Card Free American Mah Jongg Rules

Card Free American Mah Jongg Official Rules
Updated April, 2025

Have you always wanted to try American Mah Jongg, but didn’t know what to make of that card you have to buy every year? Card Free American Mah Jongg is the game for you! This system allows you to build hands just like those found on the card, but using simple rules instead of trying to find the hands on a card. Break free from the confines of the card and enjoy Card Free American Mah Jongg!

New to Mah Jongg? Click here for simplified basic rules.

Click here for the designer’s blog: “Thoughts on the Game”

Printable Resources

Click here for a printable PDF of these rules.

Download the printable 1-page Quick Reference Guide!

Overview

This variation of American Mah Jongg allows you to play without any card of winning hands, such as the National Mah Jongg League’s annual card. This system uses all the gameplay rules of American Mah Jongg, but creates a new way of determining winning hands and scoring to allow players to avoid using a card. Though the rules are designed to be easily memorized, this game is not intended to be an introductory or simplified game. Card Free American Mah Jongg should provide ample variety and challenging gameplay for all players. This guide was written assuming you are already familiar with the rules and terminology of American Mah Jongg.

Rules for Play

All gameplay rules are identical to standard American Mah Jongg except for winning hands and scoring. Click here for a detailed explanation of the rules of standard American Mah Jongg.

Winning Hands

Winning hands require both a valid CATEGORY and a valid PATTERN of BLOCKS. The category is the set of number tiles or wind tiles used. The pattern is the various groupings of identical tiles, known as blocks, that are used to build a 14-tile winning hand.

Blocks

Blocks are groups of between 2 and 5 identical tiles. Block types are named as in American Mah Jongg: Pair (2 tiles), Pung (3 tiles), Kong (4 tiles), Quint (5 tiles). Jokers can be used to replace tiles in any block except for pairs. A Joker is required in a Quint because there are only 4 of each tile.

Patterns

Patterns are created with combinations of blocks that add up to 14 total tiles, using two different block types or all pairs. Different block types can be used in any order in a pattern. The possible block combinations can be organized into 3 different categories: Basic patterns, Quint patterns, and Big Pairs patterns.

Basic Patterns (Pairs, Pungs, and Kongs)

Two Pungs and Two Kongs:

One Pair and Three Kongs:

One Pair and Four Pungs:

Quint Patterns (At least 1 Quint)

Three Pungs and One Quint:

One Kong and Two Quints:

Two Pairs and Two Quints:

Big Pairs Patterns (3 or more Pairs)

Three Pairs and Two Kongs:

Four Pairs and Two Pungs:

Five Pairs and One Kong:

Seven Pairs:

Suits

MAKING BLOCKS: When creating a block, all the tiles in the block must be of the same suit.

MAKING A HAND: All blocks of number tiles with the same suit must be next to each other in the pattern when tiles are arranged in sequential order. Hands with suits that alternate in the pattern, commonly known as “woven” or “braided” or “knitted” hands, are not valid winning hands. For example:

This is a winning hand because the Crak tiles are all next to each other and the dot tiles are all next to each other:

This is NOT a winning hand because the Crak tiles are not next to each other in the sequence:

Putting the Set and Pattern Together

To create a winning hand, combine your SET with a valid PATTERN. Below is an example of a hand using the set 3579 from the Consecutive Odds category paired different patterns:

SET: 3579 + PATTERN: 2 Pungs 2 Kongs

SET: 3579 + PATTERN: 1 Pair 3 Kong

SET: 3579 + PATTERN: 1 Pair 4 Pungs

In this hand, there are only 4 numbers in the set, but the 1-Pair 4-Pungs pattern requires 5 blocks. To complete this hand, you will need to use Special Tiles (see below).

Special Tiles

If there are more blocks in your pattern than there are number or wind tiles in your set, then you must complete the pattern using blocks of Flowers, Dragons, or a NEWS singles block.

In this hand, the set is 4-6-8 from consecutive evens, and the pattern is 1 Pair 4 Pungs which has 5 blocks. To fill in the remaining 2 blocks not filled in by the set, a block of Red Dragons and a block of Flowers is used:

Flowers

Flowers can only be used to create Pair blocks. This also means Flowers can only be called for Mah Jongg. Only one block of Flowers is allowed per hand.

This is a winning hand because there is only one Flower block and it is a Pair.

This is not a winning hand for two reasons: there are two blocks of Flowers and one of the blocks is a Pung.

Dragons

You can only use one block of each Dragon in a winning hand. You can have multiple Dragon blocks, but they cannot be of the same type of Dragon.

This is a winning hand because the two Dragon blocks are two different colors:

This is NOT a winning hand because the two Dragon blocks are both White (SOAP):

However, due to the flexibility of Card Free American Mah Jongg, this hand could be rearranged to a new pattern creating a winning hand, as long as you haven’t exposed blocks already that would make this hand impossible:

NEWS Block

A block of four single wind tiles, one of each (North, East, West, South) is allowed to be used in any pattern that contains Kongs. Jokers cannot be used to replace one of the single tiles, and you cannot call a tile in the NEWS block unless it completes your hand for Mah Jongg.

