Is American Mahjong the same as Chinese Mahjong?

No. American Mahjong grew out of the Chinese game, and both are four-player games of drawing and discarding tiles, but they play differently. American Mahjong adds eight Jokers, a tile-passing ritual called the Charleston, and an annual card that lists the only legal winning hands.

Can you play American Mahjong with a Chinese mahjong set?

Only if you add eight Jokers. A standard Chinese set has 144 tiles and no Jokers, and American play uses 152. Some players add Joker stickers to blank tiles, but sets made for American play come with Jokers and usually racks.

Why does American Mahjong use a card?

The National Mah Jongg League, founded in 1937, standardized the American game around a published list of winning hands. It issues a new card every spring, so the hands and the strategy change each year.

Is Riichi the same as Chinese Mahjong?

No. Riichi is the Japanese variant, with its own rules for declaring a ready hand and its own scoring. American, Chinese, and Japanese Mahjong share the same basic tiles but are played as different games.

American vs. Chinese Mahjong: 8 Key Differences

One Game, Many Branches

Mahjong developed in China in the 1800s and spread around the world in the early 20th century. Wherever it traveled, local players adapted it, which is why there are many rule sets today: Hong Kong (Cantonese) style, Chinese Official rules used in international tournaments, Taiwanese, Japanese Riichi, and American.

American Mahjong arrived with the mahjong craze of the 1920s. In 1937, the National Mah Jongg League was founded in New York to standardize how Americans played, and it has published a card of official winning hands every year since. That card, plus a few rules added along the way, is why a Chinese Mahjong player and an American Mah Jongg player can sit at the same table with the same tiles and still be playing different games.

The Differences at a Glance

	Chinese Mahjong (typical rules)	American Mahjong (NMJL)
Tiles in play	144	152
Jokers	None	8
Winning hands	Four sets plus a pair, in almost any combination	Only the hands on this year’s NMJL card
Calling a discard for a run (like 4-5-6)	Allowed from the player before you	Never allowed
Before play	Play starts right after the deal	The Charleston: players pass tiles
Flowers	Bonus tiles set aside for points	Regular tiles used in hands
Scoring	Points or doubles for patterns; varies by rule set	Fixed value printed on the card
Rules change	Stable for decades	New card every spring

“Chinese Mahjong” covers several rule sets, and details vary between them. The comparisons below use the most common ones.

1. Jokers

This is the difference most players notice first. A standard Chinese set has 144 tiles: three suits, Winds, Dragons, and eight Flowers and Seasons. American play uses those same kinds of tiles plus eight Jokers, for 152.

Jokers are wild in groups of three or more identical tiles, but they can never be used in a pair or as a single tile. Traditional Chinese rule sets have no wild tiles at all. Our guide to Jokers in American Mahjong covers every Joker rule.

2. The Card vs. Building Your Own Hand

In Chinese Mahjong, you win by building a complete hand in a standard form, usually four sets and a pair. The sets can be pungs (three of a kind), kongs (four of a kind), or chows (runs of three in one suit), in almost any combination. Special patterns score extra.

In American Mahjong, you can only win with one of the hands printed on the current NMJL card, matched exactly. The card changes every spring, so the hands you chase this year may not exist next year. That’s why American players buy a new card annually and relearn it each April.

3. The Charleston

After the deal, American players pass tiles to each other in a fixed sequence called the Charleston: three tiles right, across, and left, then optionally left, across, and right, then an optional trade with the player across. It lets everyone shape their hand before the first discard.

Chinese Mahjong has no equivalent. Play starts as soon as the tiles are dealt.

4. Calling Discards

Both games let you claim another player’s discard, but the rules differ.

Chinese: you can call a discard for a pung or kong from any player. You can call for a chow (a run) only from the player who discards just before your turn.
American: you can call a discard only to complete a group of three or more identical tiles, or to win. You can never call for a run, and you can call for a pair only if it completes your hand.

5. Quints and Sextets

With four of each regular tile, Chinese Mahjong tops out at the kong. Because American Mahjong has Jokers, the card can include quints (five identical tiles) and even sextets (six). These always need at least one Joker, except with Flowers, which have eight tiles.

6. Flowers and Dragons Play Different Roles

In most Chinese rule sets, Flowers and Seasons are bonus tiles. When you draw one, you set it aside, draw a replacement, and score points for it.

In American Mahjong, the eight Flowers are ordinary tiles that appear in card hands, and any Flower matches any other. Dragons also take on a new job. Each Dragon is paired with a suit (Red with Craks, Green with Bams, White with Dots), and the White Dragon, called Soap, doubles as a zero in hands that spell out the year.

7. Scoring

Chinese scoring depends on the rule set. Hong Kong style counts doubles, called faan, for patterns in the winning hand. Chinese Official rules, used in international competition, list 81 scoring patterns and require at least 8 points to win.

American scoring is simpler. Each hand on the card has a fixed value, and payment depends on how you won:

On a discard: the discarder pays double, and the other two players pay the value.
By drawing the tile yourself: all three players pay double.
With no Jokers in your hand: payments double again, except for Singles and Pairs hands.

Our American Mahjong rules guide walks through scoring with examples.

8. The Wall and the Deal

Many Chinese rule sets keep a dead wall at the end of the wall, used to draw replacement tiles after a kong or a Flower. In many of them, the dealer also keeps the deal after winning.

American Mahjong has no dead wall. Every tile can be played, and you never draw a replacement tile. East, the American equivalent of the dealer, passes to the right after every hand, whoever wins.

What Stays the Same

Underneath the differences, the two games share a lot:

Four players, tiles face down, and a wall to draw from.
Craks, Bams, Dots, Winds, and Dragons.
Drawing and discarding one tile per turn.
Calling a discard, exposing tiles, and declaring Mahjong when your hand is complete.
A wall game when the tiles run out and nobody has won.

If you’ve played one, you’ll recognize the rhythm of the other right away.

Which Should You Learn?

Learn the one your friends play. The two games are equally deep; they just reward different skills.

If your local group, community center, or family plays with racks and a card that changes every spring, they’re playing American Mahjong. If you see the tiles set on the table with no card, it’s probably a Chinese, Hong Kong, or other style of game.

And if the “mahjong” you’ve played is a matching puzzle on a phone, that’s a different thing altogether. See our guide to mahjong vs. mahjong solitaire.

Play American Mahjong on Your iPhone

Mahj Parlour is built for American Mahjong: the current NMJL card, the Charleston, Joker exchanges, and scoring by the card. Start with the free lessons, practice against bots, and bring your group to a private table when you’re ready.