MahjCove · Mahjong Basics
How to Read an American Mahjong Card
What the colors, letters, and parentheses tell you about a hand.
Open your 2026 card. Nine sections, each with its own color band, list every hand you can make this year. The spaces, colors, and words in parentheses do much of the work — read them together and a line starts to make sense.
The NMJL card lists the hands you can make for that year. Use your 2026 card alongside this article. The small examples below explain individual groups; they are not complete winning hands.
Start with one whole line
A winning hand must match a permitted 14-tile pattern, including any alternatives or restrictions printed alongside it. You cannot combine a useful section from one line with a useful section from another.
Choose a section, then read one line all the way through, including the parentheses and the X or C beside its value. It is easy to spot familiar numbers and miss the condition at the end.
“These numbers only” means exactly that. A permitted consecutive run gives you a choice of starting number, but the gaps and order still have to match the pattern.
Groups, colors, and what they mean
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Single | One tile in its required position |
| Pair | Two matching tiles |
| Pung | Three matching tiles |
| Kong | Four matching tiles |
| Quint | Five matching tiles, with jokers as needed |
| Sextet | Six matching tiles, with jokers as needed |
Letters and numbers may be printed close together to save space. NEWS is four different wind singles, not a kong. A grouping such as 112345 contains a pair and singles, not a sextet. Jokers cannot replace those singles or that pair.
Likewise, a printed year grouping is not a kong. Do not put a joker into a year grouping merely because it contains four tile positions.
For numbered tiles, the same printed color generally means the same suit and different colors mean different suits. The ink does not assign a fixed suit: red numbers do not automatically mean craks, and green numbers do not automatically mean bams.
Check the parentheses before counting suits. Flowers, winds, and soap used as zero are suitless, even when they are printed in a separate color.
When matching dragons are required, the card’s back panel explains which dragon goes with which suit. When a line allows any dragon or gives another relationship, follow that wording rather than assuming a match.
Soap represents zero only where zero is specified. It does not extend an ordinary numbered suit below one or above nine.
X and C: exposed or concealed
X identifies a hand that may be exposed. It does not require you to expose it; you can still complete that hand without calling a discard.
C identifies a concealed hand. You cannot call a discard to expose an ordinary group for that hand. You may call the natural tile that completes the entire hand for mahjong, even if it finishes a single or pair.
Concealed does not automatically mean jokerless. A concealed hand may use jokers within its eligible matching groups. A hand made entirely of singles and pairs cannot use them.
Build a hand with the card beside you
- Point to the exact line on your current card.
- Describe each group aloud: pair, pung, single, and so on.
- Assign actual suits while obeying colors and parentheses.
- Check any flowers, winds, dragons, or zeroes.
- Verify that your constructed example totals 14 tiles.
- Identify which gaps could accept jokers and which require natural tiles.
Lay the tiles face up beside the card. Once the hand fits, try changing a suit or a starting number where the instructions allow it. You will soon see which parts can change and which must stay the same.
Quick answers
Does a red number mean I must use craks?
No. Ink colors show relationships; they do not assign a permanent suit to a color.
Can I use any 14 tiles that form matching groups?
No. The full hand must match a permitted line on the card, including its instructions.
Can I expose two pungs as one sextet?
No. Keep the group sizes required by the card. Two separate three-tile groups and one six-tile group are different structures.
Can I switch suits mid-hand?
Only where the card allows it. Once you expose a group in a specific suit, that commitment stays.
