Before you expose
Tick anything that is true — each one is a problem.
- Does the card mark this line with a “C”?Concealed hands may not be exposed at all. Exposing any part kills it.
- Am I exposing a pung as a kong?Four of a kind only. Adding a fourth tile to an exposed pung is a different, legal action — doing it as a fresh exposure is not.
- Is there a joker in a single or a pair?A joker fills a group of three or more. Never a pair, never a single. Dead: and
- Do my exposures fail to match any line on the current card?Wrong suits, wrong grouping, or the wrong dragon combination.
Before you declare Mah Jongg
The four that end a hand on the spot.
- Am I holding the wrong number of tiles?13 in play. 14 only at the moment you declare.
- Does my hand not match a card line exactly?Check it line by line before you say the words — an erroneous call is dead on the spot.
- Are the tiles I still need all visible?If every tile you need has been discarded or exposed, the hand is unwinnable. Others may call it dead on what is seen.
- Did I pick or rack incorrectly?Drawing out of turn, from the wrong end of the wall, or racking from the wrong side. Always reach toward the centre of the table.
The joker-exchange trap
The single most common way a good hand dies.
- Did I exchange a joker before I had picked?The order is pick → rack → exchange → discard. Exchanging the instant before your turn begins kills the hand.
No red flags — hand looks live
Run this again right before you expose and right before you declare. The official NMJL card is the final word on every hand.
Full detail on each cause and how disputes are settled is on the Dead hands page.