How to Play Mahjong: A Beginner's Guide

This guide shows you how to play mahjong from your very first tile to your first win. It covers the two games most Malaysians play at home. We start with the basic rules, then walk through set-up, a normal turn and the three ways to make a set. After that, we finish with a full example round and the mistakes most new players make.

Mahjong rules change from table to table. So before you sit down, ask your group which rules they use. This page teaches the common core, and our guide to Malaysian mahjong rules covers the house-rule details.

Which game are you playing?

Before you learn how to play mahjong, find out how many people are at the table. In Malaysia you will meet two main games. Both share the same idea, but the tile sets differ.

The 4-player game is the one most guides describe. It uses a full set plus four animal tiles. Our Malaysian 4-player mahjong guide covers it in depth. The 3-player game is fast and very Malaysian. It drops two suits and adds jokers, so read the Malaysian 3-player mahjong guide if that is your table's game. The rest of this page uses the 4-player game as the main example. However, we flag every point where the 3-player game differs.

What you need

To learn how to play mahjong at home, you need a set, a square table and two or three dice. Many families also use an automatic table, which shuffles and builds the wall for you. You also need a way to keep score. This guide uses points. Malaysian home games often settle in money, but this guide uses points only. For the legal side, see our mahjong FAQ.

The tiles in two minutes

Knowing the tiles is the first step in how to play mahjong. A 4-player set has three suits. Each suit runs from 1 to 9, and there are four copies of every tile. So each suit has 36 tiles.

• 1 of Dots一筒
• 5 of Dots五筒
• 9 of Dots九筒
• 1 of Bamboo一索
• 5 of Bamboo五索
• 9 of Bamboo九索
• 1 of Characters一萬
• 5 of Characters五萬
• 9 of Characters九萬

Next come the honour tiles. There are four winds (East, South, West and North) and three dragons (red, green and white). Again, you get four copies of each. Honours have no numbers, so you can only pong or kong them.

Finally, there are bonus tiles. These include four flowers, four seasons and four animals: the cat, rat, rooster and centipede. You never keep bonus tiles in your hand. Instead, you put them face up in front of you and draw a replacement. Our mahjong tiles guide shows every tile with its Chinese name.

The goal: four sets and a pair

Every player holds 13 tiles. To win, you need a 14th tile that completes four sets and one pair. The pair is often called the "eyes". Here is a typical winning hand.

ChowPongPongPongPair

A few special hands break this pattern, such as seven pairs or thirteen orphans. For now, though, focus on four sets and a pair. Everything about how to play mahjong comes back to this shape.

Mahjong set up rules, step by step

Set-up is the part of how to play mahjong that looks fiddly at first. Yet it follows the same order every time. These steps follow common Singapore and Malaysian 4-player practice, and house rules vary.

1. Shuffle the tiles. Turn all tiles face down and mix them on the table.
2. Choose the dealer. Roll the dice. The dealer plays as East and picks a seat first.
3. Build the wall. Each player builds a row two tiles high. East and West build 19 stacks, while South and North build 18. Then push the rows together into a square.
4. Break the wall. The dealer rolls the dice again. The total tells you where to open the wall.
5. Deal the tiles. Take four tiles at a time, in turn, until everyone has 13. The dealer ends up with 14.
6. Replace bonus tiles. Put any flowers or animals face up in front of you. Then draw the same number of tiles from the end of the wall.
7. Start play. The dealer discards first, and play moves anticlockwise.

The 19 and 18 stacks add up to the full 148 tiles. If your set has no animals, your table may use other wall sizes. That is fine, as long as everyone agrees.

Set-up in the 3-player game

The 3-player game uses the same idea with a smaller wall. Each of the three players builds a wall 14 stacks long. The dealer then throws two dice to find the break. As before, the dealer gets 14 tiles and the others get 13. Before play, everyone shows their flowers, seasons, faces and animals and draws replacements.

How a turn works

Turns are simple. In fact, once you learn this loop, you know how to play mahjong at a basic level.

1. Draw one tile from the wall. If it is a bonus tile, put it out and draw again from the end.
2. Check your hand. If the new tile completes it, you can declare a win.
3. Otherwise, choose one tile you don't need.
4. Discard it face up in the centre and say its name.
5. Now the next player on your right takes a turn, unless someone claims your discard.

So the game is a steady rhythm of draw and discard. Meanwhile, every discard gives the other players a chance to grab it. That is where chow, pong and kong come in.

Two rules about discards

Singapore rules add two limits that many Malaysian tables also use. First, you cannot claim a tile for a win or a pong if you threw out the same tile yourself. This lasts until the go-around ends. Second, if you pass on a tile, you cannot claim the same tile from another player in that go-around. However, you can still win by drawing it yourself.

Chow, pong and kong

These three words are the heart of mahjong for beginners. Learn them, and you know half of how to play mahjong. Each one turns a discard into a set. When you claim a tile, you call out the word and show the set face up. Then you discard a tile, and play goes on from you.

Chow: a run of three

A chow is three tiles in a row in one suit. You can only chow the discard from the player just before you. That is the player on your left.

