One of the first questions that experienced American Mah Jongg players ask me when they learn about Card Free is “How do you play defensively if you don’t have a list of hands to defend against?” It is a great question, and an important one for me to answer because defensive play is an important skill in American Mah Jongg that experienced players truly enjoy. My answer is, worry not! There are plenty of opportunities to play defensively in Card Free American Mah Jongg. In fact, over the last year as I have been playtesting, getting feedback from players, and refining the rules, I have paid particular attention to fostering more defensive play. Below I share my thoughts on some effective defensive strategies focused on the safety of discards.

The Rules will Guide Your Defensive Strategy

In Standard American Mah Jongg, when an opponent exposes a block, you can start pouring through the card to discern which hands they may be trying to make. Watching their discards closely can give you even more information. Once a second exposure comes out, you should be able to narrow down the possibilities to a few or even one single hand. Armed with this information, you can identify tiles that should be safe to discard. Defensive play in Card Free works basically the same way, however instead of combing through the card, you need to consider logically which other tiles could be called to make a winning hand that follows the Card Free rules. For consideration of defensive play, here are some important factors:

1. Jokers can’t be called after discarding, so they are always safe.
2. Flowers can only be in pairs, so they can only be called for Mah Jongg, making them relatively safe early discards.
3. A number used in a block cannot be used in another block unless using the Like Numbers category.
4. The rule of 2 different block types to make a winning hand will generally steer players toward a hand of 4 or 5 blocks, which tends to limit the set to 3 or 4 numbers.
5. Wind tiles and Number tiles cannot be in the same hand except for a NEWS block in a hand using one of the numbers categories.
6. Blocks of the same suit must be next to each other in the sequence.
7. Number tiles must be in consecutive order in the category without skipping numbers.

Flowers First

Flowers are flexible because they can be added to any set, however they can only be used in Pair blocks. This means they cannot be called for an exposure unless being called for Mah Jongg. Flowers can be a great tile to discard early as your opponents will likely not be close to Mah Jongg. However as the game progresses and opponents move closer to a winning hand, discarding Flower tiles can be risky.

Of course, there is that one special hand, the Dragon’s Love hand which consists of two Kongs of Dragons and two Pungs of Flowers. If an opponent exposes a Pung of Flowers, then you know they are going for the Dragon’s Love, so be very careful not to discard Dragons or Flowers.

Numbers Don’t Repeat

The NMJL card will have hands in multiple categories that repeat numbers from the category. For example, the 2025 card has a Consecutive Run hand FF 1 22 333 1 22 333. This hand would not be legal in Card Free because it repeats numbers in two different blocks while not using the Like Numbers category. For defensive play, when an opponent exposes a number tile block, if that player is not playing Like Numbers, then the other two suits of that number are safe. And since the Consecutive Runs or Odds/Evens are more flexible than Like Numbers, discarding a tile of the same number from a different suit is likely a safer discard.

What Patterns Tell Us

There are 9 patterns that fit the rule of using two different block types adding up to 14 tiles for a winning hand. Of these 9 patterns, four of them have 4 blocks in the pattern. If using number tiles, the length of the set will either be 3 or 4 tiles. There is one pattern with only 3 blocks, requiring a set of 3 numbers. That means over half of the patterns are limited to only 3 or 4 numbers in the set. These also tend to be the easier hands to achieve because the patterns with 5 or 6 blocks require one or more pair blocks.

There is a 10th legal pattern: Seven Pairs. However this pattern must be played concealed so there will be no exposures to assess for defensive information. The Seven Pairs pattern is not discussed throughout this post.

Because of the flexibility of Dragon, Flower, or NEWS blocks, it can be easier to fill up a pattern using only 3 number tiles from a category and one of these flexible additional blocks instead of using 4 or 5 number tiles from the category. For practical defense purposes, a decent rule of thumb could be that the likeliest length of a set is 3 numbers plus one Dragon, Flower, or NEWS block. Using this rule of thumb, once an opponent has made an exposure, you can start making some educated guesses as to the safety of discarding certain tiles.

The First Exposure: Winds

This is an easy one. If an opponent exposes a block with a Wind tile, then you know that any number tile you discard will be safe. An exposed wind tile block means the set is either North-East-West-South, or it will be the opposite wind of that tile. For example, an exposed block of East means the set is either East & West or North, East, West, South. If you must discard a wind tile, the tiles that are not opposite of the exposed tile are safer. So if East is exposed, North and South are safer discards than West. Dragons may be unsafe to discard since these are the only other tiles that can be in a hand with Wind blocks.

The First Exposure: Numbers

An opponent’s first exposure of a number tile tells you a lot about the set they are likely trying for and what discards may be safer than others. First, the exposure of a Number tile means Wind tiles are generally safe, though they could be called in a NEWS block in order to call Mah Jongg. Second, if we make the assumption that the most likely set length is three numbers, then the nearest consecutive numbers and the numbers in the same category of Odd/Even are the most dangerous tiles to discard. Numbers that are two away from the exposed tile are the most dangerous because they can be either in a consecutive run set or in the Odd/Even set category the exposed tile belongs to.

