Mahjong 101: The Play

After the optional last across pass, East discards a tile from her rack, placing it face up on the table and naming it out loud.

• The player to East’s right then picks a fresh tile from the wall, looks at it, and decides whether or not she wants to keep it.

• If she keeps it, she places it in her rack and then discards a tile.

• If she does not want it, she places it face up on the table and names it.

The play continues in turn, with each player picking and then discarding. When a wall is exhausted, the wall to the left gets pushed out. The last wall to be played is the wall which East reserved in the beginning.

Remember, all picking is to the right, the walls come out to the left.

PLAYERS MUST HAVE 13 TILES IN THEIR HANDS AT ALL TIMES. 

The only time a player may have 14 tiles is at the beginning of a game if she is East, at the moment of picking a tile and before discarding, and at the time she makes a Mahjong. If a player miscounts and has more or less than 13 tiles, she is declared DEAD and is excluded from play.

Back to Mahjong 101: The Rules