— AMERICAN MAH JONGG —
Table talk
Pung, kong, quint. Soap, flower, joker. Blind, courtesy, dead. Every word at the table, with the tiles next to it.
PLAY A HAND FREE THE CHARLESTON ALSO ON THE APP STORE ›A TO Y
The American Mah Jongg glossary
Forty-odd words, in the order you'd look them up. The passing words — the Charleston, the blind pass, the courtesy — have a whole page of their own, with a rack to practice on.
1
5
9
BamOne of the three suits — the bamboos, numbered one to nine, four of each. The 1 Bam is traditionally a bird.SUITBBlind passOn the first left and the last right you may pass fewer than three of your own tiles and send some of the incoming ones on without looking at them. You still pass three. How a blind pass works.CHARLESTON
CCallingClaiming the tile someone just discarded to complete a pung, kong, quint, or your mah jongg. You say the word, take the tile, and expose the group on your rack.PLAY
CThe cardThe yearly list of winning hands published by the National Mah Jongg League. Every hand you can win with is on it, and it changes each spring. Ooh La Mahj plays this year’s card and its own house card.CARD
CCharlestonThe round of passing before play begins: everyone passes three tiles at once, right, across, left, then (if all agree) left, across, right, then a courtesy pass. Explained, with a rack to practice on.CHARLESTON
CConcealedA hand marked concealed on the card may not be built with exposures. Every tile comes from your own draws, and you can only call for the mah jongg tile itself.CARD
CCourtesy passAfter the Charleston, you and the player across may trade up to three tiles. Each says how many; the smaller number is traded. Zero is allowed. The courtesy, explained.CHARLESTON
1萬
5萬
9萬
CrakOne of the three suits — the characters, numbered one to nine, four of each. The number is written in red with the character 萬 beneath it.SUITDDead handA hand that can no longer win — because an exposure fits no hand on the card, because the tiles it still needs are all gone, or because a rule was broken. A dead hand keeps drawing and discarding but cannot call mah jongg.PLAY
DDealEveryone takes thirteen tiles from the wall; East takes fourteen and discards first. In the app the deal is done for you.PLAY
DDiscardThe tile you throw at the end of your turn, face up, named aloud. Anyone may call it before the next player draws.PLAY
1
5
9
DotOne of the three suits — the circles, numbered one to nine, four of each.SUIT中RED
發GREEN
SOAP
DragonsThree tiles, four of each: Red, Green and White. The white dragon is called Soap. Each dragon pairs with a suit on the card — Red with Craks, Green with Bams, Soap with Dots.HONORSEEastThe dealer’s seat. East takes fourteen tiles and makes the first discard. The seat rotates after each hand.PLAY
EExposureA pung, kong or quint you have called and placed face up on top of your rack. Once exposed it cannot change, and everyone can see what you are building.PLAY
FLOWER
FLOWER
FlowerEight flower tiles in the set, all interchangeable. Many hands on the card use them; they are never junk by default.HONORSHHot tileA discard that is dangerous because another player is plainly collecting it. Experienced players hold hot tiles late in the hand rather than hand someone their mah jongg.STRATEGY
JJOKER
JokerEight in the set. A joker stands in for any tile in a pung, kong, quint or sextet — never in a pair, never as a single. Jokers cannot be passed in the Charleston.HONORSJJoker exchangeIf someone has exposed a group with a joker in it and you hold the real tile, on your turn you may swap your tile for their joker. The joker is now yours to use.PLAY
4
4
4
4
KongFour identical tiles. A joker may stand in for any of them.GROUPSLLineOne hand on the card — a row of groups that together make fourteen tiles. Players say “line” and “hand” interchangeably.CARD
MMah jonggThe winning call: fourteen tiles that exactly match a line on the card. You can complete it by drawing the last tile or by calling a discard.PLAY
NWIND
EWIND
WWIND
SWIND
NEWSThe four winds — North, East, West, South — as a group of four singles, written NEWS on the card.CARD7萬
7萬
PairTwo identical tiles. A pair must be two real tiles; a joker can never be half of one.GROUPS6
6
6
PungThree identical tiles. The smallest group you can call for.GROUPS2萬
2萬
2萬
2萬
JJOKER
QuintFive identical tiles — only possible with at least one joker, since the set holds four of anything.GROUPSRRackThe tray your tiles stand in, and the verb for placing a called tile on top of it. “Racked” means claimed and exposed.PLAY
SSextetSix identical tiles — two or more of them jokers. Rare, and only where the card asks for it.GROUPS
SOAP
SoapThe white dragon. On the card it doubles as a zero, which is how a hand can spell a year. The app draws it as an empty frame.HONORSSStopping the CharlestonAfter the first three passes any one player may end the Charleston for the whole table. The second Charleston happens only if all four want it.CHARLESTON
SSuitCraks, Bams and Dots — three suits of nine numbers, four of each tile, 108 tiles in all.SUIT
SThe set152 tiles: 108 suit tiles, 16 winds, 12 dragons, 8 flowers, 8 jokers.TILES
WWallThe tiles left after the deal, face down, that everyone draws from. When the wall runs out with no winner the hand is a wall game.PLAY
WWall gameA hand nobody wins — the wall runs out first. No points change hands; the deal moves on.PLAY
NWIND
EWIND
WWIND
SWIND
WindsNorth, East, West and South, four of each. They appear on the card as pungs and kongs of one wind, and as NEWS.HONORSYYear handsThe lines that spell the current year in tiles — 2026 uses 2s, Soaps as zeros and 6s. They change every year with the card.CARD
Hear them at a table
Six short lessons, with someone at your elbow naming things as they happen. Free, in your browser, no fourth needed.
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