Question 1

When is it too late to call the last discard?

Accepted Answer

The call stands. The last discard stays live until the next player racks the tile they drew, discards, begins a Joker exchange, or declares Mah Jongg. Picking up the wall tile and looking at it does not close the window, and neither does tapping it on the rack or standing it on the card. The player who drew puts that tile back on the end of the wall where it came from — even if they saw it — and the caller takes the discard. The discard can no longer be called, for an exposure or for Mah Jongg. Once the next player has racked the tile they drew — or discarded, started a Joker exchange, or declared Mah Jongg — the earlier discard is covered and out of play. Play simply continues from where it is. When a call and a racking happen at the same moment, the tile goes to the caller. The player who drew from the wall returns that tile to the spot it came from, even if they already saw it. This is also the answer when the table honestly cannot tell which came first: treat it as simultaneous, and the caller takes the discard.

Question 2

Two players want the same discard. Who gets it?

Accepted Answer

The player who needs the tile for Mah Jongg takes it. This holds even if the other player has already put the discard on their rack or started an exposure; those tiles go back into that player’s hand. If the Mah Jongg then turns out to be wrong, that hand is dead and the discard stays with it — unless the other player also needed it for Mah Jongg, in which case they may take it. When both players want the tile for the same purpose — both for an exposure, or both for Mah Jongg — the player whose turn comes next after the discarder (counterclockwise) takes it. It does not matter who spoke first, so the table does not need to settle that. If both players started putting tiles up at the same moment, the usual answer is again the player next in turn. The player who had already placed the discard on top of their rack or started putting up tiles keeps it, even though they were not next in turn; the player closer to the discarder spoke too late. This exception protects a player who called and exposed properly while the next player hesitated. It is not meant to reward racing or slamming tiles down to beat someone to a call — a call should be spoken before tiles move.

Question 3

Can I call a discard for a pair, a single, or a concealed hand?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Any discarded tile except a Joker can be called for Mah Jongg, no matter where it fits in the hand — a single, one of a pair, part of NEWS or a year, or the last tile of a pung or kong. This is true for a concealed hand too; calling the winning tile is the one time a concealed hand may take a discard. You may call it. During play a discard can be claimed to expose a pung, kong, quint, or sextet — three or more identical tiles — as long as your hand is not marked concealed. Say your call out loud, place the discard on top of your rack, and put up the rest of the group, Jokers included if you are using any. The whole group goes up now; a Joker picked up later in the turn cannot be added to it. This discard cannot be called. During play a discard may only be taken to expose a pung, kong, quint, or sextet. It cannot be taken to make a pair, to fill a single, or to put up a group of different tiles such as NEWS or a year, and a hand marked concealed cannot take any discard except its winning tile. Taking it anyway creates an incorrect exposure, and another player may call the hand dead. The tile stays on the table for anyone who can use it properly.

Question 4

I called a discard, then changed my mind. Can I take it back?

Accepted Answer

You may change your mind. Saying “call,” “take,” or “hold,” and even touching, moving, or lifting the discard, does not commit you. Put the tile back where it was and draw from the wall as usual; the tile remains live for the other players. Try not to make a habit of it — a called-then-returned tile breaks the rhythm of the game. You are committed to using the tile, but not yet to the exact shape of the exposure. Until you discard — or complete a Joker exchange — you may add tiles, remove tiles, or swap tiles in that exposure: change a pung to a kong, take a Joker back, or replace a wrong tile, as long as the called discard stays in it. What you cannot do is return the discard to the table and treat the call as if it never happened. If you cannot make a legal group with it, the exposure is incorrect and another player may call your hand dead. The exposure is final. After you discard, it cannot be changed — not expanded, reduced, or corrected — except by a proper Joker exchange. If the group turns out to be incorrect, another player may call the hand dead when they notice. The tile you threw stays on the table like any other discard.

Question 5

When and how can I swap my tile for an exposed Joker?

