How to Play Mahjong: Rules for Beginners

If you have wondered how to play mahjong, the good news is that the core idea is close to rummy: draw a tile, discard a tile, and try to be first to turn your hand into sets. The classic Chinese game is played by four people with 144 carved or printed tiles, and a winning hand is four sets plus a pair. This guide covers the standard Chinese mahjong rules most families learn first, then explains how scoring works, how other styles differ, and how to play with two or three players.

Quick rules

• Four players each build part of a square wall of tiles. East, the dealer, takes 14 tiles; everyone else takes 13.
• Play passes counterclockwise. On your turn, draw a tile, then discard one face up.
• Collect sets: a pung (three identical tiles), a kong (four identical) or a chow (three in a row in one suit).
• Any player may claim a discard to make a pung, kong or winning hand. Only the next player may claim it for a chow.
• Win by completing four sets and a pair, then call "mahjong".
• Points depend on the hand. The winner collects from the other players.

What you need

You also need two or three dice, a marker for the prevailing wind, and chips or scoring sticks. Sets made for the American style contain extra joker tiles; set those aside for the Chinese game.

Setup

1. Choose seats and winds. Roll the dice; the highest roller is East and becomes the dealer. Going counterclockwise from East, the other seats are South, West and North.
2. Turn all the tiles face down and shuffle them by swirling them around the table.
3. Each player builds a wall in front of them 18 tiles long and two tiles high. Push the four walls together into a square.
4. East rolls the dice to choose where to break the wall. Count the total around the walls to find the starting point, then deal from there.
5. Players take tiles in blocks of four until each has 12, then one more each. East takes one extra, finishing with 14 tiles; everyone else has 13.
6. Any player holding a flower or season sets it face up and draws a replacement tile from the far end of the wall.

How to play

Turns

1. East starts by discarding one tile face up into the center and announcing it.
2. Play passes counterclockwise, to the player on the discarder's right. That player draws a tile from the wall and discards one.
3. Your hand always holds 13 tiles between turns (not counting exposed kongs and flowers).

Sets you can make

• Chow: three tiles in a row of the same suit, such as 4, 5, 6 of bamboo. Winds and dragons cannot form chows.
• Pung: three identical tiles, such as three red dragons.
• Kong: all four identical tiles. After declaring a kong, draw a replacement tile from the end of the wall, because a kong uses one extra tile.
• Pair (the eyes): two identical tiles. Every standard winning hand needs exactly one.

Claiming discards

1. When a tile is discarded, any player may call "pung" or "kong" to take it if they hold the matching tiles. They show the set face up, then discard, and play continues from them.
2. Only the player whose turn is next may call "chow" on a discard.
3. If two players want the same tile, a claim to win comes first, then pung or kong, then chow.
4. Sets you form from your own draws stay hidden in your hand; claimed sets must be exposed.

Going out

1. When the tile you draw or claim completes four sets and a pair, call "mahjong" and lay your hand face up.
2. If the wall runs out before anyone wins, the hand is a draw. It is replayed with the same dealer in most house rules.
3. If East wins or the hand is a draw, East deals again. Otherwise the deal passes to South. After every player has dealt, the prevailing wind moves from East to South, and so on. A full game is four rounds.

Scoring

Scoring systems vary more than anything else in mahjong. Beginners can simply award one point per win. A common Hong Kong style method counts faan (doubles) for features of the winning hand, then pays the winner from the other players. The table below shows common values.

Many groups require a minimum of 1 or 3 faan to win. Agree on a points value per faan, and on whether a player who discards the winning tile pays more than the others.

How to win

Each hand is won by the first player to call mahjong with a valid hand. The overall winner is the player with the most points after four full rounds, or after an agreed number of hands. Use our scoreboard to keep running totals.

Variations

• American mahjong: uses 152 tiles including jokers, a passing round before play called the Charleston, and a card of approved hands that is reissued each year.
• Japanese style: adds a ready declaration, special discard rules and a different scoring table.
• Two players: sit opposite each other, remove the flowers if you like, and drop the chow claim so play does not run out of tension. Some groups also remove one or two suits for a faster game.
• Three players: leave the North seat empty and, in many versions, remove one suit or the North winds.

Tips and strategy

• Pick a direction early: aim for chows (fast, low scoring) or pungs (slower, higher scoring).
• Discard lone winds and dragons early, unless they are your seat or prevailing wind or you already have a pair.
• Middle tiles (3 to 7) are flexible because they fit into more chows. Edge tiles (1 and 9) are harder to use.
• Watch what others claim and discard. A player collecting one suit is dangerous late in the hand.
• Late in the hand, discard tiles that have already appeared, as they are less likely to complete someone's set.

Common mistakes

• Claiming a chow from a player who is not directly before you.
• Forgetting the replacement tile after a kong or a flower, leaving your hand one tile short.
• Calling mahjong with five sets and no pair, or with the wrong tile count.

Enjoy tile and set-building games? Try dominoes, gin rummy or rummy, or find more ideas among our board games for adults.