Chapter 6 of 12 · Section 1 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: Work out which card lines your tiles could realistically become, and which one to aim for.
You already know the tiles, the card and the Charleston’s passing rules. Now put them together: which whole card lines could your own tiles turn into? A candidate is a card line you might aim for, not a promise that you’ll finish it.
Teaching card
Fictional lines for practice, not from an NMJL card.
Even Bams · 2468
The line’s 14 places, in Bams
One candidate, the Even Bams line, and your rack. Gold outlines mark the 11 tiles it can use. Dashed places are the 3 tiles it still needs.
Each card line has 14 places, one for each tile it needs. A pair fills 2 places and a pung fills 3.
Scan your rack right after the deal, and again after every pass. Each non-dealer then holds 13 tiles and East holds 14. The racks in this section hold 13 tiles, and every card line needs 14.
Right after the deal. East, on your left here, holds 14 tiles, and the other 3 players hold 13 each.
In Section 2 you’ll use your candidates to decide which tiles to pass in the Charleston.
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.
Your aim is a whole card line, not a suit. Gathering many tiles of one suit is only an early clue. To win, you match the whole line: its numbers, group sizes, suits, any Flowers or Dragons and any note in parentheses.
Teaching card
Fictional lines for practice, not from an NMJL card.
Odd Bams · 13579
The line’s 14 places, in Bams
Ten Bams on your rack, but the Odd Bams line can use only your 3 Bam: 1 of 14 places.
Every card line in these activities is a teaching line, made up for practice. At a real table, everyone plays from the same agreed card, such as the current NMJL card. A teaching line isn’t necessarily on that card.
At a real table, all 4 players use the same card.
Before you scan, sort your tiles: each suit together in number order, then Winds, Dragons, Flowers and Jokers where you can find them. This rack is already sorted. You’ll practice sorting in Section 2.
Tap a tile in the rows under your rack to highlight all its matching copies. Look for the pair of 4 Craks and the pair of 7 Dots.
Your 13 tiles · in rows, larger, so you can tap each one
The card sorts its lines into categories, such as 2468, 13579 and Winds–Dragons, as Chapter 3 showed. Begin with your rack’s strongest feature, and let it point you to a category.
Several even numbers in one suit suggest 2468. The odd numbers 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 suggest 13579. Repeated Winds suggest Winds–Dragons, and the same number in different suits may suggest Any Like Numbers.
Your 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 Dots point to 13579, so start your scan there.
These are shortcuts for your search, not rules that pick your hand for you. Your tiles may fit more than one category. Before you pass or discard useful tiles, compare the actual lines.
Your best tiles are the 2, 4, 6 and 8 of one suit. Which category makes a good first place to look?
Tap the 3 Bam, the 6 Crak and the North Wind. Say how many copies you see before you read the feedback.
Your 13 tiles · in rows, larger, so you can tap each one
These tiles are still concealed. Sitting together on your rack doesn’t make them exposures. A group is exposed only after you call a discard and put the group face up on the flat top of your rack.
For contrast, after a call: the three 3 Bams lie face up on the flat top, exposed. The tiles on the sloping face are still concealed.
You have three 3 Bams. What’s your first step?
In a year like 2026, the White Dragon (often called Soap) can stand for zero. Try a different numbered suit to see the tiles change. These 4 tiles are part of a hand, not a whole winning hand.
2 · 0 · 2 · 6. Here, Soap stands for zero.
These 4 places are separate singles, even though the two 2s repeat. A Joker never fills a single. The card line’s colors and parentheses decide which suits are allowed.
On a card, a year sits inside a line like any other group. This teaching line spells 2026 in one suit, with Soap as the 0.
Category: Year · a teaching row, not a line from an NMJL card
FFFF
Kong
2026
4 singles
222
Pung
666
Pung
(Any 2 Suits) X 25
A Year teaching line: a kong of Flowers, 2026 as 4 singles in one suit, and pungs of 2s and 6s in another.
Switch between the 2 lines below. For each, count the tiles you hold and the ones still missing; don’t judge by suit alone. The rack stays the same each time.
Teaching card
Fictional lines for practice, not from an NMJL card.
