Strategy
How to Practise and Improve at Mahjong
Mahjong rewards deliberate practice: efficiency drills, reviewing your games, studying strong players and playing regularly with people slightly better than you.
The encyclopedia of mahjong
Every tile, every rule, decoded.
124 plain-English articles on the game's history, its 144 tiles, how to play, and the American, Hong Kong and Japanese rules side by side — plus 17 variants and clubs in 28 cities.
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Articles
Variants
Glossary terms
Clubs & teachers
One game, many tables
Start here · Mahjong Basics
What Is Mahjong? A Plain-English Introduction
Mahjong is a four-player game of skill, memory and a little luck, played with 136 to 152 engraved tiles. Players draw and discard until one of them completes a winning hand — usually four sets and a pair.
Read the introduction →Explore the encyclopedia
Latest articles
Famous Hands
Heavenly and Earthly Hands
A heavenly hand is a dealer's opening fourteen tiles already forming a win; an earthly hand is a non-dealer winning on their very first draw or the dealer's first discard. Both are pure luck — and limit hands.
Mahjong Goes Global
Mahjong in Jewish American Life
For generations of American Jewish women, the weekly mahjong game was a social anchor. The story of the National Mah Jongg League, card hands and "the girls" is a significant part of the game's history.
How to Play
Mahjong Table Etiquette
Good manners keep a mahjong table friendly and fair. From naming discards to not touching other players' tiles, here are the unwritten rules every new player should know.
Mahjong in Culture
Mahjong and Food: Snacks, Dim Sum and Table Rules
Long games need food. From Hong Kong mahjong dim sum to snacks that will not stain tiles, eating and mahjong have their own customs and practical rules.
Strategy
Common Beginner Mistakes in Mahjong
Most beginner errors fall into a few patterns: forgetting the pair, keeping isolated honours, calling too much, ignoring opponents, and miscounting tiles. Avoid these and you will improve quickly.
Famous Hands
Pure One Suit and Mixed One Suit
Flush hands — all tiles in one suit (pure) or one suit plus honours (mixed) — are among the most valuable common hands in every Chinese and Japanese style.
More Variants
Western Classical and British Rules
Western rule books from the 1920s onward created "classical" mahjong for English speakers, with doubles-based scoring. Variants such as British rules and the American Wright-Patterson rules preserve that tradition.
Japanese Riichi
Professional Mahjong in Japan and the M.League
Japan has professional mahjong organisations with entrance exams, title matches and televised games. Since 2018 the M.League has run a team competition with corporate sponsors and large online audiences.
American Mah Jongg
Defense in American Mah Jongg
You cannot win every game, but you can avoid paying double. Defensive American play means reading exposures, recognising hot tiles and knowing when to give up on your own hand.
Mahjong Goes Global
Mahjong in Southeast Asia
Chinese communities carried mahjong across Southeast Asia, where it developed local forms: Singaporean and Malaysian mahjong with animal tiles, Filipino sixteen-tile games and Vietnamese sets with many jokers.
How to Play
A Sample Hand, Turn by Turn
Follow a beginner-friendly Hong Kong-style hand from deal to win: which tiles to keep, when to call, and how the final tile completes the hand. Reading a worked example is the fastest way to learn.
The tiles
Open the tile guide →Learn to read every tile
Dots, bamboo and characters; winds and dragons; flowers, seasons and jokers — with Chinese names, readings and meanings.
17 ways to play
Hong Kong & Southern ChineseHong Kong / Cantonese
The most widely played Chinese style outside the mainland: four sets and a pair, chows from the left, faan scoring and a table limit.
- Players
- 4
- Tiles
- 144
- Hand
- 13 (14 to win)
- Scoring
- Faan, doubling to a limit
- Signature
- Fast play, faan minimum, flowers
Mainland RegionalSichuan (Bloody Battle)
Only the three suits are used, each player abandons one suit, and the hand continues until three players have won.
- Players
- 4
- Tiles
- 108
- Hand
- 13 (14 to win)
- Scoring
- Fan multipliers, play-on after wins
- Signature
- No honours, no chows, one suit voided
TaiwaneseTaiwanese 16-Tile
A bigger hand of sixteen tiles makes wins faster and scoring richer; very popular online and at New Year.
- Players
- 4
- Tiles
- 144
- Hand
- 16 (17 to win)
- Scoring
- Tai plus a base payment
- Signature
- Five sets and a pair
JapaneseJapanese Riichi
Japan's modern game, with a mandatory scoring pattern, a ready-hand declaration and deep defensive play. Professional leagues and huge online ladders.
- Players
- 4
- Tiles
- 136
- Hand
- 13 (14 to win)
- Scoring
- Han and fu
- Signature
- Yaku requirement, riichi, furiten, dora
Southeast AsianFilipino
A sixteen-tile family game with many local bonuses, central to Filipino holidays and gatherings.
- Players
- 4
- Tiles
- 144
- Hand
- 16 (17 to win)
- Scoring
- Local bonuses
- Signature
- Sixteen-tile hands, family house rules
American & WesternAmerican (NMJL)
Winning hands come only from the National Mah Jongg League's annual card; the Charleston and jokers make it unique.
- Players
- 4 (3 or 2 by special rules)
- Tiles
- 152
- Hand
- 13 (14 to win)
- Scoring
- Fixed values on the annual card
- Signature
- Annual card, Charleston, jokers