American Mahjong Strategy for Beginners

1Choose your hands after the deal

Find the section of the card your tiles fit best, then keep two or three hands from it in mind.

1. Sort your tiles.Group them by suit, then Winds, Dragons, Flowers and Jokers. Patterns jump out faster.
2. Count by section.How many tiles fit Evens? Odds? Runs? Winds and Dragons? The section with the most is your starting point.
3. Keep options open.Pick two or three hands that share many tiles. The Charleston will push you toward one of them.
4. Commit by the middle of the game.Once you have called a tile or have most of a hand, stop switching.

2Use jokers where they count

Jokers only go in groups of three or more, so hands with kongs and quints use them best.

Our winners held 2.3 jokers on average, and only 5.4% of wins had none at all. Jokers are the main engine of the game: keep every one you are dealt, and favour hands built from pungs and kongs, where jokers can go. Remember you can also win a joker by swapping a real tile for one in another player’s exposure. See joker rules.

3Which hands are easiest to win?

Flexible exposed (X) hands, where you choose the number or the suits, win most often. Concealed hands, quints and Winds & Dragons are rare.

The most common winning hands were:

1. Matching Numbers: One number in three suits with two dragons (30¢, exposed), 15.9% of wins.
2. Matching Numbers: One number with its dragon, in two suits (30¢, exposed), 12.8% of wins.
3. Runs: Four numbers in a row, one suit (25¢, exposed), 11.3% of wins.
4. Runs: Four pungs in a row with the matching dragon pair (25¢, exposed), 10.2% of wins.

The top hands share one thing: you pick the number or the run, so almost any deal can grow into them. Hands that need exact tiles were rare: Winds & Dragons and Big Groups (quints) together were under 1% of wins, and concealed hands only 2.1%. They pay more, but need luck. On the official card the hands change every year, but the same idea holds: flexible exposed hands are the most forgiving.

4When to call, and when to wait

Call when it clearly moves you toward Mahjong. Wait when calling would give your hand away too early.

58.7% of wins in our games came on a discard, and winners had 1.4 exposures on average, so calling is a normal part of winning. But each exposure tells the table what you need. Early in the game, call only for groups you are sure about. Late in the game, call freely: speed matters more than secrecy. More in calling tiles.

5Defense: do not hand someone the game

The player who throws the winning tile pays double. Late in the game, throw safe tiles.

• Watch exposures. A player with two or three exposures is close. Do not throw tiles that fit their groups or their section.
• Copy the discards. A tile that was just thrown and not called is usually safe to throw again.
• Count the wall. Games that end usually end late: in a typical won game in our simulation, about 68 tiles had already been thrown before the winning one, with 33 tiles still in the wall. When the wall gets short, play safer.
• Give up gracefully. If your hand is far away and someone else is close, throw safe tiles and protect your money.

6Count the tiles that are gone

There are only four of each tile. If three are on the table, your chance of the fourth is small.

Before you wait on a tile, look at the discards and every exposure. If three 8 Craks are already out, only one is left, and another player may hold it. Switch to a hand that needs tiles that are still live, or plan to use a joker in that group.

Want a head start? The Charleston guide explains what to pass, and 10 beginner mistakes lists what to avoid.

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