Accepted Answer

Go ahead. On your turn, after you have your 14th tile and before you discard, you may trade a matching natural tile for a Joker in any exposure on the table — another player’s or your own. You may make as many exchanges as you have matching tiles, from any number of racks. Say what you are doing, hand your tile to the owner of the exposure rather than reaching onto their rack, and let them hand you the Joker; a correct exchange cannot be refused. The Joker goes into your concealed tiles — you do not have to expose anything, and a concealed hand may exchange like any other. Then discard, or declare Mah Jongg if the Joker completes your hand. One limit: a Joker you pick up this turn cannot be added to an exposure you made this same turn. That exchange is not allowed. The tile you give must be the exact natural tile the Joker represents — same number and suit, or the same wind, dragon, or flower. You cannot put a Joker into an exposure to take a natural tile out, and you cannot call a discard in order to use it for an exchange; discards are only for exposures and Mah Jongg. If a wrong tile is noticed before the exchanger discards, simply undo it and fix it. Once the exchanger has discarded, the wrong tile stays — and the player whose exposure now holds it can be called dead for an incorrect exposure. So if you own the exposure, check the tile before you hand over the Joker. Not now. A Joker exchange is only allowed during your own turn, after you have drawn from the wall or called a discard and completed that exposure, and before you discard. Trying to exchange before your turn starts, after you have discarded, or during the Charleston is out of turn, and another player may call your hand dead for it. Wait for your turn, draw, and then make the exchange.

Question 6

A hand is dead. Can I still take a Joker from its exposures?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Exposures that were valid when they were made stay on top of the dead player’s rack, and any Joker in them can still be exchanged by the other players on their own turns, with the matching natural tile, for the rest of the hand. The dead player hands over the Joker just as they would have before. Also, if a hand is actually dead but nobody has declared it yet, its exposed Jokers remain available until someone does. No. The exposure that caused the dead hand — the incorrect group, or the tiles put up for a mistaken Mah Jongg — goes back into the sloped part of the dead player’s rack, Jokers included. Those Jokers are out of reach for the rest of the hand. Earlier exposures that were valid stay up, and their Jokers remain available. No Jokers are available from this hand. A concealed hand is never supposed to have exposures, so every group that was put up was invalid. All exposed tiles return to the sloped part of the rack, and nothing from that hand can be exchanged.

Question 7

Can a Joker stand in for a single tile or one of a pair?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A Joker may take the place of any tile in a pung, kong, quint, or sextet — numbers, winds, dragons, or flowers — and a group may hold any number of Jokers, even all of them, while it is concealed in your hand. An exposure made from a discard needs that one natural tile and may otherwise be all Jokers. This is true in exposed and concealed hands alike. No. A Joker can never be a single tile or either tile of a pair. That includes the groups on the card that only look like a set but are really singles and pairs printed together — NEWS, a year such as 2026, and the like. Singles-and-pairs hands therefore use no Jokers at all. A Joker placed in a pair or a single makes the hand incorrect; if it is exposed or declared that way, another player may call the hand dead.

Question 8

Someone discarded a Joker. Can anyone call it?

Accepted Answer

No one can call it, for an exposure or for Mah Jongg. A discarded Joker is dead the moment it is down. It also cannot be picked up to use in a Joker exchange. It stays on the table, and play moves on to the next player. Still nothing to call. Naming a Joker “same” or by the previous tile’s name is allowed, and it does not change what it is: the Joker on the table is dead, and the earlier discard is now covered by it and out of play too. Keep your eyes on the tile, not only your ears on the name.

Question 9

Can a Joker be passed in the Charleston?

Accepted Answer

No. Jokers are never passed in the Charleston — not in any of the six passes, not in a blind pass, and not in the courtesy pass. Only natural tiles are passed. If you cannot spare three tiles, you have other tools: a blind pass on the first left or the last right, stopping the Charleston after the first round, or agreeing on fewer tiles in the courtesy pass. Return it. The Joker goes straight back to the player who passed it, and they replace it with a natural tile so the pass is still three tiles. There is no penalty for the mistake in the standard rules — just correct it and continue. Receiving and keeping a passed Joker would be against the rules too, so hand it back even if nobody else noticed.

