An Introduction

What is mahjong, really?

A primer on the game — its tiles, its rhythm, its quiet pleasures, and why it has gathered four people around a table for more than 150 years.

Mahjong is a tile-based game for four players that originated in 19th century China and has since become one of the most beloved games in the world. It is part luck, part strategy, part pattern recognition, and entirely social.

At first glance the tiles look intimidating — 144 of them in most modern sets, divided across suits and honors and seasons. But the game itself is built on a simple, almost meditative rhythm. Pick up. Look. Discard. Repeat. The complexity emerges from what you choose to keep and what you choose to let go of.

The version most commonly played in the United States is American Mahjong, which uses a standardized scoring card published every year by the National Mah Jongg League. That is the version we teach. Once you know the basics, picking up other styles — Hong Kong, Riichi, Filipino — becomes much easier.

The Tiles

Three suits.
A handful of special tiles.

Every mahjong tile falls into one of a few categories. Once you can read them at a glance, the rest of the game opens up.

Dots (Circles)

Numbered 1 through 9, four of each. Often called "balls" or "wheels." The dots represent coins in the game's original Chinese context.

Bams (Bamboos)

Numbered 1 through 9. The 1 of bams is traditionally illustrated as a bird — our sparrow's distant cousin. Four of each.

字

Cracks (Characters)

Numbered 1 through 9, marked with Chinese numerals. The third numbered suit, four of each, completing the standard 108 numbered tiles.

Winds

North, South, East, West. Each player is assigned a wind, and certain hands depend on which wind is currently in play.

Dragons

Red, Green, and White (called Soap in American Mahjong). Powerful tiles that anchor many high-scoring hands.

Flowers & Jokers

The wild cards of the game. Eight Flowers (used as bonus tiles) and eight Jokers (the wild substitutes that make American Mahjong distinct).

The Rhythm

How a game goes.

1. The Charleston
Before the game starts, players pass three tiles to the right, three across, three to the left, and so on. It's how you shape your hand into something promising before play begins. The Charleston is unique to American Mahjong and is one of the most fun parts of the game.
2. Pick a Hand to Build
Each year the National Mah Jongg League publishes a card with roughly 70 possible winning hands. You pick one (or two, or three) to aim for, and you build toward them one tile at a time.
3. Pick Up, Look, Discard
On each turn you draw a tile from the wall and discard one from your hand. If another player needs the tile you discarded, they can call it — pong, kong, or quint — and claim it for their hand.
4. "Mahjong!"
When your hand is complete, you call "Mahjong!" and lay your tiles face up to verify. The hand is scored based on which pattern you completed and whether any jokers were used. Then everyone shuffles, the winds rotate, and the next hand begins.
The Magic of It

Why everyone falls in love.

Mahjong scratches an itch most modern entertainment can't reach. It's slow without being boring. Strategic without being stressful. Social without being demanding.

You're at a table with three other people for two hours. Your hands are busy with the tiles, which means your brain is free to wander into real conversation. The tiles click pleasingly when you mix them. The patterns reveal themselves slowly, like a slow dawn. Sometimes you win and sometimes someone else does, and either way you learn something.

And then somebody calls "Mahjong!" and the whole table laughs and you start over. By the time the night ends you've made friends without ever having to do small talk. That, more than anything else, is why mahjong has been bringing people to a round table for more than a century.

Ready to Play?

Come learn at your first class.

Reading about mahjong is fun. Sitting down at a table is better. We'll teach you everything you need on your first night.

See Upcoming Classes