CozyWorld game guide · By CozyWorld
This guide covers our own game, written from the current game rules and browser checks.
Hong Kong, American and Riichi Mahjong Compared
Mahjong is a family of games. The set on a friend’s table might be played with 136, 144 or 152 tiles, with or without jokers, for any hand or only for hands on a printed card. This guide compares the main styles, Hong Kong, American, Japanese riichi, Taiwanese, Chinese Official and the older Chinese Classical game, shows how to tell which one a group is playing, and suggests which to learn first.
Ask three mahjong players for the rules and you may get three different games. Mahjong spread from China across Asia and to the West, where it became a craze in the 1920s, and each place kept playing and changing it. The core never moved: four players, a wall of tiles, draw one and discard one, collect sets, complete a hand. Around that core the styles differ in the tiles they use, the hands they allow and, above all, the way they score.
This guide compares the styles you are most likely to meet. Two of them, Hong Kong style and American style, can be played free against computer hosts in Wisteria Court Mahjong, CozyWorld’s four-player table. We do not offer riichi or the others, and say so where it matters.
What every style shares
All of these games are played by four people with the same basic tiles: three suits numbered one to nine, four winds and three dragons, four copies of each. Players build a wall, take a hand, and in turn draw a tile and discard one. A discard can be claimed to complete a set. The first complete hand wins.
In every style but one, a hand is 13 tiles and is won on the 14th. Taiwanese mahjong is the exception, with 16 tiles won on the 17th.
| Style | Tiles | Hand | Stands out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong (Cantonese) | 136 or 144 | 13, win on 14 | Four sets and a pair, scored in faan; only the winner is paid |
| American | 152 | 13, win on 14 | Eight jokers, the Charleston, and a card of hands that changes every year |
| Japanese riichi | 136 | 13, win on 14 | No flowers, the riichi declaration and dora bonus tiles, discards kept in rows |
| Taiwanese | 144 | 16, win on 17 | A longer hand of five sets and a pair |
| Chinese Official | 144 | 13, win on 14 | A long list of scoring hands, used for tournaments |
| Chinese Classical | 144 | 13, win on 14 | The 1920s game; every player scores their own hand |
Hong Kong style
Hong Kong style, also called Cantonese mahjong or Hong Kong Old Style, is the plainest of the living styles and the usual starting point. A winning hand is four sets and a pair, the sets being chows, pungs and kongs. Flowers and seasons are optional bonus tiles.
Scoring is in faan, doubling units earned for patterns such as all pungs or a hand in one suit, and only the winner is paid. Most groups require three faan to win, which keeps players from winning with any hand at all; casual games relax that.
It is the style to learn first if you have no particular group to join, because the other styles are easiest to understand as changes to it.
American mahjong
American mahjong, usually spelled mah jongg by its players, is the most different of the family. The set is a Chinese set with eight jokers added, 152 tiles, and the flowers are used inside hands instead of as bonuses.
There are no chows, and you cannot win with any four sets and a pair. A winning hand must match one of the hands on a printed card. The best known card comes from the National Mah Jongg League, founded in New York City in 1937, which issues a new one each year, so the hands to aim for change annually.
Play opens with the Charleston, in which players pass unwanted tiles to one another. Jokers stand in for tiles in groups of three or more. Hands have fixed values printed on the card.
Learn this style if the people you want to play with use a card. It rewards pattern reading and commitment more than the flexible building of the Chinese styles.
Japanese riichi
Riichi is the modern Japanese game. It uses 136 tiles with no flowers, and each player’s discards are kept in orderly rows in front of them.
It is named for its two signature features. Riichi is a declaration by a player whose concealed hand is one tile from winning, made by staking a 1,000 point stick. Dora are bonus tiles that add value to a winning hand. A hand needs at least one scoring pattern, called a yaku, to win, and scoring multiplies a base value by the hand’s doubles.
Because a plain hand cannot win, riichi asks you to learn its list of scoring patterns before your first win. Wisteria Court Mahjong does not offer it.
Taiwanese, Chinese Official and Chinese Classical
Taiwanese mahjong is played with 144 tiles and a longer hand: 16 tiles, won on the 17th, which makes five sets and a pair. Only the winner is paid.
