How a hand actually runs
From shuffling to settlement, in order. American mahjong is a deliberately unhurried game — a single hand can run fifteen minutes or more, and that pace is most of the appeal.
Build the walls
All 152 tiles are shuffled face down. Each player stacks 38 tiles into a wall two tiles high and nineteen stacks long. The four walls are pushed together into a square.
Deal
Dice determine where the wall is broken. East — the dealer — takes 14 tiles. The other three players take 13 each. Everyone stands their tiles on a rack, concealed from the table.
The Charleston
Three tiles pass right, then three across, then three left — simultaneously, in that order. A second Charleston running the other way is commonly played. Jokers may never be passed.
Draw and discard
East discards first. Play then continues with each player drawing one tile from the wall and discarding one. A discard may be called to complete a pung, kong, quint or sextet, which is then exposed on top of the rack.
Declare Mah Jongg
When your fourteen tiles match one complete line on the card, say Mah Jongg and lay the hand out for the table to verify. Verify before you call — a wrong call usually kills the hand.
Settle up
Read the printed value off the card. Who pays what depends on whether you won off a discard or drew the winning tile yourself. The coins or chips in your set settle the score.
Wall game
If the wall runs out before anyone declares, the hand is a wall game — a draw. Nobody pays, nobody wins, and the tiles are shuffled and redealt. With 152 tiles on the table this happens more often than beginners expect, which is why chasing an unlikely hand is usually a bad trade.