Chow

Honours never form a chow, because they have no numbers.

Pong: three of a kind

A pong is three identical tiles. Unlike a chow, you can pong a discard from any player. When you do, the turn jumps to you, and anyone in between loses their turn.

Pong

Kong: four of a kind

A kong is four identical tiles. You can claim the fourth tile from any player. You can also build a hidden kong from tiles you drew yourself. Because a kong uses four tiles, you always draw a replacement tile after you declare it.

Kong

Many tables pay a small bonus for each kong straight away. A hidden kong usually pays more than an open one.

Who gets the tile: claim priority

Sometimes two players want the same discard. Then this order decides who gets it:

1. A player who wins with the tile beats everyone.
2. Next, a pong or kong beats a chow.
3. Last comes a chow, and only the player after the discarder can make it.

Under competition rules, if two players can win on one discard, the first player after the discarder wins. Home tables may differ, so agree this before you start.

Fly jokers in the 3-player game

The 3-player set has four Fly tiles. A Fly can stand in for a tile in a set. Here are the common rules from the Sloperama notes on 3-player Malaysian mahjong:

• You can use one Fly to chow, but not two.
• Many tables let you pong with two Flies, though some only allow it when it wins.
• A kong can never contain a Fly.
• Two Flies can serve as the pair in a winning hand.
• Four Flies in your starting hand win at once with maximum fan.

Pong

How to win: self-draw or discard

Knowing how to play mahjong means knowing how to finish. You can win in two ways. Firstly, you can draw the winning tile from the wall. This is a self-draw, called 自摸 (zi mo). Secondly, you can claim another player's discard to finish your hand.

When you win, lay your whole hand face up. Then say "sik wu", as many Malaysian players do. Everyone checks the hand together. If you call a win by mistake, most tables give you a penalty, so check before you speak.

Minimum and limit

Your hand must also score enough. In the 4-player game, the score unit is the tai. Most tables need at least one tai to win, and many cap a hand at five. In the 3-player game, you count fan instead. You need at least five fan, and ten fan is the maximum. These numbers are house rules, so always check them first.

Tai come from things like dragon pongs, your own seat flower and each animal tile. Our Malaysian mahjong scoring guide lists them all with worked sums.

Who pays

In the common 4-player system, each extra tai doubles the payment. If you win on a discard, the player who threw the tile pays double. The other two pay the basic amount. If you self-draw, all three players pay double. Some tables use "shooter pays" instead, where only the discarder pays.

A worked example round

A real round is the fastest way to see how to play mahjong in practice. So let's play through one short round. This is one of the most useful mahjong example hands to study. You sit in the South seat of a 4-player game. East is the dealer.

Your starting hand

After the deal, you also hold the Orchid flower. Orchid is flower 2, which matches the South seat. So it will give you one tai if you win. You put it out and draw a replacement. Here are your 13 tiles.

ChowPartial runPairPairLoose tiles

You already have one chow. You also have two pairs and a two-tile run. The loose tiles are the ones to throw away first.

Turn one: draw and discard

East discards a tile you don't need. Then you draw from the wall and get the 7 Bamboo. Now the 5, 6 and 7 Bamboo form a chow in your hand. Next, you discard the West wind, because it is not your seat wind and you hold only one.

Turn two: a pong out of turn

West then discards a red dragon. You hold two, so you call "pong". You show the three red dragons face up. Since your turn jumped ahead, North loses a turn. After that, you discard the 1 Characters.

Pong (open)ChowChowPairLoose tiles

Turn three: getting ready

Later, you draw the 8 Bamboo. You keep it, because the 8 and 9 Bamboo only need a 7 to make a run. So you discard the East wind. Now your hand is ready. You wait for one tile: the 7 Bamboo.

The win and the score

Two turns later, North discards the 7 Bamboo. You call a win, and nobody can beat it, since a win comes first. Here is your final hand.

ChowChowChowPongPair

Count your tai. The red dragon pong gives one tai, and your seat flower gives one more. So you score two tai. With one point as the base, two tai is worth two points. North threw the tile, so North pays double, which is four points. East and West pay two points each. In total you gain eight points. If you had drawn the tile yourself, all three would pay four points each.

How to play mahjong well: common beginner mistakes

Most new players make the same few errors. Even players who know how to play mahjong slip up here at first. Avoid them and you will play like a regular after a few games.

• Holding the wrong number of tiles. Too few or too many tiles costs you the right to win that hand. So count to 13 after every claim.
• Calling chow from the wrong player. You can only chow the discard from the player on your left.
• Forgetting bonus tiles. Put out every flower and animal at once, and draw a replacement.
• Winning below the minimum. A hand with too few tai or fan does not count. Check your score before you call.
• Claiming every tile. Each open set tells others what you need. Often a hidden hand is safer.
• Skipping the rules chat. Agree the minimum, the limit and who pays before the first deal.

Once you know how to play mahjong, read our mahjong strategy guide for tips on what to discard. You can also check the mahjong terms glossary for the Cantonese and Hokkien words you will hear at the table.

Frequently asked questions