Below is a chart of the 9 different possible number tile exposures by your opponent, showing what the likeliest set possibilities are and the relative safety of tiles you can discard. You certainly do not have to memorize this chart, but reviewing it will help you understand the logic and apply it during your games.

FIRST EXPOSURE: ONES (1’s)
SET POSIBILITIES: Consecutive Run: 123 Consecutive Odd: 135 Like Numbers: 111	DISCARD SAFETY: 🟢 Likely Safe: 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, Winds 🟡 Moderate: 1, 5 🟠 Caution: 2 🔴 Danger: 3

FIRST EXPOSURE: TWOS (2’s)
SET POSSIBILITIES: Consecutive Run: 123, 234 Consecutive Even: 246 Like Numbers: 222	DISCARD SAFETY: 🟢 Likely Safe: 5, 7, 8, 9, Winds 🟡 Moderate: 2, 6 🟠 Caution: 1, 3 🔴 Danger: 4

FIRST EXPOSURE: THREES (3’s)
SET POSSIBILITIES: Consecutive Run: 123, 234, 345 Consecutive Odd: 135, 357 Multiples of Three: 369 Like Numbers: 333	DISCARD SAFETY: 🟢 Likely Safe: 8, Winds 🟡 Moderate: 3, 6, 7, 9 🟠 Caution: 2, 4 🔴 Danger: 1, 5

FIRST EXPOSURE: FOURS (4’s)
SET POSSIBILITIES: Consecutive Run: 234, 345, 456 Consecutive Even: 246, 468 Like Numbers: 444	DISCARD SAFETY: 🟢 Likely Safe: 1, 7, 9, Winds 🟡 Moderate: 4, 8 🟠 Caution: 3, 5 🔴 Danger: 2, 6

FIRST EXPOSURE: FIVES (5’s)
SET POSSIBILITIES: Consecutive Run: 345, 456, 567 Consecutive Odd: 135, 357, 579 Like Numbers: 555	DISCARD SAFETY: 🟢 Likely Safe: 2, 8, Winds 🟡 Moderate: 1, 5, 9 🟠 Caution: 4, 6 🔴 Danger: 3, 7

FIRST EXPOSURE: SIXES (6’s)
SET POSSIBILITIES: Consecutive Run: 456, 567, 678 Consecutive Even: 246, 468 Multiples of Three: 369 Like Numbers: 666	DISCARD SAFETY: 🟢 Likely Safe: 1, Winds 🟡 Moderate: 2, 3, 6, 9 🟠 Caution: 5, 7 🔴 Danger: 4, 8

FIRST EXPOSURE: SEVENS (7’s)
SET POSSIBILITIES: Consecutive Run: 567, 678, 789 Consecutive Odd: 357, 579 Like Numbers: 777	DISCARD SAFETY: 🟢 Likely Safe: 1, 2, 4, Winds 🟡 Moderate: 3, 7 🟠 Caution: 6, 8 🔴 Danger: 5, 9

FIRST EXPOSURE: EIGHTS (8’s)
SET POSSIBILITIES: Consecutive Run: 678, 789 Consecutive Even: 468 Like Numbers: 888	DISCARD SAFETY: 🟢 Likely Safe: 1, 2, 3, 5, Winds 🟡 Moderate: 4, 8 🟠 Caution 7, 9 🔴 Danger: 6

FIRST EXPOSURE: NINES (9’s)
SET POSSIBILITIES: Consecutive Run: 789 Consecutive Odd: 579 Like Numbers: 999	DISCARD SAFETY: 🟢 Likely Safe: 1, 2, 4, Winds 🟡 Moderate: 3, 5, 6, 9 🟠 Caution: 8 🔴 Danger: 7

Rules of Thumb

Reviewing the above chart, you can see that a few logical patterns emerge that can be explained by some rules of thumb:

1. Numbers 2 away from the exposure number are the most dangerous, because they could be in a consecutive run hand or a consecutive odd/even hand.
2. Numbers 1 away from the exposure are dangerous because they are the most likely numbers to be used in a consecutive run hand
3. If the exposed number is odd, then even numbers are more safe. The opposite is also true. However, this does not work for 369.
4. Numbers that are far away from the exposure number are very safe, such as 1 and 8 or 2 and 9.
5. The safest tiles to play when a Number block is exposed would be a Wind tile.

And Now it’s Time for a Poem

Next door neighbors can be trouble,
But two away, the danger doubles.
Odds and Evens can be fine,
Unless they’re trying 369.
Distant numbers? Safe by mile,
But even safer are the Wind tiles.
Defensive play is not for fools,
Just don’t forget the winning hand rules.

The Second Exposure

With two exposures from your opponent, you should be able to confidently narrow the possibilities for what hand they are trying to achieve. An important rule to remember after the second exposure is that numbers in the set must be consecutive. For example, 246 is valid, but 248 is not. Because of this, after two exposures you can assume all tiles between the two numbers in the category must also be present in the set. You can even use this information to call your opponent’s hand dead! Here are some two-exposure scenarios and what they should tell you about your opponent’s hand.

