Chapter 7 of 12 · Section 2 of 3
All 24 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.
In Section 1 you took an ordinary turn. You drew the next tile from the wall (13 → 14), checked it and discarded 1 tile (back to 13).
Drawing is taking the next tile from the wall. Discarding is placing 1 tile you don’t want face up in the middle and saying its name.
At times, another player discards the very tile you need. A call means announcing that you want to claim that newest discard. You can’t take any tile you like from the middle.
Only the newest discard can be called. Here it is Right’s 7 Dot, with a gold ring. The faded tiles are old discards: nobody can call them.
An American Mah Jongg set has 8 Jokers. A Joker can take the place of any tile in a group of 3 or more matching tiles: a pung, kong, quint or sextet. It can never fill a single or a pair, and nobody may call a discarded Joker. Steps 13 to 17 show where Jokers can go and how to exchange one.
These exercises use practice lines: teaching examples, not lines from the current NMJL card. This browser saves your answers and your place on this device, so you can leave and come back.
For a call that doesn’t win, your line on the card must allow exposures, shown by an X. The discard must complete 1 group your line needs, made of 3 or more matching tiles.
You must already hold the rest of that group, as matching tiles or Jokers. Only a natural tile can be called: nobody may call a discarded Joker, even to win.
Pung: 3 matching tiles. You hold 2.
Kong: 4 matching tiles. You hold 3.
Quint: 5 matching tiles. You hold 4.
Sextet: 6 matching tiles. You hold 5. It is rare, because it needs Jokers or Flowers.
A run like 1, 2, 3 is not a matching group.
A pair: only when the tile finishes your whole hand.
NEWS: 4 different singles, so only when the tile finishes your whole hand.
A discarded Joker: nobody may call it, not even to win.
In the first row, the Joker takes the place of a 5 Bam, so the group is a pung of 5 Bams. That exact group must be part of your line.
3 × 1 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
3 × 7 Bam
2 × 9 Bam
X: you may call a discard to expose a group your line needs, such as the pung of 5 Bams.
3 × 1 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
3 × 7 Bam
2 × 9 Bam
C, for concealed: call a discard only when it completes Mah Jongg.
Every other group is finished, so the 9 Bam completes your whole hand. Claim it: say “Mah Jongg.”
The 5 Bam would finish only your pung of 5 Bams, not your hand. On a C line, pass.
Across discards a 5 Bam. Your practice line is marked X and needs a pung of 5 Bams. You hold a 5 Bam and a Joker, so you can call.
3 × 1 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
3 × 7 Bam
2 × 9 Bam
1. Say “Call” in a clear voice. Do it while the 5 Bam is still the newest discard. Say “Call” for a group, or “Mah Jongg” if the tile wins.
The 5 Bam is the newest discard. Your 5 Bam and Joker, outlined, will make the pung.
2. Show the whole group. Put the called tile and the tiles from your hand that go with it face up on the flat top of your rack. That group is an exposure. Don’t draw a tile from the wall.
Your exposure lies face up on the flat top. Your 11 concealed tiles plus the 3 exposed ones make 14.
3. Finish your turn. Discard 1 tile you don’t want and say its name.
You discard the 2 Crak and say “2 Crak.” Now 10 concealed tiles plus 3 exposed ones make 13.
A call skips the players between the discarder and the caller. After your discard, play goes on to the player on your right.
Across discards a 5 Bam. If nobody calls it, Left plays next.
You call it, expose your group and discard. Left’s turn is skipped, and Right plays next.
Count your concealed tiles and your exposures together: a call brings you to 14, and your discard takes you back to 13. If the called tile completes Mah Jongg, show your whole hand and stop. Don’t discard: your 14 tiles are the win.
You can call a discard only while the claim window is open. It closes when the next player racks the tile they drew, which means standing it on the sloping face of their rack. Their discard, a Mah Jongg declaration or the start of a Joker exchange (a move you’ll learn later in this section) also closes it.
A discard that nobody claims in time becomes an old discard. It stays in the middle, and nobody can call it after that.
In the pictures below, you have discarded a 5 Bam, so Right plays next. Each one shows Right’s rack and wall from the middle of the table.
Right lifts the next wall tile. Lifting isn’t racking, so the window is still open.
Then the turn goes 1 of 2 ways.
Across says “Call” and takes your 5 Bam for an exposure. Right puts the lifted tile back in its gap in the wall.
Right racks the tile, and the window has closed.
If a call and the racking happen at the same moment, the caller gets the tile.
To claim a tile, say “Call” promptly, and give the others a fair chance to speak too. “Wait” only asks for a pause; it doesn’t claim the tile. Some rule sets count “Wait” or “Hold” as a claim, so agree on this at your table.
