The year of the Dragon brings authority, prosperity and good fortune. The 2024 Wood Dragon adds elements of abundance and improvement to the new year. We all hope for an abundance of Mah Jonggs and continued improvement in our strategy during game play! Let's fire it up and delve into this new, challenging and creative 2024 playing card!! There are only 2 carryover hands from the 2024 playing card, from the Consecutive Run and Winds & Dragons categories. There are 73 hands as written on this card. A plethora of patterns and hand combinations account for the 1683 variations of playable h ..read more

The year of the Dragon brings authority, prosperity and good fortune. The 2024 Wood Dragon adds elements of abundance and improvement to the new year. We all hope for an abundance of Mah Jonggs and continued improvement in our strategy during game play! Let's fire it up and delve into this new, challenging and creative 2024 playing card!! There are only 2 carryover hands from the 2024 playing card, from the Consecutive Run and Winds & Dragons categories. There are 73 hands as written on this card. A plethora of patterns and hand combinations account for the 1683 variations of playable h ..read more

Flower tiles are my favorite tiles and are the most ornate tiles in Mah Jongg sets. They are rich in symbolism and are associated with the seasons and plants that are symbolic of life, death, fertility, heaven, and earth. Flower tiles once served as the wild tiles, like joker tiles with which we now play. In the 1920s, Mah Jongg sets came with 8 flowers, however, during the year 1937 into the 1940’s, there were 8 to 20 flowers in play. The increase was supposed to affect the ratio of luck and enable the play of more challenging hands. 20-24 flowers were used in the 1950’s, and from 8-14 flowe ..read more

In Chinese culture, the rabbit is said to be the luckiest out of all the twelve zodiac animals of the lunar calendar!! Grab your lucky rabbit's foot and let's hop into the 2023 Mah Jongg playing card which promises to be a fun and challenging card! Only 9 hands are repeated from the 2022 playing card and 39% of the hands are new hands. The patterns are creative allowing for the 756 variations that can be made from the 70 hands as written on this card. Players will have many opportunities to go down many rabbit holes in search of creative combinations!! ,Some Observations of the 2023 Playing C ..read more

We play the game...but what do we really know about the origin of Mah Jongg? How did Mah Jongg come to the United States? I learned much about this intriguing game as I researched to write a bit about its history to share with you fans of Mah Jongg. Mah Jongg, often dubbed “The Game of a Thousand Intelligences,” is an ancient Chinese tile game that originated during the Qing dynasty circa 1850. Mah Jongg, a gambling game of both skill and luck, is often referred to as “China’s National Pastime”. Mah Jongg, literally defined as "clattering sparrows,” relates to the sound of the tiles as they a ..read more

Please Pass the S&P!! ,2022 Singles & Pairs Hands Do you gravitate toward certain sections on the playing card? Do you find some categories on the card more comfortable and familiar? Do you tend to play certain Hands over and over again? Do you limit yourself by playing Hands within only a few groups on the card? Do you want to branch out and challenge your Maj mind? Do you want to earn some coin? Do you feel brave enough to go for a Singles & Pairs (S&P) Hand? When life gives you lemons...you can choose to make lemonade!! And when your 13 Maj tiles are delivered sans Jokers ..read more

April is a time for new Mah Jongg Beginnings! The arrival of the 2021 playing card brings much excitement and eagerness to players of all skill levels. I survey the card's categories and dissect each and every Hand with a fine tooth comb. I analyze the changes, additions and deletions that are made to the playing card by the National Mah Jongg League. Did you know there are 67 Hands as written on the card? However, due to the myriad combinations of suits from which to choose, those 67 Hands morph into over 750 variations for players to create! That is quite a few more variations of the Hands ..read more

Introducing... The Mah Jongg Charleston Assist Created BY a Mah Jongg player & instructor… FOR Mah Jongg players & instructors! During the many years I have been teaching Mah Jongg, I have noticed that many players seem to get lost in the Charleston! The Mah Jongg Charleston Assist (MJCA) is a device to be used during the Charleston of American Mah Jongg game play and can be used alongside all American Mah Jongg sets. The MJCA takes the guesswork out of Passing and reminds all players exactly WHEN during the Passing you have the Option to Blind Pass or to Stop the Charleston completel ..read more

Betting and Mah Jongg have always gone Hand in Hand…no pun intended! When Mah Jongg is “five-handed,” the fifth player can become a Bettor. This fifth player can rotate in to play games, and, when sitting out, can act as a Bettor and participate by choosing the player they think will win the upcoming game. Having a Bettor adds another dimension and extra excitement to the game of Mah Jongg. Betting allows the fifth player to be a part of the game, albeit a silent observer. The Bettor, without any comments or indication of whether a Hand looks strong or weak, may survey each player’s tiles and ..read more

Every MahJongg tile that is discarded during play must be clearly, verbally named. Six Crak, Four Bam, Seven Dot, West, or Green are just a few examples of tile names. The following tiles have unique names that you must remember: ~ 1 Bam may be called “1 Bam”, but I have also heard this tile named “Bam Bird” ~ Flower tiles are simply called “Flower” even though in many Maj sets the Flower tiles also have numbers or seasons on the tiles. I teach my students to disregard the Flower's number or season – this is all just Flower fluff!! All Flower tiles, whether Forget Me Nots or Freesias, palm t ..read more