The NMJL Card doesn’t print its hands as one long undifferentiated list — it groups them into named categories, and while the specific hands inside each category change every year, the category names and general logic tend to persist from one card to the next. Understanding the categories generically makes a brand-new card far less intimidating, even before you’ve studied a single specific hand.
A note before we start
We’re describing what defines each category structurally — the kind of pattern it’s built around — not reproducing any specific year’s printed hands. For the actual current hands, point values, and footnotes, you’ll need your physical current-year card.
Common categories you’ll typically find
Year hands
A section built around the digits of the current year, often requiring you to work those specific numbers into your tile groupings in some way. Because the year changes annually, this section is guaranteed to look at least somewhat different every single card.
Any Like Numbers
Hands built around using the same number across multiple suits or groupings, testing flexibility with a single rank rather than a run or sequence.
Addition hands
Hands where groups of numbers are meant to add up to a specific total, adding a small arithmetic element to hand selection.
Consecutive Run
Hands built from runs of consecutive numbers within a suit, similar in spirit to a sequence in other tile or card games, though the specific run lengths and required groupings vary by hand and by year.
2468
A section built entirely around even numbers, often testing a mix of pairs, pungs, and kongs using only the even-numbered tiles.
Quints
Hands requiring five identical tiles in a single group. Since a standard set only includes four of any numbered tile, completing a Quint always requires at least one joker.
Winds and Dragons
Hands built primarily from honor tiles — winds and dragons — rather than the numbered suits, often testing a different kind of flexibility since there are fewer total honor tiles in the set.
Singles and Pairs
A section of concealed-only hands built from single tiles and pairs rather than pungs, kongs, or quints, and notably, jokers are not allowed anywhere in this category. This makes Singles and Pairs hands meaningfully harder to complete, since you can’t lean on a wild tile to patch a gap, and they’re often valued accordingly.
Why the category structure repeats even though the hands don’t
The League keeps categories broadly familiar so returning players aren’t relearning the entire shape of the card every year, even as the specific patterns inside each section change. This is part of why experienced players can often orient themselves in a brand-new card fairly quickly — they already know roughly where to look for a Quint or a Winds-Dragons hand, even before they’ve studied that year’s specific versions.
How this helps you scan a new card
When you sit down with a fresh card for the first time each year, it helps to scan section by section rather than line by line at first — get a general sense of what’s changed and what’s stayed structurally similar, then go back and study the specific hands within the sections most relevant to your current tiles. This is faster than reading top to bottom and trying to absorb everything equally.
Using categories to guide your Charleston
Recognizing which categories your opening tiles loosely fit is one of the most useful things you can do before the Charleston even starts. If your rack shows a cluster of consecutive numbers in one suit, scan the Consecutive Run section first; if you’ve been dealt several winds and dragons, check Winds-Dragons before anything else. Starting your search in the most plausible category, rather than scanning the whole card top to bottom under time pressure, saves real time during a fast-moving Charleston — see our passing strategy guide for more on this.
Want the full notation these categories are printed in? Read our notation guide →
For the wider picture, see the NMJL Card Guide hub or our full Card overview.
Why some categories are more beginner-friendly than others
Categories like Any Like Numbers or Consecutive Run tend to be more forgiving for newer players, since they often allow more suit and joker flexibility. Singles and Pairs, on the other hand, is consistently one of the harder categories precisely because it excludes jokers and requires a fully concealed hand — it’s usually not where a first-time player should be aiming their opening strategy, even if a couple of early tiles seem to fit. See hand selection strategy for more on weighing difficulty against your odds of finishing.
How categories interact with your Charleston passing
Once you’ve identified two or three plausible categories based on your opening tiles, it’s worth checking whether they overlap in the specific tiles they need. A tile that’s useful across multiple candidate categories is far more valuable to hold onto during the Charleston than one that only helps a single long-shot hand. This is part of why experienced players scan several categories at once rather than fixating on the first one that seems to fit.
A note on category names varying slightly by year
While most of the categories described here reappear in some recognizable form from year to year, the League occasionally renames, merges, or retires a section entirely, and new categories do sometimes appear. Treat this list as a reliable general orientation rather than a permanent fixture — always confirm the actual section names and contents against your current-year card.
Why generic category knowledge still has lasting value
Even though the specific hands reset every year, the underlying skill of recognizing category types transfers completely from one card to the next — a player who understands what a Consecutive Run or Quints section is generally testing for will pick up this year’s specific version of that section faster than someone encountering the concept for the first time. That’s the real payoff of learning the categories generically rather than memorizing one particular year’s hands by rote.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do all these categories appear on every card, every year?
Most of these category types appear in some form on most cards, but the League can add, remove, or rename sections, so always confirm against your current-year card rather than assuming last year’s layout.
Why do Singles and Pairs hands exclude jokers specifically?
It’s a deliberate difficulty and scoring choice — removing the joker’s flexibility from single-tile and pair-based hands keeps that category meaningfully harder than most others.
Are Quints rare to actually complete?
They’re less common than Pungs or Kongs simply because they require a joker by definition, but they’re a normal and expected part of play, not an edge case.
Want the notation these categories are printed in? Read our notation guide →
