Chapter 3 of 12 · Section 1 of 2
All 12 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.
The card lists the 14-tile patterns that can win. Your task is to make one complete pattern, notes included.
Only the dealer, called East, starts the game with 14 tiles. Everyone else starts with 13. When play begins, East throws one tile away first.
Right after the deal. East, on your left here, holds 14 tiles; the other 3 players hold 13.
From then on, every player holds 13 tiles between turns, all through the game. On your turn you take one more tile, then throw one away to get back to 13.
On your turn you take a tile: 14 for a moment. This 9 Crak doesn’t help, so you throw one tile away and are back to 13.
Close up: your 13 tiles and the 9 Crak you took · 14 for a moment
Then you throw the 9 Crak away · 13 again
It fits none of your groups, so it goes.
A hand stays at 14 tiles only when that extra tile completes a whole pattern on the card. That is Mah Jongg: that player wins, and the game ends.
This time the tile you take, a second Soap, completes a whole line on the card: Mah Jongg with 14 tiles.
Close up: your 13 tiles and the Soap you took · 14
The new Soap goes beside your other Soap. Now every group is complete: one whole line.
Each year, the National Mah Jongg League (NMJL) puts out a new card. Everyone at the table needs the same edition, which the group agrees on. The standard game today uses the current card; for practice, a group can agree to use an older edition.
Everyone at the table reads the same card edition. Here the group agreed on the 2026 card.
Our examples are teaching patterns. They show how the card’s notation works.
They are not an official NMJL card, and we don’t claim these hands are on any particular year’s card. At a real table, check the whole line on the card your group agreed on.
Chapter 2 introduced the tiles and their names. If a tile looks unfamiliar, look back at Chapter 2. Use Next to begin.
The card sorts winning patterns into categories. A category heading helps you find hands that are related. Each line under it describes a different complete hand.
Category heading. It helps you find related hands. It isn’t a hand.
One line is one complete hand of 14 tiles. Read across it, not down the page.
Notes in parentheses say how you may choose suits and numbers.
X or C says how you may play the hand. Section 2 explains it.
The value is what the hand is worth if you win with it.
Two category names describe the groups rather than the tiles. Quints hands include groups of 5 identical tiles. Singles & Pairs hands are made only of single tiles and pairs, so a Joker can’t fill any of their places.
Pick a category to find out what its name means.
Read across one line: its tile pattern, any notes in parentheses, the C or X and the hand value. We’ll go through each part in this chapter.
Rather than drawing each tile, the card uses shorthand. Begin with the symbols you can turn into the tiles you met in Chapter 2.
The digit tells you the tile’s number. To know which suit to use, look at the line’s color relationships and notes.
A discard is a tile that someone puts out during play. To call means to claim a discarded tile when the rules allow it.
Another player has just thrown away a 2 Bam: the newest discard. You hold two 2 Bams, so you might call it to make three.
Close up: your two 2 Bams and the newest discard
Together they would make three 2 Bams: a pung.
C and X are about those calls. They are instructions printed at the end of a line, beside its value, not tiles you collect.
A natural tile is any tile that is not a Joker. Some places in a hand can be filled only by natural tiles.
Natural tiles: three real 5 Dots
A Joker fills one place: 5 Dot, Joker, 5 Dot
With numbered tiles, groups printed in the same color share a suit. No ink color is fixed to Bams, Craks or Dots.
The whole teaching line · 14 tiles
1111
blue ink
2222
blue ink
3333
blue ink
44
blue ink
(Any 1 Suit · These Nos. Only)
The words in parentheses are the line’s notes. “Nos.” means numbers; Section 2 explains each note.
This line means four 1s, four 2s, four 3s and two 4s, all in one suit. Pick a suit to see a complete example.
Tiles that fit this choice, under their printed groups · 14 tiles
1111
Four 1s
2222
Four 2s
3333
Four 3s
44
Two 4s
When you change the tiles, the card line is still blue. Blue shows which groups belong together; it is not the color of the pictures on the tiles.
Numbered groups in different colors use different suits. When a color repeats, those groups keep the same suit.
The whole teaching line · 14 tiles
1111
blue ink
2222
red ink
3333
green ink
44
blue ink
(Any 3 Suits · These Nos. Only)
The blue 1s and blue 4s go together. The red 2s take a second suit, and the green 3s take the third.
