American Mahjong Terms: A Plain-English Glossary

Quick answer: American mahjong has its own vocabulary. The tiles are Bams, Craks and Dots (the three suits), Winds, Dragons (the White Dragon is called Soap), Flowers and Jokers. Matching tiles form a pair (2), pung (3), kong (4), quint (5) or sextet (6). Before play comes the Charleston, a tile-passing ritual, and you win by declaring Mah Jongg when your 14 tiles match a hand on the current National Mah Jongg League (NMJL) card. The full glossary is below.

New to the game? Table talk like “I’ll call that for a pung” or “I picked it” can sound like a foreign language. This glossary groups the most common American mahjong terms by where you’ll hear them. For the rules in order, start with our step-by-step beginner’s guide to American mahjong.

Amber Vine American mahjong tiles laid out by type: Dots 1 to 9 with a framed Soap tile, Bams 1 to 9 with a peacock 1 Bam and a green dragon, Craks 1 to 9 with a red dragon, NEWS winds, two jester-hat jokers, two blank tiles and eight flower tiles, beside amber flake tile backs

Tile Terms

  • Suit – One of the three families of numbered tiles: Bams, Craks and Dots. Each runs 1 to 9, with four copies of every number.
  • Bams (Bamboo) – The suit drawn as bamboo sticks. The 1 Bam is usually a bird; on our Amber Vine set it’s a peacock.
  • Craks (Characters) – The suit marked with the Chinese character for each number, usually with a Western numeral in the corner.
  • Dots (Circles) – The suit drawn as circles, or as flowers, fruit or other motifs on designer sets.
  • Winds – Sixteen tiles: four each of North, East, West and South.
  • NEWS – One of each Wind (North, East, West, South) used as four single tiles in a hand.
  • Dragons – Twelve tiles: four Red, four Green and four White. Each Dragon is linked to a suit: Red with Craks, Green with Bams and White with Dots. Some modern sets print “CRAK” and “BAM” on the Red and Green Dragons.
  • Soap – The nickname for the White Dragon, often a blank or framed white tile. On card lines that need a zero, such as year hands, Soap stands in as the 0.
  • Flowers – Eight decorative tiles that are all interchangeable with each other. In American mahjong they are working tiles that certain hands require, not bonus points.
  • Joker – A wild tile. American mahjong uses 8 jokers, and they can stand in for any tile in a group of three or more, but never in a single or a pair. Our jokers guide covers every joker rule.
  • Natural – A real tile, as opposed to a joker standing in for it.
  • Blanks – Spare tiles that many sets include. Standard play uses 152 tiles, which is why sets are often sold as 160 pieces. See how many tiles are in an American mahjong set.

Groups, Hands and the Card

  • Single – A lone tile a hand requires. Jokers can’t be used for singles.
  • Pair – Two identical tiles. Jokers can’t be used in pairs either.
  • Pung – Three identical tiles, such as three 5 Dots. Jokers may fill in.
  • Kong – Four identical tiles.
  • Quint – Five identical tiles. A set has only four of each suit tile, Wind and Dragon, so a quint always needs at least one joker unless it is made of Flowers.
  • Sextet – Six identical tiles, which means at least two jokers (again, unless they’re Flowers).
  • The card – The NMJL’s yearly card listing every hand that can win that year. A new card comes out each spring, so last year’s hands no longer count. Our NMJL card walkthrough explains how to read it.
  • Hand (or line) – One winning combination printed on the card. Your 14 tiles must match one exactly.
  • Section – A family of hands on the card. Familiar sections include 2468, Like Numbers, Quints, Consecutive Run, 13579, Winds & Dragons, 369 and Singles & Pairs, plus a year section built from that year’s digits.
  • X and C – Marks beside each hand. X means exposed: you may call discards to build it. C means concealed: you must draw every tile yourself except the last one that wins.
  • Value – The points printed beside each hand, used for payouts.

