Card
The hand guide that shows the legal patterns for the year.
Lesson 3 of 13
American Mahjong Terms
Learn the short table words that beginners hear constantly, without turning the lesson into a wall of text.
A lot of beginner confusion is really just vocabulary
If words like exposure, wall, pung, or dead hand feel fuzzy, the table sounds harder than it really is. Once these short terms feel familiar, beginner instructions become much easier to follow in real time.
- Table flow words tell you where the action is: wall, discard, rack, East, and call.
- Hand-shape words tell you what the card is asking for: pair, pung, kong, quint, sextet, and concealed.
- Rule warning words tell you to slow down before acting: exposure, dead hand, and Mah Jongg.
Table and flow words
Rack
The holder in front of you for your concealed tiles.
Pusher
The piece attached to the rack that helps move the wall.
Wall
The stacked tiles players draw from during the hand.
Discard
The tile you throw away after your decision.
Call / Claim
Taking the most recent discard because it legally completes an exposure or Mah Jongg for your line.
East
The dealer for the hand.
Exposure
Tiles shown openly in front of your rack after a legal claim; the table can now read that group.
Hand-shape words
Concealed
Private on your rack rather than exposed to the table; a concealed line changes what you may call.
Pair
Two matching tiles.
Pung
Three matching tiles.
Kong
Four matching tiles.
Quint
Five matching tiles, usually with joker help.
Sextet
Six matching tiles or flowers, usually with joker help.
Dead hand
A hand that can no longer finish legally as played, often after an illegal exposure or false Mah Jongg call.
Take the quiz when you're ready.
Finish the teaching first, then open a short one-question-at-a-time quiz. You need 4 or more correct answers to complete this lesson.
5 questions