Pick a different suit for each color
Blue ink
Red ink
Green ink
Blue = Bams · Red = Craks · Green = Dots
Tiles that fit this choice, under their printed groups · 14 tiles
1111
Blue: four 1s
2222
Red: four 2s
3333
Green: four 3s
44
Blue: two 4s
Try giving a color a suit that is already taken. You’ll see why that choice can’t fit this line.
Pick one answer. You can try again, and the explanation helps you check your thinking.
Part of a card line · not a complete hand
222
red ink
444
red ink
666
red ink
Three numbered groups are printed in the same color. What does this mean?
Each D stands for a Dragon. If a D is the same color as numbered tiles, its Dragon matches the suit chosen for them, unless the line says otherwise.
Part of a card line · not a complete hand
111
green ink
DDD
green ink
(Matching Dragon)
Pick a suit for the green groups:
Tiles that fit this choice, under their printed groups · 6 tiles
111
Green: three 1 Bams
DDD
Green: three Green Dragons
The green 1s are Bams. So the green Ds mean Green Dragons. This time the Dragon happens to be Green.
Remember these matches: Bams–Green Dragon, Craks–Red Dragon, Dots–White Dragon (Soap).
A D printed in a different color from the numbers stands for a different suit. So its Dragon doesn’t match those numbers.
Part of a line · the DDD is printed red, the 1s green
111
Green: 1 Bams
DDD
Red Dragons
DDD
White Dragons
DDD
Green Dragons match Bams
The 3 red DDD groups are 3 choices for the same printed group: pick one.
With green 1 Bams, a red DDD can be Red or White Dragons, never Green. When the line also has red numbers, the red Ds match their suit.
Flowers and Winds do not belong to a numbered suit. A White Dragon used as 0 is a zero, whatever color the ink is. Don’t link these symbols to Bams, Craks or Dots.
Pick a symbol to see what it means.
Pick any Flower. The color of the printed F does not give it a numbered suit.
D: When the line asks for a matching Dragon, Soap is the Dragon that matches Dots.
Part of a line · Soap as a Dragon
111
Blue: 1 Dots
DD
Soaps match Dots
0: Soap stands for the digit zero. It can appear in a year pattern with other suits.
Part of a line · Soap as 0
2026
2, Soap, 2, 6
Pick one answer. You can try again, and the explanation helps you check your thinking.
Part of a card line · not a complete hand
2026
red ink
Which tile does the digit 0 stand for?
Pick one answer. You can try again, and the explanation helps you check your thinking.
The 8 Flowers in this course’s tile set: 8 different pictures
The card asks for an F. Which Flower picture do you have to find?
Spaces on the card split a line into groups. Count how many identical tiles are in each group. Each group’s name tells you its size.
1 tile · Single
A single is one tile.
Joker reminder: Jokers can stand in for tiles in allowed groups of 3 or more identical tiles. They are never allowed in singles or pairs.
Each numbered tile, and each particular Wind or Dragon, has only 4 natural copies. So a quint of one of those tiles needs at least one Joker. Use “+ Add one” above to build a quint of 3 Bams.
Flowers are different: there are 8, and they all count as the same tile. So 5 Flowers can make a quint with no Joker.
Groups of identical tiles
3
Single
33
Pair
333
Pung
3333
Kong
33333
Quint: needs a Joker
FFFFF
Flower quint: no Joker needed
A few card lines also use a sextet: 6 identical tiles. It is rare, and Chapter 7 shows one.
A sextet: 6 identical tiles
333333
Sextet: needs at least 2 Jokers
There are only 4 natural 3 Bams, so 2 Jokers fill the last 2 places.
Blocks of 4 symbols that are not groups
NEWS
4 different singles
2026
4 singles: 2, Soap, 2, 6
NEWS is 4 different singles, not a kong. A year like 2026 is also made of separate single tiles. Don’t assume every block of 4 symbols is a group where Jokers are allowed.
You can now turn a card line’s symbols into tiles:
One whole teaching line · 14 tiles
FF
Flowers
111
Blue: 1 Dots
222
Red: 2 Bams
3333
Green: 3 Craks
DD
Blue: Soaps
All of Section 1 in one line: the colors give the suits, the blue Ds match the blue 1s, the Flowers have no suit, and the group sizes add up to 14.
Coming up in Section 2: the notes in parentheses, C or X, a hand’s value, and reading a whole line.