1. Two blocks of the same number must be the Like Numbers category. All number tiles that are not that number are 100% safe.
2. Two consecutive number blocks must be in the Consecutive Run category, so there are likely only 1 or 2 more tiles in consecutive order that could be in the set.
3. Two exposed number blocks that are 3 apart (eg. 1 & 4) must be Consecutive Run because they can’t be Odds, Evens, or Like Numbers. The only exception is 3 & 6 or 6 & 9 because they could also being the 369 category.
4. Two exposed number blocks that are 4 apart (eg. 2 & 6) are very likely Odds or Evens instead of Consecutive RUn because it would require at least a 5-number consecutive run to span the numbers which is more difficult than an Odd or Even hand requiring fewer numbers.
5. Two exposed number blocks that are 5 apart (eg. 1 & 6) must be Consecutive Run and are quite rare.
6. Two exposed number blocks that are 6 apart (eg. 3 & 9) can only be a 369 hand or an Odds / Evens hand
7. If the two exposed number blocks are 1 & 8 or 2 & 9, the hand can be declared a dead hand because there is no possible set where these tiles could be in a winning Mah Jongg hand.
8. If the two exposed number blocks are 1 & 9, the only set can be 13579. Because this set is 5 blocks long, if the opponent exposed blocks that can only be in a pattern that is not at least 5-blocks long, such as a Pung and a Kong which can only be in the 2 Pung 2 Kong set (only 4 blocks), then the hand can be declared dead.

What Suits Tell Us

There are two rules to keep in mind when considering the suits of your opponent’s exposures. First, if your opponent uses only 1 suit they can get a bonus if they win, so it is important to try to prevent that. Second, if more than one suit is used, the blocks with the same suit must be next to each other in the sequence. This rule will allow you to infer a number of safe tiles once two exposures are made.

The suit of an opponent’s first exposure doesn’t tell you very much information, however, you may want to think about discarding tiles of a different suit so you don’t help your opponent earn a Suit bonus.

Once an opponent’s second exposure comes out, the suits of the two exposures will give you intel on a number of safe discards. Below are a couple scenarios and what defensive opportunities can be found.

Scenario 1: Two number blocks, 1 suit, at least 2 numbers apart. The numbers including and between the two numbers that are not matching the exposed suit are all 100% safe. For example, if blocks of 2 bam and 5 bam are exposed, the 2,3,4, and 5 tiles in the other two suits are all 100% safe. That is because suits must always be next to each other in the sequence, so no blocks of another suit can be called between two blocks of numbers in the same suit.

Scenario 3: Two number blocks, 2 different suits, at least 2 numbers apart. The suit of the first number is safe for all tiles equal to and above the last number. And the suit of the second number is safe for all tiles equal and below the first number. For example: if blocks of 3 bam and 6 crak are exposed, then 6, 7, 8, 9 bam are all 100% safe and 3, 2, 1 crak are also 100% safe. Again, this is the case because of the rule that suits must be next to each other in the sequence.

The Third Exposure

After three exposures, you should be able to discern what pattern the player is going for, which could also tell you how many blocks are left. Now you should be armed with plenty of information to make safe discards for the rest of the round. Here are a few additional pieces of information that will help you play solid defense.

There are only a few patterns that allow for 3 exposures, and you can determine which pattern based on those 3 exposures in all but 1 case.

• If 3 Kongs are exposed, the pattern must be 1 Pair 3 Kongs.
• If Pungs and Kongs are exposed, then the pattern must be 2 Pungs 2 Kongs.
• If 3 pungs are exposed, the pattern could be 1 Pair 4 Pungs, or 3 Pungs 1 Quint.

Those are the only possible patterns that would allow 3 exposures. Importantly for defensive play, all of these patterns except for one (1 Pair 4 Pungs) are all 4 block patterns. This means with 3 of the 4 blocks exposed, you will likely be able to determine which tile is needed to complete the 4th block in the pattern.

All of the defensive strategies after the second exposure also apply after the third exposure, except you have even more information to make your defensive play. At this point, your opponent is very close to Mah Jongg, so playing defense is even more important. If you aren’t that close to winning yourself, then it’s probably best to just fight for the wall game.

Ok, I’ll finally wrap this thing up

I may have gone overboard on this topic! This post ended up being longer than expected. Yet, there is plenty more to talk about when it comes to defensive play. I didn’t even mention Charleston strategy or thinking about the tiles your opponent discards. My goal here was to make it clear to players that Card Free American Mah Jongg will give you ample opportunities for defensive play. If you are coming to Card Free from standard American Mah Jongg, then your strategic thinking will have to adjust to the rules of making winning hands as opposed to finding the hand on the card, but I do believe you will find the defensive play in Card Free very satisfying.

If you’ve given Card Free American Mah Jongg a try, I would love to hear what you have discovered about playing defensively. Feel free to reply to the post of contact me at cardfreemahj@gmail.com.

Happy Defending!