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Joker Exchange: Pick First

 Do you get excited when another player makes an exposure with a Joker? Oh, happy day! A Joker has appeared and you have that very tile  in your Hand. You fidget, waiting for your turn and then, Bam! You whip out the tile and ask for a Joker exchange.  Don't do it. Why not? It's not required to pick a tile from the Wall before doing a Joker exchange. Demand for Jokers is always high, and the temptation to grab one lures you forward. But here's the thing: if you exchange that Joker and place it in your rack before picking a tile from the wall, your hand is Dead.  Mah Jongg is indifferent to our suffering.  No matter what you need to do during your turn, you should always begin your turn by picking a tile from the wall. Here's the basic process of a turn in Mah Jongg for when a player picks a tile (vs calling for a discard): 1. Pick - this action begins your turn      Pick and rack a tile from the wall 2. Look      Look down at the n...
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Indecent Exposure: Racking Your Tiles, for Good or Evil

 Call! That's my go-to utterance when I want a discarded tile. Others I've heard include "Stop", "Take" and "Wait". In the official NMJL rule book, "Hold" and "Pause" should be reserved for when a player needs a moment to decide if they want to claim the discarded tile. There is no rule against a "Pause", but players should be aware of the game's pace and think/act accordingly. Nobody likes to be held up while a player scans their rack, then the card, and then the tile, before making a decision.  When you call for a discarded tile, the game stops. You pick up the tile,  place it on the top of your rack,  and add tiles from the sloped part of your rack to make a valid exposure. Valid exposures are for a Pung (3 identical), Kong (4 identical), Quint (5 identical), or Sextet (6 identical). Once that exposure is made, the player discards and the game continues. It is not required to place the discarded tile on top of y...
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The UnDead Hand

 Fellow Mah Jongg players,  As  beginners, we must often place ourselves at the mercy of the NMJL, the Card and other players. We are new and everything is foreign. After the deal, we search fervently for a match, any match between the tiles in our hand and the hands on the card. Why are there so many pairs? Where are all the jokers? Is winning even possible in this game?   Mah Jongg is a complex game, with rules and etiquette and customs coming from each corner of the table. It can be hard to remember when it's your turn, let alone how you should ask for a Joker exchange or where to put the dice after East rolls. The thing is, the table, the tiles, the card and the game play are only the surface of Mah Jongg. The etiquette, the customs, the practices, and even the setup & take down are also important parts that cement this game as a cultural, social experience. And as much fun as it is (sometimes!), there are rules to the game.  Playing by the rules do...
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American Mah Jongg for Enthusiasts, Beginner and Experienced Alike: Welcome to my Mah Jongg blog

Welcome!  I am a Mah Jongg player and instructor. I am retired from my previous life as a technology and finance executive, and I'm currently teaching beginners at a local library, and I play 4 days a week. I love this game and everything that comes with it: community, brain exercises, time out of the house and, of course, winning games.  I write here to bring help and tips to Mah Jongg players everywhere. It's interesting to me how one game can have so many "variations". But of course, there aren't any variations to the game; only in the way that it is played. I play by the NMJL rules. That means I'm not always welcome at "friendly" or "social" tables because I enforce the rules. My reply to a "we don't do that; this is a friendly game" is "well, if you landed on Boardwalk and I put a hotel on it, would you allow that?" Of course not--it's against the Monopoly rules. Somehow, though, enforcing Mah Jongg rules is...
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