Chapter 10 of 12 · Section 2 of 2
All 20 steps of this section, written out on one page. The pictures and activities aren’t included: to see them, open a step in the lesson.
Your goal: Notice a mistake, leave the tiles as they are and pick the right way to recover.
Anyone can count wrong or mishear. After a mistake in play, stop and say what happened: “I think I drew out of turn.” Don’t move tiles, put one back or swap one in secret.
Across has just discarded, so it is Left’s turn to draw. You drew anyway, so you hold 14 tiles.
You drew before your turn. Stop, say so, and leave the tile where it is.
Each kind of mistake has its own fix, called a remedy. This section is about recognizing the situation, not memorizing one penalty for every mistake.
The 5 steps to follow after any mistake.
Move through the steps with Back and Next, or jump to one from Chapter contents. This browser saves your answers and your place on this device, so you can leave and come back.
If a hand is declared dead, the player holding it can no longer draw, discard or claim tiles in that game. They stay at the table and still pay whoever wins later, under the normal scoring rules.
Across’s hand is dead. Later you win by self-draw with a 25-point hand that has a Joker. Across still pays 2 × 25 = 50, like Left and Right.
To challenge a hand, another player whose own hand is still in play says out loud that it can no longer win. They show why, using the card and the tiles everyone can see. Even asking out loud whether a hand is dead counts as a challenge.
Left challenges Across’s hand, out loud, and points to the 4 Green Dragons in the discards.
You don’t declare your own hand dead. If you see your target can no longer be won, keep playing legally. Avoid discarding tiles others may need, until someone challenges or the game ends.
In Chapter 7 you exchanged a natural tile for a Joker in someone’s exposure. After a hand is declared dead, check where each Joker ends up before you try to exchange for it. There are 2 cases.
Case 1: an earlier exposure stays on the table. Earlier in the game, Left called a 7 Bam pung and exposed it correctly. Later, Left’s hand was declared dead. The exposure stays on top of Left’s rack, so on your turn you may give Left a natural 7 Bam for its Joker.
Case 2: a concealed hand wrongly shown for Mah Jongg. Across was playing a concealed (C) hand and laid all 14 tiles face up for Mah Jongg, but the hand matched no line on the card. Its tiles go back onto Across’s rack, standing up and hidden, so neither of its Jokers can be exchanged.
Both cases at one table. Left’s exposure stays, and you may exchange for its Joker. Across’s tiles are hidden again, so their Jokers are out of reach.
If players disagree about what happened, pause and check the rule reference you agreed on.
Who may challenge a hand as dead?
To judge whether a hand can’t be won, use the agreed card and the exposures and discards everyone can see. Don’t go by private guesses: the tiles in your own hand don’t count as evidence.
Category: 2468 · a teaching row, not a line from an NMJL card
222
Pung
444
Pung
666
Pung
888
Pung
DD
Pair
(Any 1 Suit) X 25
Across’s 3 exposures, 2 Bams, 4 Bams and 6 Bams, fit only this teaching row. It needs a pair of Green Dragons.
The evidence: the card, Across’s exposures and all 4 Green Dragons in the discards. Your own rack is faded, because your hidden tiles don’t count.
Across’s 3 exposures: 9 tiles. With 4 hidden tiles, Across holds 13.
In the old discards: all 4 Green Dragons
The Even Bams row needs a pair of Green Dragons, and none is left. No other row fits these exposures.
The same evidence, up close.
Before you challenge, check whether some other legal line still fits. If the challenge holds, the hand is dead, and that player stays silent for the rest of the game.
Across’s hand is dead. Across stops drawing and discarding, stays silent and still pays. The other 3 play on.
If a challenge is disputed, check the reference your table agreed on. Don’t make up a penalty. Some groups add a points penalty for a wrong challenge, so agree on this before you play.
Your hand was declared dead earlier. Now Across draws the winning tile and says “Mah Jongg.”
After your hand is declared dead, someone else goes on to win. Do you still pay?
A wrong tile count after play starts can make a hand invalid. So can an exposure that fits no line on the card, or a hand shown as a win with a Joker where it isn’t allowed.
Between turns you should hold 13 tiles. 12 is a wrong count.
5 Bam, 5 Bam, 6 Bam isn’t a group of matching tiles, so no line can use it.
A hand shown for Mah Jongg with a Joker in the 9 Bam pair. A pair needs 2 natural tiles.
How your hidden tiles are arranged doesn’t count as a claim, so you can still move them.
Still hidden: moving your Joker from beside the 9 Bams to the 7 Bams is fine.
Any exposure rules out a C line. If your exposure no longer fits the line you wanted, check other X lines. Your hand can be called dead only if no line fits.
You called a pung of 7 Bams. Your target was a C line.
Category: 13579 · a teaching row, not a line from an NMJL card
11
Pair
333
Pung
555
Pung
777
Pung
999
Pung
(Any 1 Suit) C 30
A C line takes no ordinary calls, so your exposure rules it out.
Your target, a C line, is now out.
Category: 13579 · a teaching row, not a line from an NMJL card
111
Pung
333
Pung
555
Pung
777
Pung
99
Pair
(Any 1 Suit) X 25
Its 777 matches your exposure. Your hand isn’t dead: switch to this line.
This X line still fits your exposure, so your hand isn’t dead.
You lay out your whole hand for Mah Jongg, but it doesn’t match any line. The other players have kept their hands intact. What happens now?
Say the only line fitting all of an opponent’s exposures needs a natural Green Dragon pair, and all 4 Green Dragons are old discards. What everyone can see proves that line can’t be finished.
Nobody can call an old discard, so the pair of Green Dragons can’t be made.
