How to play American Mahjong

A game for four players. Everyone races to collect 14 tiles that match one hand printed on a card. Here is a whole game, start to finish.

1. The tiles

A set has 152 tiles: three suits numbered 1 to 9 (Bams, Craks and Dots, four of each), four winds (North, East, West, South), three dragons (Red, Green and White, called Soap), eight flowers, and eight jokers. Each dragon belongs to a suit: Red with Craks, Green with Bams, White with Dots.

2. The deal

Players sit East, South, West and North. East, the dealer, gets 14 tiles; everyone else gets 13. The rest form the wall you draw from.

3. The Charleston

Before play, everyone passes unwanted tiles: three right, three across, three left, then, if nobody stops it, a second round the other way, and finally an optional courtesy pass across. Jokers are never passed. The Charleston, explained.

4. Choose your hand

Look at the card and find the hands your tiles are closest to. Keep two or three in mind early; settle on one as the game goes on. How to read the card.

5. Taking turns

East starts by discarding. Play moves to the right: East, South, West, North. On your turn you draw a tile from the wall, then discard one. You end every turn with 13 tiles, counting the ones you have laid face up.

6. Calling a discard

When someone discards a tile you need for a group of three or more, you may call it: take it, lay the group face up (an exposure), discard, and play continues from you. You can't call for a single or a pair unless that tile wins the game, and a concealed hand can only call its winning tile.

7. Jokers

A joker stands in for any tile in a group of three or more, never in a single or a pair. On your turn you can take a joker from any exposure by giving the real tile it stands for. A discarded joker is dead. Joker rules.

8. Mahjong

When your 14 tiles match a hand on the card, exposures included, declare Mahjong. If you won off a discard, that player pays double and the others pay the hand's value; if you drew the tile yourself, everyone pays double. How scoring works.

9. When nobody wins

If the wall runs out first, it's a wall game: nobody pays, and the deal moves to the next player.

Tilesday plays with its own original card of hands. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the National Mah Jongg League or any card publisher.