Quint Beginner▸
A Quint is five of a kind. Because a standard American set has only four of any tile, a Quint is built from four matching tiles plus a joker standing in for the fifth. It is the most joker-dependent family on the card.
When you are collecting toward a Quint, every joker you already hold is gold, and you should protect it rather than spend it elsewhere early.
The current official card sets the exact Quint combinations and their points. This page only describes the shape.
Sextet Intermediate▸
A Sextet pushes the idea one step further: six of a kind. That means five matching tiles plus a joker, or a combination that the card defines as a sextet using exposures.
Sextets are rarer and need more jokers committed than a Quint, so they tend to appear in the higher-point sections. They reward a player who starts with multiple jokers and a clear plan.
Check the card for which sextet lines are live this year and what they pay.
Like Numbers Beginner▸
Like Numbers hands are built around a single number repeated across the suits. You collect pungs or kongs of, say, all the 2s, in craks, bams and dots, then complete the rest of the hand around that spine.
These are friendly to newer players because they are easy to read as the tiles arrive, and they do not lean on jokers as hard as Quints do.
The card decides which numbers and which suit mix count as Like Numbers this year.
Consecutive Run Beginner▸
A Consecutive Run is a straight sequence in one suit, such as 1-2-3, 4-5-6 and 7-8-9 of craks, that forms the backbone of the hand. The rest of the hand fills in around the run.
Runs are the closest thing American mahjong has to the sequences of other mahjong styles, and they are a natural next step after you are comfortable with pungs.
Which runs qualify, and how the run combines with other sections, is set on the card.
Half & Half Intermediate▸
A Half & Half hand is split down the middle: one half follows one pattern (often a consecutive run) and the other half follows a different one (often like numbers or a small exposure set).
The trick is that both halves must be satisfied independently, so you read the hand as two smaller goals. Players who can track two patterns at once do well here.
The card shows the exact split and which combinations are valid.
Any Like Intermediate▸
Any Like hands are built from repeated pungs of different numbers, where the theme is "alike" rather than a single number. You might collect three or four pungs of unrelated numbers and finish the hand around them.
These hands reward flexibility, because many different tiles can advance you. They also tend to use fewer jokers than the Quint family.
The card defines how many pungs and which arrangements count as Any Like.
Color Isolated Intermediate▸
A Color Isolated hand uses only one or two colors, often a single suit plus dragons or winds of a matching color. The constraint is the point: you ignore most of the wall and go deep on a narrow set of tiles.
These are high-focus hands. They can come together fast if the right tiles fall, but they also die early if they do not.
The card specifies which color restrictions are live and what they pay.
Year Intermediate▸
A Year hand is built around the digits of the current card year, so it refreshes every time a new card comes out. In a 2026 card the hand leans on the numbers 2, 0, 2 and 6 as its spine.
Because the pattern changes each year, Year hands are a good reason to relearn the new card rather than rely on memory from last season.
The current official card shows the exact Year combinations for this season.
Want to test the reading? Try the Scenario Trainer or the Rules Challenge.