What is American Mahjong

Welcome to the place to learn about American Mah Jongg, the game so many people are learning to play today and so many people who played it years ago are relearning. Maybe you recall times when a family member or a friend played Mah Jongg years ago. It was “the game” that everyone played. Well, maybe not everyone, but during the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s its popularity was legendary.  And it’s happening again. The popularity of American Mah Jongg is “hot”.

The real game of American Mah Jongg (not the game of matching tiles so popular on the Internet) originated in China (around the 1880s), and is played with little rectangular tiles. The tiles have Chinese symbols and characters etched onto them and require the players to fashion these tiles into combinations that make a “hand”.  The first player to complete certain combinations of tiles, wins.  Many people know the card game, Gin Rummy. American Mah Jongg is a lot like it in concept, but more complex and challenging .

And more fun!!!!  And I must tell you that American Mah Jongg is such an exciting, stimulating and challenging game, it’s easy to become almost addicted to it.  It’s not called the “Game of a Thousand Intelligences” for nothing because, as one of my friends said, “It keeps the little grey cells of your brain alive, active and entertained.”  And it’s legal and non-fattening!!!!!!

American Mah Jongg is not like mah jongg in China, Japan, the Philippines, Germany, Great Britain and many other countries in the world where the game is played.  Each country has its own variation of the Chinese game and American Mah Jongg is no exception. There are several important differences between American Mah Jongg and other kinds of mah jongg which makes the American version unique. 

One of the “biggies” is, in the American version, players need a “Card of Hands”.   It’s a printed card that shows hands--- what tiles and what combinations of tiles are needed to declare “Mah Jongg”. There are about 50-55 or 56 separate hands and the player who is the first to complete the combinations of one of these hands, wins.

Chinese Mah Jongg and other variants do not require a card to make a hand.

 In American Mah Jongg, you either win or lose.  In other Mah Jongg games the winner and losers score the value of their hands. They get points for certain combinations—the winner getting extra points for winning, but losers also get points.  Certain combinations are worth more points than others and certain tiles are worth more than others.  It’s quite complicated.  But in American Mah Jongg there is no scoring, no point value of combinations.  You either win or lose.

You need an American Mah Jongg set to learn the game and to play.  Sets should contain at least 152 tiles, including 8 Joker tiles, and a minimum of 4 racks to hold tiles, a pair of dice. Modern American sets usually come with other accessories that were used traditionally in the Chinese game, but no longer used in the American version. Chinese Mah Jongg sets come with 144 tiles, do not have Joker tiles or racks.  They are not suitable for American Mah Jongg.

I hope I have whetted your appetite and desire to learn this great game.  Because if I have, click here, to read more!!!!!!