But 2 or 3 discarded copies, on their own, don’t make every hand impossible. The player may hold the natural tiles they need, use a group that Jokers can fill or fit another line. Check all of the requirements.
Only 2 are out. Across may hold the other 2, so this is not proof.
Count your concealed tiles and your exposures together. Before a call, check X/C and your whole target. Before you declare a win, confirm every tile.
You hold 13 tiles between turns. After you draw, you hold 14.
A helpful check is to count 13 between turns and 14 after a draw or call; East’s opening 14 is the familiar exception. During a Charleston pass, your rack holds fewer tiles for a short time, until the incoming tiles arrive. That is a normal step, so don’t mistake it for a misdeal.
A wrong count after a finished Charleston pass usually means a misdeal: stop, mix again and deal again. Don’t quietly draw a replacement whenever you like.
After the First Right, South counts only 12 tiles.
That is a misdeal. All the tiles go back to the middle, to be mixed and dealt again.
There is one exception. North, on East’s left, takes the last tile of the deal. If North forgot it and has only 12 tiles, North may take the next tile from the wall before East’s first discard. No one else may fix a count this way.
North has only 12 tiles after the deal, so North takes the next tile from the wall.
A call is committed once you expose tiles for it or place the claimed tile on top of your rack. You must then use that actual tile legally. If a valid correction is possible, fix a mistaken group before you discard or start a Joker exchange.
You called a 5 Bam, but you showed a 6 Bam with it by mistake.
Before you discard, the Joker takes the 6 Bam’s place: 5 Bam, 5 Bam, Joker.
If no line on the card fits the exposure, the hand can’t go on as a valid hand. If another X line fits, you can switch to it. You can’t hide an exposed pung again or add to it on a later turn.
A 4th 5 Bam added to an exposure on a later turn: not allowed.
Declared Mah Jongg by mistake? Say so at once. If you haven’t shown any tiles, and nobody has moved their tiles or the wall, take it back with no penalty.
You said “Mah Jongg” for Left’s 5 Bam, then saw your mistake. All 4 racks and the wall are untouched.
Nothing shown yet: take it back, with no penalty.
Claimed a discard and showed only the group for that tile? The claim can become an ordinary call, if you could have made that call anyway in an X line and nothing else was moved.
Only the group for the claimed 5 Bam shown: it becomes an ordinary call, and you discard as usual.
Showed more than that one group, or your whole hand? Then the hand is dead, and these exceptions can’t save it.
Another group shown as well: the hand is dead.
Whole hand shown, and 1 group is wrong: the hand is dead, and you still pay the winner.
A Joker that is discarded stays with the discards. Nobody can claim it, not even for Mah Jongg.
A discarded Joker. Nobody can call it.
You can’t pass a Joker in the Charleston. If one arrives in a pass, say so at once. It goes back to the passer, who passes a natural tile instead.
The Joker goes back to Left, and Left passes a natural tile instead.
In an exchange, check the tile you are given before you let your Joker go. If it’s wrong, say so before the other player discards. The exchange is undone, and the Joker comes back.
Right gave you a 3 Dot for your Joker. Say so before Right discards, and the Joker comes back.
Once that player has discarded, it is too late. Your exposure stays wrong, so your hand is dead. The player who made the exchange gets no penalty.
Right has already discarded. Your hand is dead, and Right gets no penalty.
Question 1 of 5
The newest discard is a Joker.
Someone discarded a Joker by accident. What happens to it?
Question 1 of 3
You name a discard wrongly but fix it right away, before any claim. What now?
You may turn down the optional second Charleston, before anyone looks at the Second Left tiles. In the courtesy pass, you may choose 0 tiles.
Across offers 2 tiles and you choose 0. Both pass the lower number, so there is no courtesy pass.
You may also turn down a legal call, or switch to another line your exposures still fit. You may play mainly to avoid discarding tiles others need.
A wall game is a normal result too. On its own, none of these choices means you played incorrectly.
The wall is gone, and nobody won: a wall game. That is a normal result.
Check 9 full hands against the teaching patterns shown. Watch for suits that don’t match and for Jokers in pairs. Each example is separate; the tiles don’t come from one shared game.
Question 1 of 9
A teaching example, not a line from the current NMJL card. X means exposures are allowed. You need all 14 tiles.
2 × Flower
4 × 2 Bam
4 × White Dragon
4 × 6 Crak
Your 14 tiles · shown in rows to fit the screen
Check all 14 tiles against the teaching pattern. Is it a valid match?
Answer without looking back at the examples first. Each answer comes with an explanation, and you can revisit a lesson or practice the questions you missed.
Question 1 of 5
After the First Right, South counts only 12 tiles.
In the Charleston, after the First Right, South counts 12 tiles. What is the usual remedy?
Practice these steps: stop, say what happened, leave the tiles where they are, check the agreed rule, then use the remedy. Here they are with one mistake from this section.
The mistake. On Right’s turn, Right gives you a tile for the Joker in your exposure of 3 Bams. It is a 3 Dot.
1. Stop. Ask everyone to pause before Right discards.
2. Say what happened. “That’s a 3 Dot, not a 3 Bam.”
3. Leave the tiles. Right holds the Joker and doesn’t discard yet. Nobody moves any other tile.
4. Check the rule. A wrong exchange noticed before the other player discards can be undone.
5. Use the remedy. The 3 Dot goes back to Right, and the Joker comes back to your exposure. Then Right discards, and play goes on with Across.
A wrong exchange, noticed before Right discards, taken through the 5 steps.
At a real table, if mistakes combine in unusual ways, check the reference rather than guess a penalty.
Opening this recap doesn’t complete exercises you haven’t tried. A quiz score is feedback on your practice, not proof that you’re ready for a real table.
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