“Call” claims the tile. “Wait” asks only for a pause, unless your table agrees to count it as a claim.
Sometimes 2 players call the same discard. A valid claim to win comes first: Mah Jongg beats an ordinary call for an exposure.
Across discards a 6 Dot. Left says “Call,” and Right says “Mah Jongg.” Right gets the tile.
When 2 players call the same tile for an exposure, the player next in turn after the discarder gets it. Turn order runs to the discarder’s right.
Left discards a 6 Dot, and you and Across both call it. You come first after Left, so you get it.
Optional detail: when the other caller keeps the tile
There is 1 exception: the other caller may already have claimed the tile. If they have put it on the flat top of their rack, or exposed tiles from their hand, they keep it.
Left discards a 6 Dot. Across has already put it on the flat top with 2 more 6 Dots. Across keeps it, even though you come first after Left.
Don’t try to settle a disagreement by reaching faster. If players dispute the order of events, check the rule reference your table agreed on. Saying “Wait” gives no priority by itself.
Right discards a 6 Dot. Left and Across both call it for a pung. Who gets it?
The discard gives you 1 tile. You must already hold every other tile the group needs, as matching natural tiles or Jokers. A natural tile is any tile that is not a Joker.
A pung: you hold a 5 Bam and a Joker, and the discard makes 3.
A kong: you hold a natural pung of 3 Dots, and the discard makes 4. If your line needs a kong, expose all 4, not 3.
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 1 Joker. There are 8 Flowers, and any Flower matches any other.
A quint of 7 Craks: all 4 natural 7 Craks and a Joker.
A quint of Flowers can be all natural tiles.
A 5 Bam is the newest discard. Your practice line, marked X, needs a pung of 5 Bams.
Choose the 2 tiles from your hand that go with this discard. Then expose the group and finish your turn with a discard. You choose every tile yourself.
A teaching example, not a line from the current NMJL card. X means exposures are allowed. You need all 14 tiles.
3 × 1 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
3 × 7 Bam
2 × 9 Bam
Your 13 tiles · shown in rows to fit the screen
Tiles you select will appear here.
You can’t take a discard only to save a single or pair for later. But a natural discard may complete a single or pair if it finishes your whole 14-tile hand.
3 × 1 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
3 × 7 Bam
2 × 9 Bam
Every pung is finished, so the 9 Bam completes the pair and all 14 tiles. Say “Mah Jongg.”
The pung of 7 Bams isn’t finished, so the 9 Bam wouldn’t win. You can’t claim it only for the pair.
A single works the same way. In this practice line, each Wind in NEWS is a single.
2 × Flower
1 × North Wind
1 × East Wind
1 × West Wind
1 × South Wind
3 × 5 Bam
3 × 7 Bam
2 × 9 Bam
Every other group is finished, so the South completes the NEWS group and all 14 tiles. Say “Mah Jongg.”
This is the only time a discard may complete a single or pair: when it gives you Mah Jongg.
In an ordinary exposure that doesn’t win, what’s the smallest matching group you’re allowed to complete?
The newest discard is a Joker. Whoever discards a Joker names it: “Joker.”
A player discards a Joker you could use. Can you take it?
Category: Winds–Dragons · a teaching row, not a line from an NMJL card
FF
Pair
NEWS
4 singles
555
Pung
777
Pung
99
Pair
(Any 1 Suit) X 25
A teaching row with a NEWS group. Under each printed group are the tiles it stands for.
A NEWS group is made of 4 different Winds: North, East, West and South. Its letters are printed side by side, but that doesn’t make it a kong. Each Wind is its own single, so no Joker can take its place.
Take the same care with a year or any other mix of different tiles: read the singles and pairs the card really shows. Being printed next to each other doesn’t make different tiles a matching group.
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 teaching row with a year. In 2026, each digit is its own single, with Soap as the 0. No Joker can fill any of them.
You usually get these natural tiles from the deal, the Charleston or drawing. You can still call the final natural discard if it completes your whole winning hand.
Your concealed tiles stand on the sloping face of your rack, facing you. Each called group lies face up on the flat top, where everyone can see it. Leave a clear gap between separate exposures.
The flat top holds 2 exposures, with a gap between them. Your 7 concealed tiles plus the 6 exposed ones make 13.
Once you discard or start a Joker exchange, the size of an exposure is set. You can’t hide it again or add a tile to it on a later turn. The one change allowed is a legal Joker exchange (step 15), which swaps a Joker for its matching natural tile.
A 4th 5 Bam added on a later turn: not allowed.
Every exposure must fit the line you win with. You can still switch to another X line that uses all your exposures. You can’t switch to a C line, because a C line allows no exposures.
