TTTJILI: How to Play Mahjong, From Deal to Win

If you want to know how to play mahjong, start from the end: you are building a 14-tile hand of four sets of three and one pair, and you do it by drawing and discarding. pagat.com, which catalogues card and tile games, files mahjong under its draw-and-discard rummy games, the family that runs through playing cards games that mahjong resembles. On 11 October 2026 the TTTJILI lobby’s Game Name search found Mahjong Ways and Mahjong Ways 2 under Slot; those are slots, covered in the last section, and not this tile game.

What a mahjong set holds

The traditional set is 144 tiles or cards, according to pagat.com. It originated in China in the 19th century and the game can also be played with cards of equivalent design.

The arithmetic checks out: 108 + 16 + 12 + 8 = 144. The suit tiles come from 3 suits × 9 numbers × 4 copies = 108.

How to play mahjong in six steps

1. Count the set. Check 144 tiles before the first deal.
2. Learn the two kinds of set. A set of three is three identical tiles, or three tiles of the same suit in numerical sequence.
3. Deal 13 tiles to each player. In the traditional game each player starts with 13.
4. Draw and discard in turn. You draw a tile, then discard one, steering toward four sets and a pair.
5. Complete the 14-tile winning hand. Four sets of three plus a pair is the normal winning hand.
6. Agree the version. Special hands and scoring depend on the rules in use.

The sets a winning hand is built from

A hand is made from only two shapes of three, plus a pair:

1. Three identical tiles, for example three East winds.
2. Three tiles of one suit in numerical order, for example bamboo 4, 5 and 6.
3. One pair of identical tiles.

A sequence has to stay inside a single suit: bamboo 4, circle 5 and character 6 is not a set. The pair is two identical tiles and it is the only group with two tiles.

A worked count of a 14-tile hand

Take a winning hand and count it. Four sets of three give 4 × 3 = 12 tiles, and the pair adds 2, so 12 + 2 = 14. You start with 13, so drawing one tile takes you to 14. If those 14 tiles fit the four-and-a-pair pattern, you have a winning hand under the traditional rules.

Compare that with a game that ends when a total passes a line. In blackjack a hand can end in the blackjack bust meaning when drawing cards; in mahjong you discard a tile for every tile you draw, so your hand holds 13 tiles between turns.

Which version of mahjong you are playing

pagat.com notes that there are several versions of the rules and that mahjong is played differently in China, Taiwan and Japan, with further variations invented in the USA. It also notes that depending on the variation, various special hands can win the game, and that there are numerous extra bonuses for feats such as winning with a single suit or a hand of winds and dragons.

No Filipino ruleset appears on pagat.com’s page, so agree the scoring and special hands with the people at the table before the first deal. The perya dice table in color game perya dice instead of tiles is a different kind of game with fixed odds and no hand to build.

Mahjong Ways and Mahjong Ways 2 are slots, not this game

PG Soft’s Mahjong Ways slot with 1,024 ways and the Mahjong Ways 2 slot borrow tile pictures for their symbols. They are five-reel slots with ways to win, not the tile game. There is no hand of 14 tiles, no draw and no discard.