How to play mahjong: the rules, step by step

• A set of 144 tiles: three suits, winds, dragons, flowers and seasons. See every tile in mahjong tiles.
• Four players, and two or three dice.
• Something to keep score with: chips, sticks, or paper.

This guide teaches the Hong Kong rules, the most common Chinese style. American and Japanese mahjong use the same idea with other rules; the end of the guide says how they differ.

You hold 13 tiles. To win, you need 14: four sets and a pair. There are three kinds of set:

• A chow: three tiles in a row of one suit, like the 3, 4 and 5 of bamboo. Winds and dragons can't make a chow, and 9 does not run on to 1.
• A pung: three of the same tile, like three red dragons.
• A kong: four of the same tile. It counts as one set, so you draw an extra tile when you make it.

The pair, two of the same tile, is called the eyes. Here is a winning hand:

1. Take your seats. Four players sit at a square table, each at a wind. East is the dealer, South sits on East's right, West across and North on the left. Turns go counterclockwise: East, South, West, North.
2. Build the wall. Turn all 144 tiles face down and mix them. Each player builds a row 18 tiles long and 2 tiles high. Push the four rows together into a square: the wall.
3. Deal 13 tiles each. East throws the dice to choose where the wall breaks. Players take tiles in blocks of four until each has 12, then one more each. East takes a 14th tile.
4. Set aside flowers and seasons. Put each flower or season face up in front of you, and draw a new tile from the far end of the wall. Do the same whenever you draw one later.
5. Draw and discard. East starts by throwing one tile away. Then each player in turn draws a tile from the wall and throws one away, face up in the middle, and says its name.
6. Claim a discard. Any player can take the last discard for a pung, a kong or a win. Only the next player can take it for a chow. Show the set face up, then throw a tile away.
7. Draw again after a kong. A kong is four of a kind. It counts as one set, so take an extra tile from the far end of the wall to keep enough tiles for your hand.
8. Call mahjong. When a tile gives you four sets and a pair, call mahjong and show your hand. The tile can come from the wall or from any discard. If the wall runs out first, the hand is a draw.

You can take the tile that a player just threw away, instead of drawing from the wall. Say what you claim, show the set face up, then throw a tile away. Play goes on from you, so a claim can skip players.

When two players want the same tile, a win comes first, then a pung or a kong, then a chow. A set that you build from tiles you drew stays hidden in your hand, and a hidden hand can score more.

East deals every hand until another player wins. When East wins, or a hand is a draw, East deals again. When another player wins, the deal moves to the player on East's right, who becomes the new East, and every seat wind moves with it.

A game has four rounds, each with its prevailing wind: East, then South, West and North. A round ends when every player has dealt, so a full game has at least 16 hands.

A winning hand scores faan, points for its patterns. Most tables need 3 faan to win, and stop counting at a limit, often 10 or 13 faan. These are the common patterns:

Faan turn into points that double with each faan: in a common table, 3 faan pay 8 points and 4 faan pay 16. After a self-drawn win, all three other players pay. After a win on a discard, the player who threw the tile pays all of it, or the largest share, by the rule of your table.

• Keep runs with two open ends, like a 4 and a 5. Two tiles can complete them: the 3 and the 6.
• Throw away lone winds early, unless it is your seat wind or the prevailing wind.
• Keep pairs of dragons: one more dragon makes a pung, which scores a faan.
• Watch the discards. When three of a tile are out, nobody can make a pung of it.
• Late in a hand, throw tiles that other players just threw away. They are safer than new tiles.
• Win small first. A plain hand that wins beats a big hand that never finishes.

Mahjong solitaire is a different game with the same tiles: one player takes matching pairs off a stacked board. It is a good way to learn the faces before a game of four. Play our free mahjong solitaire, where every deal can be cleared.