152. Separate the jokers and flowers first, then name the three suits.
Before you change tables, ask whether this set has jokers and whether it has flowers. The tiles lesson teaches these 152.
The night starts with a Charleston
Before East draws, the table passes tiles in a fixed dance: three to the right, three across, three to the left. That is the Charleston. Jokers never leave your rack. Chinese mahjong has no equivalent opening pass.
The first round is required: right, across, left, three tiles each time. The second round runs left, across, right, and any one player may stop it before the tiles move. The courtesy exchange is zero to three tiles with the player across; the smaller offer is what moves. Jokers stay put through all three.
Jokers never travel in the Charleston.
The pass starts at East. The first round is right, across, left. The second round reverses. If someone stops the second round, the courtesy exchange usually still happens.
Chinese tables have no Charleston. If you start discarding at an American table before the pass is done, the hand has not begun. Practice the order in the Charleston lesson.
There is no chow
On a Chinese table you may take the left player's discard to finish a sequence. American mahjong does not do that. You call a discard only to complete identical tiles — a pung, a kong, a quint — or to declare a win. Sequences, when a line needs them, are built from your own draws.
If someone says chow, you are probably not at an American table. An American call exposes identical tiles: three for a pung, four for a kong, five when the card asks for a quint. After you call, that group sits on the rack face up. It is no longer concealed.
A call interrupts the player who was about to draw. After you call, that group is exposed and no longer concealed. If the card wanted that group concealed, calling it breaks the line.
Sequences sometimes appear on an American card, but they are built from your own draws. You cannot chow them from the left. If someone says chow, ask whether this table is American.
A win is a printed line
Chinese mahjong usually wins with four sets and a pair, plus whatever scoring the table uses. American mahjong wins with 14 tiles that match one line on the card the table agreed to play. The National Mah Jongg League card changes every year. This site is not the League, and our practice lines are teaching recipes, not that paid card.
The same American set, with a different card, makes a different list of legal wins. The National Mah Jongg League card is a new paid edition every year. The practice lines on this site are teaching recipes and do not match any year's official card. Ask which year's card, or which house sheet, before you pick up tiles.
An American win is 14 tiles. Taiwanese mahjong often deals 16 and wins on 17. Riichi is a 13-tile hand. If the count does not match, stop and ask.
This site is not the National Mah Jongg League. Practice lines are teaching recipes and do not match any year's official card. Buy the authorized card for the year before you play a real game.
Hard limits on the joker
A joker can finish identical tiles: a pung, a kong, or a quint. It cannot finish a pair, a single, or mixed tiles. Flowers are not jokers. The white dragon is not a joker.
Jokers never travel in the Charleston, a blind pass, or the courtesy exchange. See the joker lesson.
A joker cannot finish a pair.
Flower is not the same job on every table
On an American card, flowers are often a group in the line, and a joker may help. In MCR, flowers score and you draw a replacement. Riichi has no flowers.
The same word changes when you change tables. Ask how flowers work before you sit. See flower.
Five questions before you pick up tiles
- Is this American, or which Chinese table?
- Are there jokers? Are there flowers?
- Is the win a printed line, or four sets and a pair?
- Which year's card, or which house sheet?
- Is there a chow?
Learn the words first
Pung, kong, chow, pair, joker, Charleston, card, fan, yaku, void suit. The long versions live in the glossary.
Which invitation did you get?
If tonight is American, start with the tiles, then the Charleston. If it is another tradition, pick it from the top row: Japanese riichi, Hong Kong, Sichuan, Taiwanese, or MCR.
The family name is mahjong. The table is not the same game. When someone says Chinese mahjong they may mean Hong Kong, MCR, Sichuan, or a house table. Name the invitation, then reach for the tiles.
The words — joker, Charleston, pung, chow, card, fan — are spelled out in the glossary.