How To Set Up a Mahjong Game

Are you ready to play Mahjong? Here's a simple step by step of how to set up for your first American Mah Jongg game!

1. Place a rack and pusher in front of each player, pusher facing out.
2. Shuffle your tiles and turn them all face down.
3. Build a wall in front of each rack and pusher. Each wall will be 2-tiles tall and 20-tiles long (if using jokers and blanks). The walls are communal “draw piles,” where each player will draw from on their turn.
4. Next, it's time to select the dealer and deal the tiles. The dice are only used during the set up and deal. On the first game, all players roll to deal; highest roller is first to deal. After that, dealing moves around the table to the right.
5. The dealer rolls both dice. The number rolled is the number the dealer counts inward from the right side of the wall. Dealer pushes out the wall from that point and begins the deal from there. (After that, the walls will get pushed out around the table to the left.)
6. To deal, the Dealer deals tiles to themselves first, 4 tiles to start. Then deal “right and tight” to the rest of the table. Dealer gives 4 tiles at a time until each player has 12 tiles. Then the dealer takes the 1st and 3rd top layer tile (The dealer now has 14 tiles total). Finally, the dealer gives each other player one final tile (13 total).
7. After the deal, the Charleston is a way to pass tiles you don’t need in the hopes of receiving some you do need. 3 tiles are passed at a time around the table in the following order: R.O.L.L.O.R. - Right, Over, Left, Left, Over, Right.  The first three passes are mandatory, Right, Over, Left. After the First Left pass, players can choose to continue the Charleston for 3 more passes or to end it. If one player wants to stop the Charleston after the First Left, that ends it.
8. After the Charleston, the final pass is the Courtesy Pass. Players may exchange between 0 and 3 tiles with the person across the table from them. The players must agree on number of tiles to exchange.
9. You're ready to start playing! The Dealer starts the game play by discarding their 14th tile face up on the table. Play then moves around the table to the right. Players begin their turn by drawing a tile from the wall and end their turn by discarding a tile face up.

For a Printable How to Play American Mahjong Quick Guide, click here!