3 × 1 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
3 × 7 Bam
2 × 9 Bam
This X line uses both exposures: the pung of 5 Bams and the pung of 7 Bams.
A C line, or a line without both pungs, no longer fits.
A Joker can stand in for any tile in a group of 3 or more matching tiles. A group can hold more than 1 Joker. In your concealed hand, a group can even be made up only of Jokers.
A pung of 5 Bams: the Joker stands in for 1 of them.
A kong of 3 Dots with 2 Jokers.
Only Jokers: allowed among your concealed tiles.
Not a pair of 9 Bams: a pair needs 2 natural tiles.
Not NEWS: each Wind is a single, and no Joker can fill a single.
Not 2026: each digit of a year is a single, so no Joker can fill one.
A pair or a single always needs natural tiles. A Joker also can’t fill in for a missing single in a NEWS group or a year.
A called exposure always holds at least 1 natural tile: the discard you claimed. Check your line for special instructions, as well as this general Joker rule.
Which use of a Joker is legal?
A Joker exchange swaps 1 natural tile from your hand for a Joker in an exposure. Players also call this redeeming a Joker. It is not the Charleston, where “exchange” meant passing tiles.
Say Right has exposed 3 Bam, Joker, 3 Bam. That Joker stands for a 3 Bam. If you hold a natural 3 Bam, you may exchange it for the Joker on your turn, at the right time.
1. Draw your tile. Or, if you called a discard, first expose your called group.
You draw a 6 Dot, so 13 tiles become 14. Right’s exposure, top right, holds a Joker that stands for a 3 Bam.
2. Say “Exchange” and hold out the matching natural tile. Wait for the owner to make the swap and hand you the Joker. Don’t reach into another player’s rack.
Your 3 Bam goes to Right’s exposure, and the Joker comes back to you.
Right’s exposure is now a natural pung of 3 Bams. The Joker is in your hand, and you still hold 14 tiles.
3. Finish your turn. Unless you are winning, discard 1 tile and say its name.
You discard the 2 Crak, so 14 tiles become 13. The Joker stays in your hand.
An exchange is 1 tile for 1 tile, so your hand doesn’t get bigger. You may also exchange from your own exposure, or make more than 1 legal exchange in a turn.
Your own exposure works the same way. Here you drew a 5 Bam: it takes the Joker’s place in your pung of 5 Bams, and the Joker joins your concealed tiles.
Two exchanges in one turn: your 3 Bam for Across’s Joker, then the 6 Dot you drew for Right’s Joker. You still hold 14, so discard as usual.
Keep to this order. An exchange made before you draw, or before your called group is shown, makes your hand dead: it can’t win this game.
It’s your turn, and you haven’t drawn yet. The Joker in the other player’s exposure stands for a 3 Bam.
First draw. Then select the natural tile that matches the Joker, and see how the exposed group and your hand change.
The Joker represents 3 Bam.
Your 13 tiles · shown in rows to fit the screen
Once your discard has ended your turn, any exchange has to wait for your next turn. Don’t take a discard from the middle only to trade it for a Joker.
Use a tile from your own hand. A call must first make its own valid exposure, so you can’t claim a discard only to exchange it.
Across discards a 3 Bam. You can’t call it only to exchange it for Right’s Joker.
You draw a 3 Bam from the wall. On your turn, before you discard, you may exchange it.
You have already discarded the 2 Crak. The exchange must wait for your next turn.
A discard is final once it is fully named or touches the table, whichever comes first. If you hold a tile that matches an exposed Joker, think about exchanging it before you choose a discard.
You have said “7 Crak,” but the tile is still in your hand. It is already final.
The tile has touched the table before you named it. It is already final too.
A Joker in your exposure may help you finish a group now. But on a later turn, another player can exchange for it: they give you the matching natural tile and take the Joker.
You can’t turn down a legal exchange because you would rather keep the Joker. Check that the tile really matches before you hand over the Joker.
On Right’s turn, Right offers a natural 5 Bam for the Joker in your exposure. The 5 Bam takes the Joker’s place, and Right gets the Joker.
Put the Joker with your concealed tiles, unless it completes your hand now; it can’t join an exposure you already have. Later it can fill a place in a group of 3 or more, or you can discard it. Say “Joker” as you discard it: nobody can call a discarded Joker, so it can’t help anyone win.
For later: hidden Jokers and dead hands
Taking the last Joker you can see doesn’t prove a hand has no Jokers. There may still be Jokers among its concealed tiles. Chapter 8 shows why this matters for payment.
If a player’s hand has been ruled dead, Jokers in their earlier, correctly made exposures can still be exchanged. Jokers in a wrongly made exposure, or in a concealed hand wrongly shown for Mah Jongg, can’t.
