Data · updated 4 November 2026
More people are learning American Mah Jongg: what beginners search for in 2026
Searches in the United States for the basics of American Mah Jongg grew fast in 2026. The questions that grew most are the ones a brand-new player asks first: how many Jokers a set has, how many Flowers, how many tiles, and what the rules are.
The numbers in brief
- “How many jokers in American mahjong”: about 3,600 searches a month this summer, against 420 a year earlier (8.6×) and 140 two years earlier.
- “American mahjong rules”: about 7,600 a month this summer, against 2,100 a year earlier (3.7×).
- “American mahjong lessons” was too rare to measure before June 2025. This summer it averaged about 1,300 a month.
- All searches for “mahjong”, any style and including tile-matching computer games, rose from about 673,000 a month in summer 2024 to about 1,000,000 in summer 2026.
Three beginner tile questions, month by month
US searches a month, January 2024 to September 2026. Point at or tap the chart to see each month.
- How many Jokers
- How many Flowers
- How many tiles
The table
Average US searches a month in June, July and August of each year, rounded, and where the course answers each question.
| Search | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Change in a year | Where we answer it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| “american mahjong rules” | 1,200 | 2,100 | 7,600 | 3.7× | American Mah Jongg rules on one page |
| “how to play american mahjong” | 1,000 | 2,400 | 4,700 | 2.0× | Chapter 1: Welcome to Mah Jongg |
| “learning to play mah jongg” | 830 | 1,600 | 2,900 | 1.8× | Chapter 1: Welcome to Mah Jongg |
| “how many jokers in american mahjong” | 140 | 420 | 3,600 | 8.6× | Jokers in brief (Chapter 7) |
| “how many flowers in american mahjong” | 100 | 370 | 2,700 | 7.5× | Chapter 2: Meet the tiles |
| “how many tiles in american mahjong” | 260 | 680 | 2,700 | 4.0× | Chapter 2: Meet the tiles |
| “american vs chinese mahjong” | 280 | 730 | 1,700 | 2.3× | American and Chinese Mah Jongg |
| “mahjong charleston” | 240 | 450 | 1,000 | 2.2× | Chapter 5: The Charleston |
| “can you use a joker in a pair for mahjong” | 150 | 280 | 720 | 2.6× | Jokers in brief (Chapter 7) |
| “what is american mahjong” | 90 | 250 | 770 | 3.1× | Chapter 1: Welcome to Mah Jongg |
| “american mahjong lessons” | 0 | 70 | 1,300 | 20× | The free course |
How we measured
These are estimates of Google searches in the United States from DataForSEO, a search-data provider, read on 4 November 2026. They are not Google’s own counts: Google rounds them into bands, so small numbers jump in steps. September 2026 is the latest month available, and the table uses June to August, the latest three months every search has. Searches show what people want to know, not how many people play.
Writers and reporters are welcome to use these numbers. Please link to this page, and contact us if you’d like the full monthly data.
New to the game? Start with Chapter 1 of the free course, or keep American Mah Jongg rules on one page handy.