American rules · Charleston · Jokers · the 2026 card of 56 original hands. Goal: be first to build a 14-tile hand that exactly matches one line on the card. Each line is a fixed pattern of pairs, pungs (3), kongs (4), quints (5) and singles.
Free, no sign-up — play the house’s regulars or invite a friend.
The tiles
Three suits — Bams, Craks, Dots — numbered 1–9, plus Winds (N E W S), Dragons (Red, Green, Soap), 8 Flowers and 8 Jokers. The Soap doubles as a zero in year hands like 2026.
Reading the card
Each line on the card is one complete hand. Spaces split it into groups.
Colors are suits, not specific ones. Each color is a different suit you choose — here one suit for 2026 and the other two for the pungs of 2s. One color means one suit; three colors means all three. A line like this could be:
The letters and the notes
0 is the Soap (White Dragon), used as a zero. D is a dragon that matches its color’s suit: Green with Bams, Red with Craks, Soap with Dots. F is a Flower, and N E W S are the winds.
Notes say what can change: any like numbers means the 1s can be any number as long as they match; any consecutive numbers means 1-2-3 can slide to 4-5-6. Each line has a badge — X means you may call tiles to build it, C means concealed (you can only call your final tile for Mahjong) — and its value in points.
The Charleston
Before play everyone trades 3 tiles: right, across, left. Then you may vote for a second round: left, across, right. Jokers can never be passed. Use it to shape your hand toward a line on the card.
Play
East discards first. On your turn you draw, then discard. When someone discards a tile you need, you can call it to complete a pung, kong or quint — the group is placed face-up (exposed) and you discard. You can only call a tile for a pair or single if it gives you Mahjong. Concealed (C) hands can't have exposures.
Calling a discard
A discard can be called until the next player draws. With Help at Guided or Learning, the game asks you whenever you can call. From Coach up you spot calls yourself: press Call (or Space) after any discard, or Pass (N) to let it go. With no help, table rules apply — a call or Mahjong your tiles can't back up makes your hand dead: you play on, but can't win that hand.
Jokers
Jokers stand in for any tile in a group of 3 or more — never in a pair or single. On your turn, if an exposed group anywhere holds a joker and you have the real tile, tap the glowing joker to swap it into your hand.
Defense
Exposures are public, so they give hands away. Once a player exposes a group, only some lines on the card still fit. Tap the ◎ hands chip by their name to see what they could be building. Tiles in your rack marked ! are ones they likely need — throw one and they may call it for Mahjong, and you'll pay double.
Scoring
The winner collects the hand's value from each player. If won on a discard, the discarder pays double; if self-drawn, everyone pays double. Jokerless hands score ×2. A match is 4 hands — everyone deals once — and the highest total wins.
Controls
Tap a tile to select, tap again to discard. Drag tiles to rearrange. Keyboard: ← → to select, Enter to discard, Space or C to call, N to pass. The − ▮▮▮ + control at the top (or the − and + keys) makes the bots play slower or faster. Glowing tiles fit your target hand — pin a different target from the card.
Tips
Pass the tiles your closest hands don’t use — the Charleston is for shaping your hand, not for getting rid of good tiles.
Only call when the set fits the line you’re building: an exposure locks you out of every concealed (C) line.
In a game, open the card (Settings › The card) and tap a line to pin it as your target: the tiles that fit it glow on your rack.
Help sets how much the game tells you; it’s separate from your opponents, so a learner can face the experts and an expert can play the beginners with no help at all.