American Mahjong isn’t the same game your grandmother’s Mahjong set was designed for, and it isn’t the tile-only game you may have seen in movies. It’s a rack-and-tile game built around one small paper document: the official card published every year by the National Mah Jongg League (NMJL). Learn the card, and you can sit down at any American Mahjong table in the country.
This site is built for two kinds of players. If you’re brand new — maybe you just joined a group at a community center, a family game night, or a friend’s weekly table — start with Learn American Mahjong, our absolute-beginner hub. If you already know the basics and want to get sharper on card strategy, hand selection, or this year’s specific hands, head to the NMJL Card Guide or our Strategy & Tips articles.
Every guide on this site is written from scratch and checked against the current NMJL Card. We never guess at rules or scoring, and when something is a local house-rule variant rather than an official rule, we say so.
What you’ll find here
- Learn American Mahjong — setup, terminology, turn order, how a hand ends
- The Charleston — the mandatory tile-passing phase that opens every hand
- The NMJL Card — how the annual card is organized and how to read it
- Strategy & Tips — hand selection, defense, reading discards
- Mahjong Sets & Equipment — buying guides for tiles, racks, pushers, and cases
- Where to Play — clubs, community groups, and legitimate apps
Ready to start from zero? Begin with the beginner’s hub →