You can even use a NEWS block when using Wind tiles as your set:

Scoring

A winning hand earns 25 points plus any bonuses that apply:

BONUS	DESCRIPTION	POINTS
PAIRS BONUS	More than 2 Pairs blocks in winning hand.	+5 for 3, 4, or 5 Pairs +10 for 7 Pairs
QUINTS BONUS	Quint block(s) in winning hand	+5 each
SET BONUS	Only number tiles used, or only Wind tiles used. No Dragons of Flowers.	+5
SUIT BONUS	All number tiles of same suit, matching dragon* if used, no flowers or winds.	+5
CONCEALED BONUS	No exposures by winning player except calling winning tile.	+10

*For the suit bonus, the Red Dragon matches with the Crak suit, the Green Dragon matches with the Bam suit, and the White Dragon (Soap) matches with the Dot suit.

Score Doubling

If the winner draws the winning tile from the wall (known as “self drawn”) then the points calculated above (Base + Bonuses) are doubled. If the winning hand has no Jokers in it when Mah Jongg is declared, the points are doubled. Both of these doubling rules can be applied to the same hand. So a self-drawn hand with no Jokers is doubled twice.

“Paying” the winning player

Players start the game with a certain amount of points or chips or money, then losing players in a hand pay the winning player based on the value of the winning hand. Each losing player pays the winner an amount equal to the value of their winning hand. If the winner calls a discarded tile for the last tile needed for Mah Jongg, the player who discarded that tile pays double the points to the winner.

Example Winning Hand Scoring

Category: Consecutive Run
Set: 7-8-9 plus a dragon
Pattern: 2 Pungs and 2 Kongs
Base points for Mahjong: 25 points
Bonuses: 0 points
Double hand value: no jokers in hand, double once
Final Score: 50 points
PAYOUT:
- Player who discarded last tile drawn by winner for Mah Jongg pays double (100 points) to the winner.
- The other two players pay 50 points to the winner.

Special Dragon Hands

Dragon Hands have a set point value and bonuses are not applied, however the rules for opponents paying double do apply to Dragon Hands. Jokers may be used to complete the Dragon’s Love and Dragon Wings hands, however the Dragon’s Breath is made up of 7 pairs so Jokers are not allowed.

Dragon’s Love (50 points): Two different Dragon Kongs and Two Flower Pungs

Dragon’s Wings (50 points): One Kong of Each Dragon and one Pair of 1 Bamboo

Dragon’s Breath (100 points): One Pair of each Dragon and one Pair of each Wind

House Rules

Experienced players of Card Free American Mah Jongg may want to increase the difficulty of the game by including advanced house rules. Players may agree before starting the first game to add any of these optional rules. Implementing any or all of these house rules increases the difficulty in forming a winning hand, which both increases the overall challenge of the game, and allows time for more interesting and challenging winning hands to be built. The optional house rules include:

Always skip the second round of the Charleston
Remove 4 Flowers and 4 Joker tiles from the game permanently. When building walls, build 18 stacks per player instead of 19.
A hand must score at least 1 bonus, use no Jokers, be self-picked, or be a special Dragon hand in order to be a valid winning hand. If using this rule, the base value of a winning hand may be reduced to 20, making the minimum winning hand only 25 points.

Skill Level Adjustments

Once you become experienced in Card Free American Mah Jongg, you will have an advantage over new players. One way to level the playing field for players of different skill levels in the same game is to assign additional hand restrictions for only advanced players. This allows players of different skill levels to play in the same game together with closer to equal chances of winning. There is not a scientific way to calculate exactly what a player’s skill adjustment should be. Players must choose for themselves what skill level adjustment they should take based on their experience.

The skill level adjustment restrictions give the more advanced player additional restrictions for forming winning hands. As a player increases in skill level, they will add the given restriction and any restrictions from the lower levels. For example, if you are a Level 3 player, you have the restrictions for Levels 1, 2, and 3.

Level 0: No additional restrictions
Level 1: You can only use the 2 Pungs 2 Kongs pattern with Wind tiles
Level 2: If using the Consecutive Run set category, your hand cannot contain any Flowers, Dragons, or Winds.
Level 3: If using one or more Dragon blocks, the hand must be concealed.
Level 4: If using number tiles, the hand must earn the SUIT bonus (only containing 1 suit and if using a Dragon block it must match that suit).
Level 5: Your hand must use no Jokers, be self-picked, or be a special Dragon hand in order to be a valid winning hand.

Contact

QUESTIONS? FEEDBACK? WANT TO PLAY ONLINE OR IN PERSON?

Contact me by email at CardFreeMahj@gmail.com

The text of this work, written by John Burton, is marked with CC0 1.0

Tile images credit: 碧海风, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CATEGORY	TILES	SET RULES
Consecutive Run	123456789	Use a set of at least 3 consecutive numbers from the category, making 1 block with each number for at least 3 different blocks in your pattern.
Consecutive Odds	13579
Consecutive Evens	2468
Multiples of Three	369	Use all three numbers, one number per block.
Any Like Numbers	123456789	3 blocks, 1 of each suit, all the same number.
Winds	North, South, East, West	4 blocks, one of each wind (N-E-W-S) or 2 blocks of opposite winds (N-S or E-W)