Question 10

Which passes allow a blind pass, and how many tiles can go blind?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you may pass blind here. You still pass three tiles, but one, two, or all three of them may be taken — unseen — from the three being passed to you, with the rest coming from your own hand. Take the unseen tiles from the incoming pass without turning them over, add your own tiles to make three, and pass; only then look at what is left for you. Saying “passing blind” is polite but not required, and more than one player may pass blind on the same pass. If so many players want to pass blind that the tiles get stuck, the League’s rulebook describes an I.O.U. method: the player with the most tiles to pass starts, says how many tiles they owe, and settles up when the pass comes back around. Not on this pass. Blind passing is allowed only on the first left — the third pass of the first round — and the last right — the third pass of the second round. On the other four passes (first right, first across, second left, second across) all three tiles must come from your own hand. The courtesy pass has no blind option either; there you simply agree on fewer tiles. Looking at the incoming tiles breaks the blind-pass rule — the whole point is that they are passed unseen. The standard rulebook sets no penalty for it; the League’s advice is to remind the player that blind tiles must not be looked at. Finish the pass with three tiles and move on, and treat the look as a lesson rather than a fight.

Question 11

Who can stop the Charleston, and when? What about the courtesy pass?

Accepted Answer

The first round cannot be stopped. All three passes — right, across, and the first left — must be completed by everyone, even a player whose hand is already set. The only time passing is skipped altogether is when East is dealt a complete hand and declares Mah Jongg before the Charleston begins. Finish the first left; then anyone may raise the question of stopping. Any one player may stop the Charleston now, without giving a reason, and the second round is skipped for everyone. The moment to speak is after the first left and before anyone picks up their second-left pass; a good habit is to say “I may want to stop” as soon as you receive the first left. If nobody stops it, the second round (left, across, last right) goes ahead. Either way the courtesy pass is still available afterward: you and the player across from you may exchange one, two, or three tiles, the player who wants fewer sets the number, and either of you may decline — the other pair may pass whether or not you do. The player who stopped the Charleston may take part in the courtesy pass too. It is too late to stop. Once anyone has picked up or looked at their second-left pass, the second round is underway and must be completed by everyone through the last right. After the last right comes the courtesy pass, which is optional for each pair of opposite players: one, two, or three tiles, the smaller number wins, and either player may decline.

Question 12

Someone has too many or too few tiles. Now what?

Accepted Answer

Once the game is under way, a hand with the wrong number of tiles is dead when another player points it out. The count is 13 tiles in or on the rack between turns, counting exposures, and 14 only during your own turn; tiles briefly in motion during a draw, a discard, or a Joker exchange do not count against you. A player cannot declare their own hand dead — if you notice your own miscount, keep playing defensively until someone else calls it. When the hand is called dead, that player stops picking and discarding, cannot win, and sits out quietly; earlier valid exposures stay on the rack and their Jokers remain available. Play continues with the next player. No restart is needed. The player to East’s left — the last to pick in the deal — may take the tile they missed from the wall, as long as East has not yet discarded. The game has not officially started, so this one tile is simply theirs. Then everyone counts, and play begins. Throw the hands in and start over: rebuild the walls, roll, and deal again. The game does not officially begin until East throws the first tile, so a wrong count found during the deal, during the Charleston, or after it but before East’s first discard is fixed by redealing — not by declaring anyone dead. Count your tiles before the Charleston and again before East discards; that is when mistakes are cheap.

Question 13

A hand was declared dead. What can that player still do?