Setup and Charleston Terms

  • The wall – The face-down tiles each player builds in front of their rack, 19 tiles long and two high. You draw from the wall during play.
  • East – The dealer. East starts with 14 tiles, everyone else with 13, and East discards first. The East seat moves to the player on the right after each hand.
  • Breaking the wall – East rolls the dice to decide where the wall is opened for the deal.
  • Charleston – The passing ritual before play. In the required first Charleston, everyone passes three tiles right, then across, then left. Jokers can never be passed.
  • Second Charleston – An optional second round (left, across, right). Any one player may stop it.
  • Blind pass – Passing on tiles you just received without looking at them. It’s allowed only on the last pass of each Charleston.
  • Courtesy pass – An optional swap of zero to three tiles with the player across from you after the Charleston. If you disagree on how many, the lower number wins.

For passing tactics, read our Charleston strategy guide.

Play Terms

  • Discard – The tile you place face up in the center after drawing, named out loud.
  • Call – Claiming the most recent discard. You may call a tile only to complete a pung, kong, quint or sextet that you then expose, or to complete Mah Jongg (the only time a discard can finish a single or pair). If more than one player calls, Mah Jongg takes priority.
  • Racking – Placing a drawn tile among your own. Once the next player has racked their tile or discarded, the previous discard can no longer be called.
  • Exposure – A group you complete with a called discard and lay face up on top of your rack for everyone to see.
  • Joker exchange (redeeming a joker) – On your turn, swapping a natural tile for a joker in any exposure on the table, including your own.
  • Picking ahead – Drawing before the player ahead of you has discarded, which can cost you a chance to call.
  • Hot tile – A discard likely to complete an opponent’s hand.
  • Dead hand – A hand that can no longer win, for example because its exposures don’t match any hand on the card or it has the wrong number of tiles. That player stops playing for the rest of the hand but still pays the winner.
  • Mah Jongg – What you call out when your 14 tiles match a hand on the card. It ends the hand.
  • Self-pick – Winning with a tile you drew from the wall rather than a discard. All three opponents pay double.
  • Jokerless – A winning hand with no jokers. Payments double, except for Singles & Pairs hands, which can’t use jokers anyway.
  • Wall game – A hand that ends with no winner because the wall runs out. Nobody pays.

Payouts get their own guide: how to score American mahjong.

Violet Lemon American mahjong tiles in rows: lemon Dots, leafy branch Bams, blue-and-yellow tile-pattern number tiles, script Winds, animal jokers in sunglasses with JOKER labels, named botanical flower tiles, and red CRAK and green BAM boat tiles

Equipment Terms

Jade Green swirl acrylic mahjong rack with its attached pusher swung open and a row of American mahjong tiles standing in the rack

Table Talk and House Rules

  • Mahj – Casual shorthand for the game, as in “Are you free for mahj on Tuesday?”
  • Table rules (house rules) – What your group agrees on for things the official rules leave open, such as stakes.
  • Pie – The fixed stake each player brings to a session, in coins or chips, and the most anyone can lose that day.
  • Bettor – At a table of five, the player sitting out may bet on who will win the hand.
  • Open rack – Playing with your tiles visible so others can coach you, a friendly way to teach beginners.

For the unwritten rules, see our guide to American mahjong etiquette.

FAQ

What does pung mean in mahjong?

A pung is three identical tiles, such as three 5 Dots or three Red Dragons. In American mahjong, jokers may be used in a pung, and you can call a discard to complete one and then expose it.

What is Soap in mahjong?

Soap is the nickname for the White Dragon, which is often a blank or framed white tile. It is linked to the Dots suit, and on card lines that need a zero, such as year hands, it stands in as the 0.

What is the difference between a pung, kong and quint?

A pung is three identical tiles, a kong is four and a quint is five. Because a set has only four of each suit tile, Wind and Dragon, a quint needs at least one joker unless it is made of Flowers.

What do X and C mean on the mahjong card?

X means the hand can be exposed, so you may call discards to build it. C means the hand is concealed, so you must draw every tile yourself except the final tile that gives you Mah Jongg.

What is a blind pass in the Charleston?

A blind pass is passing on tiles you just received without looking at them. It is allowed only on the last pass of each Charleston, and jokers can never be passed.

What do you say when you win at mahjong?

You call out “Mah Jongg” and lay your 14 tiles face up so the table can check them against the card. If you drew the winning tile from the wall yourself, many players also say “I picked it,” because a self-pick means all three opponents pay double.

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