Quick answerAmerican Mahjong (NMJL rules) wins by matching one of the specific hands on the annual card, uses 152 tiles including 8 Jokers, and has a passing phase called the Charleston. Traditional Chinese Mahjong wins with four sets and a pair from 144 tiles, with no Jokers and no Charleston.
On this page
If you learned one form of Mahjong and sat down at a table playing the other, you would recognize the tiles and the turn structure and almost nothing else. This page keeps the two clearly separated so you can tell which one you are looking at, and which one to learn. MahjongKit focuses on American Mahjong; whenever we mention another variant we label it.
1. How you win
Traditional Chinese Mahjong has a fixed winning structure: four sets plus a pair. A set can be a sequence of three consecutive tiles in one suit (a chow), three of a kind (a pung) or four of a kind (a kong). You are free to combine them however the tiles allow.
American Mahjong replaces that freedom with a list. Your final 14 tiles must exactly match one of the hands printed on the current National Mah Jongg League card. The card changes every year, so the hands and the strategy change with it. Learning to read the card is the core skill.
2. The Charleston
American Mahjong starts every hand with the Charleston, a passing phase in which players hand three unwanted tiles to a neighbor in a set order (right, across, left, then optionally left, across, right). It shapes hands before the first draw and it is where a lot of the game is decided. Chinese Mahjong has no Charleston: once the tiles are dealt, play begins immediately. Our Charleston guide walks through every pass.
3. Jokers
If a set has Joker tiles, it is an American set. A traditional Chinese set has 144 tiles: three suits, Winds, Dragons and bonus Flowers and Seasons. American sets add 8 Jokers for 152. Jokers matter because the card includes hands with five or six of a kind, which are impossible with only four of each tile. Jokers work only in groups of three or more, never in pairs or singles. See the Joker rules.
4. Calling discards
In Chinese Mahjong you can claim the tile discarded by the player on your left to complete a chow (a run of three). In American Mahjong you generally cannot call a discard for a sequence, because sequences are not exposed groups on the card; you call only for pungs, kongs, quints and sextets, and only if the hand allows exposures. Each hand on the American card is marked X (exposures allowed) or C (concealed).
At a glance
| Traditional Chinese | American (NMJL) | |
|---|---|---|
| Total tiles | 144 | 152 |
| Jokers | None | 8 |
| Winning hand | Four sets plus a pair | One specific hand from the annual card |
| Charleston | No | Yes |
| Sequences (chows) | Yes, can be called | Not called as exposures |
| Wall length | 18 stacks per side | 19 stacks per side |
| Scoring | Points by pattern, varies by region | Point value printed per hand on the card |
Other variants you may hear about
Riichi (Japanese) Mahjong uses 136 tiles, a declaration called riichi when you are one tile from winning, and detailed scoring. Hong Kong and Chinese Official rules are both four-sets-and-a-pair games with different scoring tables. None of these use the NMJL card or Jokers, so nothing about them transfers directly to the American game.
Which should you learn?
Learn what the people around you play. In the United States, most community centers, libraries and home games run American Mahjong with the current NMJL card. Clubs with players from Asia, and most video games, use one of the Chinese or Japanese rule sets. If you are not sure which your local group plays, ask whether they use "the card". If they do, start with our American Mahjong beginner's guide.
Official rules note. This guide explains American Mahjong as it is commonly played with the National Mah Jongg League card. House rules and tournament procedures can vary. For the official wording, use the current card and rulebook from the National Mah Jongg League. MahjongKit is not affiliated with the League.