American Mah Jongg Without the Confusion

About this book

A large-print beginner's guide and practice workbook for American Mah Jongg. Every rule checked, 13 drills with answers, and card drills that work with any year's card.

New to the game, between lessons, or about to join a weekly group? Keep this book beside your rack. You use it with your own card. No card hands are printed in it, so nothing goes out of date when the new card arrives.

New players say the same things about beginner books: too wordy, full of examples from an old card, and some rules that are simply wrong. In some, the diagrams point one way while the words say the other. American Mah Jongg Without the Confusion was built to fix exactly that. Every rule was written as one plain statement and checked against published rule sources before it went in. Where groups commonly play differently, the book says so, usually in a House Rule Alert, instead of guessing.

What you'll learn

- All 152 tiles, which dragon goes with which suit, and when a Soap is a zero

• How to read your card: sections, colors, matching and opposite dragons, X and C, and hand values
• The Charleston step by step, including blind passes, stopping the second Charleston, and the courtesy pass
• Taking turns, calling discards, exposing, and who gets the tile when two players call
• Jokers: where they can go, what happens to a discarded Joker, and exactly when you may exchange for one
• Mah Jongg, dead hands, wall games, and a payment table for settling up
• One complete hand walked through from the dice roll to the payout

Built for how beginners really learn

- 13 practice drills with a complete answer key, plus a 7-day practice plan you can do on your own

• Works with any year's card. The card drills use your own card, so they still work when the new card arrives
• Large print: text, tables and captions are all 16 point or larger, on big 8.5 × 11 inch pages. The Table Quick Reference pages are 19 point, readable at arm's length
• A glossary, a house-rules page for your group, and 16 game-log pages
• No QR codes, no downloads, no logins. Everything is on the page

The inside is printed in black and white. Every tile is drawn with its name and a clear pattern, so nothing depends on color. Tap Read sample to see the type size for yourself.

For new players, students between lessons, anyone joining a weekly group, and friends giving someone her first Mah Jongg set.

An independent guide. Not affiliated with the National Mah Jongg League, Inc. No hands from any card are reproduced. You'll need the current card, available from the League, to play.

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