The Friendly Beginner's Guide to American Mah Jongg

You said yes before you thought about it. Now it is Thursday, you have never touched a tile, and you are wondering what exactly you agreed to.

This is the book for that week.

Most guides teach you the game. This one teaches you the game and the table - the tiles, the card, the Charleston, and all the things your group assumes you already know but nobody ever says out loud.

Inside: every tile in the set, and the four that confuse everybody. How to read the National Mah Jongg League card without memorizing it, in a way that still works when the new card arrives every April. The Charleston laid out start to finish on a single page you can keep beside your rack. Jokers, exposures and dead hands, with what each mistake actually costs you. Two-player and solo practice for when you cannot find a fourth. The exact words to say when you make a wrong call, and the one question you should never ask in the middle of a hand.

It also does something no other beginner's guide does. Every rule that genuinely varies from table to table is marked - what the League actually says, what many groups do instead, and the exact sentence to ask without sounding like you are correcting anyone. More beginners get flustered by a house rule they thought was a real rule than by anything else in this game.

What this book will not do is make you win. No beginner's book can. It will get you through your first night - and get you invited back.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Mah Jongg League.