A comprehensive, searchable index of official American Mahjong terms, tile jargon, table calls, meld definitions, and penalty concepts.
Tile Types & Suits
Bams (Bamboo / Sticks):
One of the three standard numbered suits, depicting green bamboo stalks numbered 1 through 9. The 1-Bam traditionally features an ornate bird (often a peacock or sparrow).
Craks (Characters / Wan):
One of the three numbered suits, displaying Chinese numerals above the character "Wan" (10,000), numbered 1 through 9.
Dots (Circles / Wheels):
One of the three numbered suits, showing round circle or disc motifs numbered 1 through 9.
Dragons:
A trio of honors tiles consisting of Red Dragons (matching Craks), Green Dragons (matching Bams), and White Dragons / Soaps (matching Dots).
Soap (White Dragon / Zero):
The White Dragon tile, commonly depicted as a clean blank rectangle. In addition to functioning as a suit dragon with Dots, Soap uniquely serves as the number "0" in year hands like 2026.
Joker:
A wildcard tile in American Mahjong (8 per set). Jokers can represent any tile to complete a Pung, Kong, Quint, or Sextet. Jokers can NEVER be used in pairs or singles.
Flowers:
Eight decorative tiles showing botanical illustrations. Flowers act as distinct scoring entities and are used across multiple categories on the NMJL card.
Melds & Tile Groupings
Pung:
A set of three (3) identical tiles (e.g. 3 Eight-Dots, or two Eight-Dots and one Joker).
Kong:
A set of four (4) identical tiles (e.g. four South Winds, or two Souths and two Jokers).
Quint:
A set of five (5) identical tiles. Because sets only have 4 natural matching tiles, every Quint requires at least one Joker.
Sextet:
A set of six (6) identical tiles, requiring at least two Jokers.
Natural Pair:
Two identical tiles without any Jokers. Because Jokers cannot replace pairs, natural pairs are the foundational anchor of every hand.
Table Play & Penalty Rules
Charleston:
The mandatory opening tile-passing ritual in American Mahjong, where players pass sets of three tiles in prescribed rotations.
Blind Pass:
Passing 1 to 3 incoming tiles on the final pass of a Charleston round without looking at them when a player lacks 3 throwaways.
Exposed Hand (X):
A hand marked with an (X) on the NMJL card where players may call discards to expose completed Pungs, Kongs, or Quints on top of their rack.
Concealed Hand (C):
A hand marked with a (C) on the NMJL card where no discards can be called during play except the final winning 14th tile.
Dead Hand:
A hand disqualified due to an illegal exposure, wrong tile count, illegal Joker usage, or exposed pair violation. The player stops drawing and discarding but stays at the table to pay the winner.
Joker Swapping:
Replacing an exposed Joker on another player's rack with the matching natural tile during your active turn (after drawing, before discarding) to claim the wild Joker for your hand.
Safe Discard vs. Hot Discard:
A Safe Discard is a tile with zero risk of feeding a win (all 4 accounted for or dead for opponents). A Hot Discard is an uncalled live tile in a key suit needed by an opponent with multiple exposures.
Wall Game (Tie):
A completed round where all 152 tiles are exhausted from the active wall without any player achieving a valid Mahjong.