Chinese Official, also called Mahjong Competition Rules or guobiao, is the standardized tournament game. It uses 144 tiles and a long list of scoring hands, with discards placed in orderly rows.
Chinese Classical is the older game that was carried to the West in the 1920s. It differs from Hong Kong style mainly in the scoring: every player scores their own hand, not only the winner. Western rule sets score the same way.
How to tell which style a group plays
Count the tiles, or look for a few giveaways.
If the set has jokers and the players each hold a folded card, it is American. A set of 152 tiles all but settles it.
If there are no flower tiles on the table and everyone’s discards sit in neat rows, it is very likely riichi.
If each player holds 16 tiles, it is Taiwanese.
If there are 144 tiles, 13 in a hand, discards tossed into the middle and talk of faan, it is Hong Kong style. With 144 tiles and none of the other signs, ask: several styles look alike from across the room.
Which style should you learn first?
Learn the style your likely opponents play. A game you can sit down to on Thursday beats a better game nobody near you knows.
With no group in mind, learn Hong Kong style. The rules fit on a page, a hand takes a few minutes, and the scoring can start at any hand wins and grow from there.
Choose American if you like puzzles with a fixed list of answers, or if the group you hope to join plays with a card.
Choose riichi if that is what your friends or your favorite online table play, and you do not mind learning a list of scoring patterns before your first win.
Try two styles at one table
Wisteria Court Mahjong plays Hong Kong style and American style at the same table against the same three hosts, free in the browser. You pick the style on the title card.
Hong Kong style there is scored in faan with a minimum you choose: any hand, one faan or three. American style has the full Charleston, jokers and joker swaps, and its own practice card of 24 original hands. That card is ours, written for the table; it is not the League’s card or a copy of it, and it is there to teach the skill of playing from a card.
Eight short lessons cover both styles, a coach line explains each choice, and hints give a reason with every suggestion.
Sources
Tom Sloper, Sloperama, “Which mah-jongg do you play?” (FAQ 2b), https://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq/mjfaq02b.html, read on November 9, 2026: the tile counts and hand sizes of each style, Chinese Classical as the game that reached the West in the 1920s with all players scoring, Hong Kong and Taiwanese paying only the winner, Chinese Official and riichi keeping discards in rows, riichi scoring as base points times doubles, and the American set, card and Charleston.
National Mah Jongg League, “The League”, https://www.nationalmahjonggleague.org/league.aspx, read on November 9, 2026: the founding in New York City in 1937 and a new card of hands and rules each year.
Hong Kong Mahjong, “Hong Kong Mahjong Scoring Chart”, https://www.mahjonggame.hk/learn/hk-mahjong/scoring, read on November 9, 2026: faan scoring and the three faan minimum most groups play.
I Love Mahj, “Beginner’s Guide to American Mah Jongg”, https://ilovemahj.com/american-mahjong-getting-started, read on November 9, 2026: the 152 tiles, eight jokers and the joker rule.
European Mahjong Association, “Riichi: Rules for Japanese Mahjong” (2025 edition), http://mahjong-europe.org/portal/images/docs/Riichi-rules-2025-EN.pdf, read on November 9, 2026: riichi declared on a concealed hand one tile from winning with a 1,000 point stick, dora adding value to a winning hand, and a win needing at least one yaku.
Wisteria Court Mahjong: what our own table offers comes from the game itself.
Keep playing
If nobody is waiting to teach you a particular style, start with Hong Kong style: it is the core game with the least added, and everything you learn carries over. If your friends play with a card and jokers, go straight to American. Wisteria Court Mahjong lets you switch between the two from its title card, with lessons for each, so you can find out which one suits you before you buy a set.
- Play Wisteria Court Mahjong: Hong Kong and American style
- How to play mahjong: rules for beginners
- American mahjong rules: the Charleston, jokers and the card
- Mahjong hands and scoring: the Hong Kong faan chart
- Mahjong tiles: every tile, its name and how to read it
- Teahouse Mahjong: the tile-matching solitaire puzzle
- Tamarack Lake Chinese Checkers: another classic for the table
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How to Play Mahjong Solitaire: Rules and TipsHow to play mahjong solitaire, and how it differs from the four-player game. Free tiles, bonus tiles, planning a board, hints and the four tea rooms of Teahouse Mahjong.