The short answer: a mahjong card is the yearly list of hands you may win with, and each line is one hand. Letters tell you the suit: D is dots, B is bamboos, C is characters, N, E, S, W are winds, F is flowers. Numbers tell you the tile. Read the line, build the hand.
Your first American mahjong game comes with a folded card covered in tiny letters and numbers. It looks like a secret code. It is not. Once you know the abbreviations, that card tells you exactly what you can win with, and your whole hand should be aimed at one of its lines.
What do the letters and numbers on the card mean?
The card is split into columns, usually five, and each column groups one style of hand. Each line inside a column is one complete winning hand. The letters are simple:
- D means dots, the circle suit.
- B means bamboos, the stick suit.
- C means characters, also called crackers.
- N, E, S, W mean North, East, South, West winds.
- F means flowers, which act as wilds.
How do I read a single line of a hand?
Read left to right, one group at a time. Each group is a chunk you need to collect:
- A letter plus a number, like B 2, means that one tile: bamboo 2.
- Three numbers together, like 222, mean three of a kind of that tile.
- So BBB 222 333 means a pung of bamboo 2s plus a pung of bamboo 3s.
- DDD 555 works the same way with dots, and NNN EEE means pungs of North and East winds.
- Pick one line before the game starts and build toward it. That is the hand you call mahjong with.
Want to see the card in action? Play a few free rounds in our American mahjong game, and if the other rules still feel unclear, our how to play American mahjong guide fills in the blanks.
Related Questions
Why do the hands change every year?
The National Mahjong League prints a new card each season. Some sections stay the same, others rotate out, so nobody can lean on memorized hands forever, and every player competes on the same card.
Do I have to memorize the whole card?
No. Most players target one or two lines per column. The patterns get familiar fast, and within a few games you will spot a promising line at a glance.
Can flowers or jokers replace tiles in a hand?
Yes. Flowers and jokers act as wilds and can stand in for almost any tile you are missing. That is why two players can win on the same line with different actual tiles.