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Learn American Mahjong
Plain-language guides to the game, from your first look at the tiles to the Charleston and jokers. Each one ends with how it works in Mahjong Alley.
How to play
The tiles, the card, a turn, calling a discard, and how a hand is won and paid.
Read the guide →The Charleston
The passes before play begins: right, across, left, then the optional second round and the courtesy pass.
Read the guide →Jokers
Where a joker can stand in, where it can't, and how to swap one off another player's rack.
Read the guide →Blanks and House Rules
What blanks are, how they're played, and how House Rules changes the tile set.
Read the guide →Playing online with friends
Live tables, async tables you play on your own time, and tables scheduled for game night.
Read the guide →What is American Mahjong?
American Mahjong is a game for four players, played with 152 tiles: three suits, winds, dragons, flowers and eight jokers. Before play starts, players pass tiles to each other in the Charleston. Then they draw and discard, aiming to be first to build a 14-tile hand that matches one of the hands on that year's card. The National Mah Jongg League publishes a new card every spring, so the hands you're chasing change from year to year.
It isn't the same game as Chinese, Hong Kong or Japanese riichi mahjong, which have no Charleston, no jokers and no yearly card. And it isn't mahjong solitaire, the tile-matching puzzle that shares the name.
Learning in the app
Mahjong Alley teaches the game from zero with interactive lessons, taught by three dragon coaches. They have a story, narration you can listen to or read, and quizzes and drills along the way so you know it's sticking. The lessons run in sections: a quick start, the basics, how to play, and how to win. Take just enough to start a game, or go all the way through.
When you're ready, practice against three computer opponents at the level that suits you, then bring your friends to a table.