Even Bams · 2468
The line’s 14 places, in Bams
Gold outlines: the tiles this line can use. Dashed places: tiles it still needs.
11 of 14 places covered; 3 still missing. This counts useful tiles, not your chance of winning.
Your tiles cover 11 places. You need one 6 Bam and two 8 Bams. Once play starts, also check how many copies are already visible in the discards and exposures.
X means you may call discards and expose groups during play. C means the hand must stay concealed until Mah Jongg. A C hand may claim a natural discard only if that tile completes the whole hand.
An exposure limits you to lines that include that exact group. If your first idea stops working, another X line that fits may still be possible. After you expose a group during play, no C line is possible.
Teaching card
Fictional lines for practice, not from an NMJL card.
Line G · Consecutive Run
X, and it has a pung of 5s: still possible, in Bams.
Line F · Consecutive Run
X, with a pung of 5s too: also still possible.
Line A · 2468
No pung of 5s: not possible any more.
Line I · 13579
C: the hand must stay concealed, so no C line is possible after an exposure.
After you expose three 5 Bams, only X lines with a pung of 5s stay possible.
When 2 card lines use many of the same tiles, keep the stronger one as your lead line and the other as a backup. Drop an unrelated line once keeping its tiles would cost tiles your lead line needs.
Teaching card
Fictional lines for practice, not from an NMJL card.
Even Bams · 2468 Lead
11 of 14 places.
Consecutive Bams · Consecutive Run Backup
9 of 14, and 8 of them use the same tiles as the lead line.
Odd Bams · 13579 Drop
1 of 14, and it shares no tiles with the lead line.
Step 9’s rack again. Even Bams leads, Consecutive Bams is the backup and Odd Bams is dropped.
To compare lines, count the places each one fills. Then check that the natural singles and pairs it needs are still available. Keeping 3 suits makes good sense when the line you chose needs 3 suits.
Weigh your useful tiles, the natural singles or pairs you’re missing, what’s left of the wall and the other players’ exposures. No rule says you must choose one line by a certain turn. Choose when one line is clearly stronger.
So far you have scanned a fresh rack. Later in a hand, you scan again after every draw, and the table shows tiles you can count. An old discard is a tile thrown out earlier that nobody can claim any more.
An exposure is a group a player has placed face up on their rack after a call. Every natural tile in the old discards and exposures is a copy you can account for.
Five old discards lie in the middle, and Left’s exposure lies on Left’s rack. Gold rings mark the three 1 Dots in sight.
Your own rack holds the fourth 1 Dot.
Each numbered tile, Wind and Dragon has 4 copies, and there are 8 Flowers. Count every natural single or pair a line needs before you lead with it.
Your rack
Old discard
Left’s exposure
Left’s exposure
All 4 natural 1 Dots are in sight, so none is left for you. A Joker can’t fill a pair, so no line that needs a pair of 1 Dots can be finished.
Counting the 1 Dots: all 4 copies are in sight.
Now use what the table shows. Here are the same table and rack, with a small teaching card. Read the comparison below them.
Fictional lines for practice, not from an NMJL card. Numbers are fixed (These Nos. Only); colors show which groups share a suit.
Line A · Consecutive Run
Line B · Consecutive Run
Line C · 13579
Old discards lie in the middle, and nobody can claim them any more. Left’s exposure lies face up on Left’s rack. Gold rings mark every 1 Dot in sight.
Your 13 tiles · in rows, larger
Check every natural pair and single.
Line A needs a natural pair of 1 Dots, and a Joker can’t fill a pair. All 4 natural 1 Dots are accounted for: yours, the old discard and the 2 in Left’s exposure. So Line A in Dots is impossible, not merely unlikely.
Teaching card
Line A · Consecutive Run
Line A needs a natural pair of 1 Dots: impossible, not merely unlikely.
| Line, best suits | Places your tiles cover | Natural pairs and singles |
|---|---|---|
| Line A blue = Dots · X | 10 of 14 | 1 Dot pair: you hold 1, 0 unseen · impossible |
| Line B blue = Dots · X | 9 of 14 | Flower pair: you hold 0, 7 unseen · possible, not certain |
| Line C blue = Dots · X | 6 of 14 | 9 Dot pair: you hold 0, 4 unseen · possible, not certain |
Covered places count natural tiles plus Jokers in groups of 3 or more. They aren’t odds of winning.