Chapter 10, Section 2: Jokers in a dead hand shows 2 of these cases.
Optional strategy for later: hoping to exchange for a Joker
An experienced player may keep 1 tile of a pair they don’t need and discard the other. They hope an opponent calls it with a Joker. On a later turn, the tile they kept could then be exchanged for that Joker.
Why this is a risk: the opponent might not call, might expose only natural tiles, or might win with the discard. Another player might take the Joker first. Your next turn might never come.
You don’t need this tactic to play by the rules. For now, focus on spotting exchanges that are already available at the table.
If a Joker you get in a legal exchange completes your whole hand, declare Mah Jongg. Show how all 14 tiles fit your line. Don’t discard after that.
1. Before: you draw a 4 Dot, so you hold 14 tiles. Your 5 Bams are 1 short of a pung, and Right’s Joker stands for a 4 Dot.
2. The swap: you say “Exchange” and hold out the 4 Dot. Right puts it in the exposure and hands you the Joker.
3. After: the Joker completes your pung of 5 Bams, so you say “Mah Jongg” and don’t discard.
Your 14 tiles, laid out in groups
3 × 1 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
3 × 7 Bam
2 × 9 Bam
Every group matches, and the Joker fills a place in the pung of 5 Bams: Mah Jongg, with no discard.
The Joker must fill a place where a Joker is legal: a group of 3 or more matching tiles. It can’t finish a natural pair or single.
A win made through a Joker exchange counts as a self-draw, the same as winning with a tile you drew from the wall. This holds even if your turn began by calling a discard.
This matters for payment, which Chapter 8 covers. For now, make sure the hand itself is valid.
Call when it moves a workable plan forward. Passing can make sense when a match would pull you away from a stronger line. Decide from the tiles and the chances still left: there is no turn after which calling is always right.
You hold a pair of 9 Bams, and a 9 Bam is discarded. Could you call it for a pung?
3 × 1 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
3 × 7 Bam
2 × 9 Bam
It needs only a pair of 9 Bams, so a pung of 9 Bams doesn’t fit it.
2 × 1 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
3 × 7 Bam
3 × 9 Bam
It needs a pung of 9 Bams. Because a line uses that group, the call is allowed.
Allowed, but is it wise? Once you expose the pung, every line you aim for must use it. You’d have to switch to Line B, which needs a pair of 1 Bams where your line has a pung. Everyone would also see your 9 Bams. If no line on the card used a pung of 9 Bams, the exposure would leave your hand unable to win.
Say you call Across’s 7 Bam and expose your pung of 7 Bams. Your turn then ends 1 of 2 ways.
If an exchange completes your hand: you gave Right your 4 Dot for the Joker, and it completes your pung of 5 Bams. Say “Mah Jongg” and don’t discard.
Otherwise: here no exposed Joker helps you. Discard 1 tile, such as the 4 Dot, and name it. Now 10 concealed tiles plus 3 exposed make 13.
X: you may call a discard to finish a group your line needs, then expose it.
C, for concealed: pass on any ordinary call for a group. You may still claim a natural discard that gives you Mah Jongg right away.
You’ll make 10 decisions. Each one shows your tiles, the newest discard and, when it matters, the line you’re aiming for.
Unless it says otherwise, the claim window is open. Choose once, read the explanation, then go on. Some decisions check a rule; others ask for the better strategy.
Decision 1 of 10
3 × 1 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
3 × 7 Bam
2 × 9 Bam
Your 13 tiles
Newest discard
The newest discard is a 5 Bam. Your line is marked X and needs a pung of 5 Bams. You already hold 2. What moves your line forward?
Answer 7 questions on your own. Your first answer to each question counts toward this attempt. The feedback explains the rule, and after you see your result you can go over the questions you missed.
Question 1 of 7
A teaching example, not a line from the current NMJL card. X means exposures are allowed. You need all 14 tiles.
2 × Flower
1 × North Wind
1 × East Wind
1 × West Wind
1 × South Wind
3 × 5 Bam
3 × 7 Bam
2 × 9 Bam
Your X line needs a single East, and the newest discard is an East. It wouldn’t complete your hand. May you claim it?
You have practiced the decisions here. Handling real tiles, keeping up with the table’s pace and reading a standard card still take practice. A quiz score doesn’t prove you have mastered every situation at a real table.
The last section of this chapter, on called turns and how a game ends, comes next; then Chapter 8: Scoring & Payouts. Chapter 9: Your First Game then puts every move together in whole hands, first with help and then with less. Use Next to go on, or Chapter contents to see an example again.
Chapter 6: Choosing a Hand
Go on to Section 3: Called turns and how a game ends