How do you read the American mahjong card?
Every line on the American mahjong card is one complete winning hand of 14 tiles. Colors show which groups share a suit. The letter at the end tells you whether you can call discards (X) or must keep it concealed (C), and the number is what the hand pays.
The first time you see the card it looks like a lottery ticket printed in three inks. It is more readable than it looks. Take one line at a time.
One line, one hand
Each line spells out 14 tiles. Numbers are tile values. Letters are honors: N, E, W and S for winds, D for a dragon, F for a flower. A zero is the white dragon, which everyone calls Soap. That is how a line can say 2026 and mean a hand built from a 2, a Soap, another 2 and a 6.
What the colors mean
The card prints groups in green, red or blue. The colors do not stand for a specific suit. They tell you which groups match each other inside one hand.
If every group in a line is the same color, the whole hand is one suit. You pick which. If a line uses two colors, you use two different suits, again your choice. Three colors means all three suits.
X or C
At the right end of each line is a letter and a number. X means exposed. You may call other people's discards to complete groups, laying them face up. C means concealed. You build it from your own draws and only show it when you win, though you can still take the final tile you need for mahjong.
Dragons follow suits
When a hand pairs a dragon with a number group, the dragon usually has to match the suit. Green dragon goes with bams, red with craks, and Soap with dots. Watch for this, it catches a lot of new players.
Sections
Hands are grouped by theme: year hands, even numbers (2468), odd numbers, like numbers, consecutive runs, winds and dragons, and a few more. Learning the sections helps more than memorizing lines. When your starting rack has lots of even tiles, you know which part of the card to look at first.
The card changes every year
The National Mah Jongg League prints a new card each spring, and groups switch over once it arrives. The hands change. The way you read them stays the same, so learning on any card is time well spent.
Sparrow teaches card reading on day four with a practice card of original hands, and Plus members can photograph their own official card so practice hands use real lines. Sparrow is not affiliated with the League.
Quick answers
What does the zero mean on the mahjong card?
A zero is the white dragon, also called Soap.
What do the colors mean on the mahjong card?
Groups in the same color share a suit. Different colors mean different suits. The colors do not name a specific suit.
What do X and C mean on the mahjong card?
X means you can expose the hand by calling discards. C means the hand stays concealed until you win.
How often does the mahjong card change?
The National Mah Jongg League publishes a new card every year, usually in the spring.
Sparrow teaches American mahjong to total beginners in seven short days, with unlimited practice hands. See how it works.