Accepted Answer

The dead player stops playing for the rest of this hand: no picking, no discarding, no calling discards, no Joker exchanges, and no declaring Mah Jongg. They also stay silent — they may not call another hand dead or comment on the play. Tiles exposed by the mistake go back into the sloped part of their rack; earlier valid exposures stay up, and the other players may still exchange those Jokers. Their concealed tiles stay concealed — nobody is owed a look. If the dead player had just called a discard, their turn ends without a discard and play continues with the player to their right; if someone else needs that called tile for Mah Jongg, they may take it. The dead player is dealt into the next hand as usual. Then the hand is not dead. A player cannot declare their own hand dead, and a mention of it does not count until another player confirms, from the tiles visible to everyone, that the hand cannot be won. Until that happens the player keeps picking and discarding — the right play is to go defensive and aim for a wall game — and any Jokers in their exposures remain available for exchange. If another player can show it is dead, that player should say so, and the dead player stops from then on.

Question 14

Someone said “Mah Jongg,” but the hand isn’t right. What happens?

Accepted Answer

No harm done. A player who says “Mah Jongg” but has not exposed any tiles from their hand may take it back at once and continue the turn without penalty. If they had called a discard and already placed it on top of the rack, they are committed to using that discard — so they change the Mah Jongg to an ordinary call and make a proper exposure with it; if they cannot, the hand is dead. Everyone else should keep their own tiles exactly as they are until a declared hand has been checked. The declarer’s hand is dead. The tiles exposed for the mistaken Mah Jongg go back into the sloped part of their rack; exposures made properly earlier stay up, and their Jokers may still be exchanged. If the hand was a concealed one, everything returns to the rack. The dead player makes no discard; play continues with the player to their right. If the declarer had taken a discard for the “win,” that tile stays with the dead hand and cannot be called for an exposure — but a player who needs it for a real Mah Jongg may take it. One exception: when the Mah Jongg was declared on a discard and the only tiles put up form a single legitimate exposure with that discard (a pung, kong, quint, or sextet, in a hand that may expose), the player may change the declaration to an ordinary call, keep that exposure, and play on — the hand is not dead. And everyone else should verify a declared hand against the card before touching their own tiles. Those thrown-in hands are dead too; they cannot be rebuilt. The declarer’s hand is dead as well, handled like any mistaken Mah Jongg. If two players still have intact hands, they play on together and the wall stays as it is. If only one player’s hand is intact, the hand cannot continue and ends there; under the standard rules the penalty falls on the player who declared in error, settled the way your table scores penalties. Mixing the wall into the discards also ends the hand. The lesson for next time: nobody touches their tiles until the declared hand has been checked.

Question 15

A discard was called by the wrong name. What now?

Accepted Answer

Simply correct the name. The discarder — or anyone who notices — says the tile’s real name, and play goes on with no penalty. The tile itself stays on the table: the discarder does not take it back, and does not swap in the tile they named even if they are holding it. Once correctly named, the discard is live and may be called for an exposure or for Mah Jongg like any other. If the table cannot agree on what was said, this card cannot settle that; the tile on the table is what counts. The hand stops right there. A player who declared Mah Jongg on the strength of the wrong name is treated as the injured party: under the standard rule the penalty falls on the player who misnamed the tile, and the other two players owe nothing. It is not recorded as a win for the claimant, and it is not scored as a normal Mah Jongg. This applies even if the misnamed tile was actually a Joker. Settle it the way your table scores penalties, then shuffle and deal the next hand. The player who racked the tile or put up an exposure based on the wrong name now has an incorrect exposure, and another player may call that hand dead; the discarder owes no penalty. Everyone at the table is expected to look at a discard as well as listen to it. If the mistake was not noticed until the next player had already drawn and racked, the misnamed tile is simply covered — too late for anyone to call it, and nothing more to decide.

Rules at the table

Calling a tile

Calling a discard too late

Two players call the same discard

Calling for a pair, a single, or a concealed hand

Taking back a call

Misnamed discard

The Charleston

Passing Jokers in the Charleston

Blind pass

Stopping the Charleston and the courtesy pass

Jokers

Joker exchange

Jokers in singles and pairs

Calling a discarded Joker

Dead hands

Taking a Joker from a dead hand

What a dead hand can and can't do

Declaring Mah Jongg

Mah Jongg declared in error

Tiles and the wall

Wrong number of tiles