More matching tiles isn’t enough. A line is only as good as its hardest place to fill. A natural pair or single that can no longer be completed blocks the whole line, whatever else you hold.
Exposures you make yourself are commitments too: once you expose a group, every line you aim for must include it.
Now you try, with hints if you want them. It’s right after the deal, so the table shows no tiles to count yet. Work through parts 1 to 5 below your rack, then select Check my plan.
Nothing is marked until you check, and your first check is saved.
Fictional lines for practice, not from an NMJL card. Numbers are fixed (These Nos. Only); colors show which groups share a suit.
Line A · Any Like Numbers
Line B · 2468
Line C · Consecutive Run
Your 13 tiles · in rows, larger, so you can tap each one
Choose a line first.
Tap them in the rows under your rack, above part 1. Count a Joker only if it can fill a gap in a group of 3 or more in this line. 0 marked.
Choose a line and its suits first.
In your own words (optional, kept only in this browser)
Hint 1: Start with the colors. Which line has one color for your Craks and a different color for your Bams?
A new rack and a new teaching card. There are no hints this time. Work through parts 1 to 5, then check your plan; the analysis appears afterward.
Fictional lines for practice, not from an NMJL card. Numbers are fixed (These Nos. Only); colors show which groups share a suit.
Line A · 13579
Line B · Winds–Dragons
Line C · 13579
Your 13 tiles · in rows, larger, so you can tap each one
Choose a line first.
Tap them in the rows under your rack, above part 1. Count a Joker only if it can fill a gap in a group of 3 or more in this line. 0 marked.
Choose a line and its suits first.
In your own words (optional, kept only in this browser)
This time the hand is under way. Look at the table as well as your rack before you choose. No hints; the analysis appears after you check.
Fictional lines for practice, not from an NMJL card. Numbers are fixed (These Nos. Only); colors show which groups share a suit.
Line A · 2468
Line B · 2468
Line C · Consecutive Run
Old discards lie in the middle, and nobody can claim them any more. Across’s exposure lies face up on Across’s rack.
Your 13 tiles · in rows, larger, so you can tap each one
Choose a line first.
Tap them in the rows under your rack, above part 1. Count a Joker only if it can fill a gap in a group of 3 or more in this line. 0 marked.
Choose a line and its suits first.
In your own words (optional, kept only in this browser)
Look at every group. The category helps your search, but the line on the card still decides what you may play.
Question 1 of 10
A teaching example, not a line from the current NMJL card. X means exposures are allowed. You need all 14 tiles.
2 × 1 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
3 × 7 Bam
3 × 9 Bam
Which category of the card would you scan first for this teaching line?
A real card has dozens of lines. This teaching card has 14, sorted into categories as a real card is. It’s right after the deal.
Scan it for the line you would aim for and a backup that keeps many of the same tiles. Start with the categories that suit your tiles, instead of reading every line in full. Nothing is marked until you check.
Fictional lines for practice, not from an NMJL card; a real card has many more. Numbers are fixed (These Nos. Only); colors show which groups share a suit.
Line A
Line B
Line C
Line D
Line E
Line F
Line G
Line H
Line I
Line J
Line K
Line L
Line M
Line N
When you choose a line to aim for and a backup below, their rows appear here, above your rack.
Your 13 tiles · in rows, larger
Answer without looking back at the examples first. Each answer comes with an explanation, and a wrong answer links to the step that teaches it.
Afterward you can practice the questions you missed.
Question 1 of 6
Your rack
Old discard
Old discard
An exposure
You hold one 6 Dot. Your lead line needs a natural pair of 6 Dots. Two 6 Dots are old discards and one is in another player’s exposure. What does that tell you?
Using real tiles, sort 13 and name 2 candidate lines on your agreed card. Point to the tiles each line uses, find the singles or pairs it’s missing and check whether any of them is already impossible. Then say which candidate leads.
No tiles yet? Use the teaching card from step 18 and its rack. The next section uses your plan when you choose what to pass, and Chapter 7 links it to ordinary turns.
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.
Chapter 5 · The Charleston
Start Section 2 · Charleston Strategy