A Beginner's Guide to American Mah Jongg: How to Play the Game & Win

If you are new to Mah Jongg, this book provides excellent basic instructions that are easy to understand. There are ample examples and even “try it” types activities to help you evaluate how well you understood the concepts presented in each chapter. Concepts are broken down into reasonable “chunks” allowing the newbie player the opportunity to slow down and absorb the concepts and the more experienced player the opportunity to skip ahead to areas that they wish to review, such as how the Charleston works and how to select tiles to pass during that process. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in learning how to play Mah Jongg, but I must also emphasize the importance of just “getting out there” and playing. The more you play, the more confident you will become. Mah Jongg is a social game, so join a group and have fun. 🀄️

1Great book for learning Mah Jong! Easy to follow & understand the game.I recommend getting some tiles & practicing the lessons as you go with your friends.Very helpful!

this book's instructions make logic out of a complicated game by breaking it into reasonable stages with lessons and reviews. Our majhong group highly recommends this learning tool for beginners.

I play Mah Jongg. I had a distant friend who wanted to learn. I found this book and gave it to him. It has a good introduction to the tiles and the fundamentals of the game. How does it deal with the National Mah Jongg League (NMJL) card, which is needed to play and which changes every year? NMJL gave permission to use an old card, which is included in the book. My friend learned enough to transition to one of the online games, I Love Mah Jongg, where he is gaining experience playing with bots and, when he wants, people. We play together online occasionally. This book started that player successfully.

Great book for beginners! Everything is well explained!

I bought this when I started taking a Mah Jongg class and it just helped to cement everything. Super helpful. Great color graphics and it's easy to understand. I would also guess that If you dont play often, it would be nice to review this before playing with other people.

Contains color illustrations, exercises, end-of-chapter quizzes, *and* a 2004 NMJL card (included with permission) at the back that can be cut out an used for practice purposes. Very glad I got it.

If you're intent on learning how to play Mah Jongg, this book is a great help. Yes, you can learn from other players, but if you still need remedial help (I did!), get this book. Author Elaine Sandberg writes plainly, in uncomplicated sentences. She has organized the chapters in the best possible way for learning. Each chapter has a summary and then a small quiz at the end. You need to do them, as they recap what you've learned and you can determine where you need to go back and re-read.Take her advice and set-up the hands. It will familiarize you with the various possibilities. I took it a step further. I set-up hands using this year's card (not the dated one she supplies at the back of her book). Then using the method she recommends (position tiles on rack by suits and numbers first, in ascending order; then look at the card, finding which section is the most opportune one with which to play your hand), choose the hand you want to play. I did this, but with a variation. I asked a knowledgeable Mah Jongg friend to come over and look at the four racks I'd set-up. I then explained to her why I chose to play the hands I'd selected. She listened, and then either agreed, or pointed out different ways to look at the tiles and play a different hand. Sometimes, it was within the same section, sometimes not. Using the book and a friend's help makes the lessons even more meaningful.The most important lessons I gleaned are: how to set-up the rack (to better select the hands); familiarize yourself with the 50 different possible hands; and (for a beginner) do not change hands mid-game. Allowing yourself to lose only strengthens your play, by seeing a hand through to its end. After you have gained confidence, try to switch hands if your original choice isn't working for you.Aside from Ms. Sandberg's book, the next best advice I can give you for learning is to play with kind, non-threatening players. Seasoned, no-nonsense, cutthroat players will not be patient and you will quickly become a Mah Jongg drop-out. My group is patient, willing to teach, and helps me to re-hash each hand I play at the end of every game. They are encouraging, supportive, and kind. Without them--and the book, I would have given up months ago. Really. So, get A Beginner's Guide to American Mah Jongg.