- Score sheets
- Tile and domino games
- American Mahjong
American Mahjong score sheet
How to keep score in American Mahjong: every winning hand is on this year’s card with its value, and the other players pay the winner. On a discard, the player who threw the tile pays double and the rest pay once; on a tile you drew yourself, everyone pays double. An American Mahjong score sheet keeps those payments as a running total.
- Usually 4 players
- This year’s card
- As many hands as you agree
- Highest total is ahead
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This is the real Scorepad, live, on Highest wins. Each row is a hand: the winner’s take, everyone else’s payment in red. Hand 2 was a wall game.
American Mahjong
The American form of mahjong, played with jokers and a card of winning hands that the National Mah Jongg League reissues every year; each card hand has a printed value, and the other players pay the winner.
Year from BoardGameGeek.
How to play American Mahjong, in brief
Four players each try to complete one of the hands on this year’s card from the National Mah Jongg League. The set’s eight jokers are wild in any group of three or more, but never in a pair or as a single.
- DealBuild the wall: each player stacks a row of tiles, two high. One player, East, starts with 14 tiles, and everyone else with 13.
- Pass in the CharlestonEveryone passes three unwanted tiles right, then across, then left. Jokers are never passed.
- Draw and discardEast discards first. Then each turn, draw a tile and discard one. You may call a discard to finish a group you lay face up, or to win.
- Call Mah JonggThe first to match a hand on the card with 14 tiles wins. If the wall runs out first, nobody wins.
The card sets the value. The last tile sets who pays.
A hand that ends in Mah Jongg has one winner, who collects from the other three. Most tables pay in coins on the spot (a 25 hand is 25 cents); a score sheet keeps the same payments as points, so every hand adds to zero. Other styles of mahjong score differently: see which one your table plays.
What each player pays, for a hand worth 25
| Who pays | Points |
|---|---|
| Won on a discard: the discarderDouble the hand’s value | 50 |
| Won on a discard: each other playerThe value once | 25 |
| Self-picked: each other playerDouble the value | 50 |
| Jokerless, and announcedEvery payment doubles again. Not for Singles and Pairs or Quints hands | Double |
| A wall gameThe wall runs out with no winner | 0 |
- Find the hand on this year’s cardEvery winning hand must match a hand on the current card, which prints its value. The League issues a new card every year, and the hands change each time.
- Work out who pays doubleOn a discard, the player who threw the winning tile pays double and the other two pay once. On a self-picked tile, all three pay double.
- Double again for jokerlessIf the winner used no jokers and announced it, every payment doubles once more. Singles and Pairs and Quints hands never take this bonus.
- Write the hand downThe winner gets what the others paid, and each payer goes down by what they paid, so every hand adds to zero. A wall game is 0 for everyone.
Hand 8: Mara goes jokerless on Dev’s discard.
Mara declares Mah Jongg with a 25 hand from the card, on a tile Dev threw. She used no jokers and announced it, so every payment doubles again. This is hand 8 on the Scorepad above.
| Player | What each player pays or collects | Hand |
|---|---|---|
| You | Did not throw the tilePays 25, doubled for jokerless | −50 |
| Mara | Mah Jongg: a 25 hand, no jokers, announcedCollects 100 + 50 + 50 | 200 |
| Dev | Threw the winning tilePays 25, doubled, then doubled again | −100 |
| Jonas | Did not throw the tilePays 25, doubled for jokerless | −50 |
Every payment kept, every hand adding to zero.
Tabletales is a scorepad and scrapbook for game night. For American Mahjong, leave it on Highest wins, switch to By hand and type each hand’s payments. The TOTAL line keeps everyone’s running net across the session.
- Payments go in as minusTap minus on an empty score, then type what that player paid. Negative scores show in red.
- The winner’s take, added upType the winner’s take, or type it the way you count it (100 + 50 + 50) and Tabletales adds it up. Work out any doubling from the card first, since there is no multiply key.
- Wall games in a tapNobody won? Hold 0 on the first player’s score and the whole hand goes in as 0.
- And the night is keptSave the session with who played and a photo of the table. American Mahjong gets its own history: how often you play, who with, and who holds the high score.
- Everyone who was there
- Photos from the table
- American Mahjong, with its scores
Common American Mahjong scoring mistakes
- Scoring from an old cardThe hands and their values change every year, so check every win against the current card.
- Charging everyone double on a discardOnly the discarder pays double. The other two pay the value once.
- Doubling for jokerless without the callThe bonus needs the winner to announce it, and it never applies to Singles and Pairs or Quints.
- A hand that does not add to zeroCheck each row before the next deal: the winner’s take must equal what the other three paid.
American Mahjong scoring, answered
- How do you keep score in American Mahjong?
- After every hand, the other players pay the winner the value printed on this year’s card: double from the discarder and once from the others on a discard, double from everyone on a self-picked tile. Most tables pay in coins; a score sheet keeps the same payments as points.
- Who pays double in American Mahjong?
- The player who threw the winning tile pays double. If the winner picked the tile from the wall, all three other players pay double.
- What does jokerless mean in American Mahjong scoring?
- A winning hand with no jokers that the winner announces as jokerless doubles every payment again. It does not apply to Singles and Pairs hands or to Quints.
American Mahjong score sheet
Print one for the table: four players and twenty hands, each with what that player paid or collected and a running total.
Score another game
Hand values come from the National Mah Jongg League’s card, which changes every year and which we did not open; Tom Sloper’s guide gives values from 25 to 50, and Wikipedia gives 25 as the least a winning hand can be worth. The American Mah-Jongg Association publishes a card too. Rules checked on 19 October 2026 against Tom Sloper’s Sloperama FAQ, Wikipedia and the National Mah Jongg League. The card is published by the National Mah Jongg League. Tabletales is not affiliated with it.
Keep score tonight. Keep the night for good.
Tabletales adds up every hand, then saves the whole night: the games, the scores, the photos and who was there.
