American and Chinese Mah Jongg: what’s different
American Mah Jongg is a version of the Chinese game of Mahjong. Chinese Mahjong is played in many regional styles, so this page compares American Mah Jongg with one common style, Hong Kong (Cantonese) Mahjong, as general references describe it. If you learned another style, some details will differ.
The biggest differences: the American game adds 8 Jokers, uses a card of winning hands (the National Mah Jongg League issues a new one every year), starts with the Charleston, and never lets you call a discard to make a run.
Side by side
| What | American Mah Jongg | Hong Kong style Mahjong |
|---|---|---|
| Tiles | 152 tiles: 108 suit tiles, 12 Dragons, 16 Winds, 8 Flowers and 8 Jokers. | 144 tiles: 108 suit tiles, 28 Winds and Dragons, and 8 Flowers and Seasons. No Jokers. |
| How you win | Your 14 tiles must match one line on the card. If you play by National Mah Jongg League rules, the League issues a new card every year. | No card: a winning hand is 4 sets plus a pair. |
| Runs | You can’t call a discard to make a run, such as 1, 2, 3: an ordinary call must finish a group of 3 or more matching tiles. | A run of 3 tiles in a row in one suit, called a chow, is one of the sets. |
| Jokers | A Joker can stand in for any tile in a group of 3 or more matching tiles, never a single or a pair. | None. |
| Bigger groups | Groups of 5 and 6 identical tiles (a quint or a sextet), made with Jokers or Flowers. | The largest group is a kong, 4 identical tiles. |
| Before play | The Charleston: players trade tiles in a set routine before the first discard. | No Charleston. |
| Scoring | Every payment starts from the value printed beside the winning line on the card. | Points are counted from the features of the winning hand (called faan). |
What stays the same
Both games use the same 3 suits, Bams, Craks and Dots, numbered 1 to 9 with 4 of each, and the same Winds and Dragons. Players build walls, draw and discard in turn, and the first player to complete a winning hand wins.
Coming from another style?
The tiles will look familiar, but the American game asks you to read the card before you plan a hand. These chapters cover what is new:
- Chapter 2: Meet the tiles, including the Flowers and Jokers
- Chapter 3: Reading the card
- Chapter 5: The Charleston
- Chapter 7: Calling & Jokers
Or start at the beginning with Chapter 1: Welcome to Mah Jongg, or see American Mah Jongg rules on one page.
Sources for the Hong Kong style: general references on Mahjong, listed on Where our rules come from. Groups sometimes play by their own house rules in either game.