American Mahjong Tiles and How to Read the Hand Card
American mahjong has more tiles than most people expect, and a card that decides which hands win. Learn to read every tile and the groups you build from them, then read a line on Playboard's hand card and play a tile to it.
Step 1 of 7
Three suits, from 1 to 9
A set has 152 tiles, and most of them are numbers. There are three suits: Dots (blue circles), Bams (green sticks) and Craks (a numeral above the red character 萬). Each suit runs from 1 to 9, with four copies of every tile: 108 tiles in all.
Your rack is at the bottom of the table. The three raised tiles are one of each suit: a 3 Dot, a 2 Bam and a 7 Crak. Count the circles or the sticks to read a Dot or a Bam. A Crak's numeral is Chinese: 七 is 7.
Dragons, winds, flowers and jokers
The other 44 tiles have no numbers. There are three dragons and four winds, with four copies of each, then eight flowers and eight jokers.
The five raised tiles, left to right:
- the Red Dragon, a red 中;
- the Green Dragon, a green 發;
- the White Dragon, an empty frame;
- a flower, a ring of petals;
- a joker, a black diamond.
A joker is wild: it can stand in for other tiles, within limits you will meet in the jokers lesson.
Read the characters
Two kinds of tile carry Chinese characters, and a few are all you need. Your rack holds the nine Craks in order, then the four winds.
- A Crak's numeral is its number: 一 1, 二 2, 三 3, 四 4, 五 5, 六 6, 七 7, 八 8, 九 9.
- A wind shows its direction: 東 East, 南 South, 西 West, 北 North.
The table names the players the same way: you are East, South sits on your right, West across and North on your left.
Name the tiles
Two tiles in this rack are raised: a Crak, and a wind. What are they?
The groups you build
Every hand on the card is built from a few groups:
- a pung is three identical tiles, like the three 7 Dots in this rack;
- a kong is four identical tiles;
- a quint is five identical tiles, which takes a joker, since there are only four of each suit or honour tile;
- a run is three numbers in a row in one suit, like the 4-5-6 Bam on the left;
- a pair is two identical tiles, like the two Red Dragons.
What are the four raised tiles?
Read a line on the hand card
The hand card lists every hand you can win with, one line each, and you win only by matching a line exactly. Its closest view shows the lines your tiles are nearest to, best first, and its All patterns tab lists every line, grouped by kind. Beside the steps the card sits under the table; on a phone, press Hand card under your rack to open it over the table, and Close to put it away.
Read the top line from left to right:
- The tiles are the hand: four 1-2-3 runs and a pair. A faded tile is one you still need, here the 3 Dot of the last run.
- "Any pair" means any two identical tiles will do. It is always drawn as two dashed slots, even when it is filled: your two Red Dragons fill it, which is why the card counts 13.
- "30 points" is what the hand is worth.
- "All Dots" is its suit rule: every run must be Dots.
- "13 of 14 tiles" is how close you are.
The second line carries two red tags. Concealed only means you may never call a discard for a pung, kong or quint toward it. No jokers means no group in it takes a joker.
Play to the line
It is your turn, so you hold 14 tiles and must discard one to end the turn. Keep every tile the line uses and throw the one it doesn't. Select a tile, then select it again or press the Discard button to throw it.
Your move
Discard the one tile the top line doesn't use.
What you learned
- The 152 tiles are three suits from 1 to 9, four winds, three dragons, eight flowers and eight jokers.
- 一 to 九 are 1 to 9 on the Craks, and 東 南 西 北 are East, South, West and North.
- Pungs, kongs and quints are three, four and five identical tiles. A run is three numbers in a row in one suit, and a pair is two identical tiles.
- You win by matching a line on the hand card exactly.
- A line shows its tiles, its points, its suit rule and its tags, and the closest view counts how many of its 14 tiles you hold.
In this course
Unit 1Tiles, card and Charleston
- American Mahjong Tiles and How to Read the Hand Card
- How to Do the Charleston in American Mahjong
- How to Choose Your Hand in American Mahjong
Take it to the table.
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