You know the tiles and understand what you’re trying to build. Now let’s go from opening the Mahjong set to having everyone seated with tiles on their racks, ready to begin.
You’ll need a Mahjong set, four racks, access to the current Mahjong card, and dice. Tile pushers, mats, trays, and other accessories can be convenient, but you don’t need an expensive setup to learn or enjoy Mahjong.
Four players sit around the table in positions associated with East, South, West, and North. One player begins as East. East has special responsibilities at the beginning of the game, including starting play.
Place the playing tiles face down in the center of the table and mix them thoroughly. Players often call this washing the tiles—and the sound is one of the unmistakable sounds of Mahjong.
Each player builds a wall 19 stacks long and 2 tiles high, for 38 tiles per wall. Four walls use all 152 playing tiles and are pushed together to form a square in the center of the table.
East is the starting dealer and begins play. Tables may use an agreed method to determine the starting East. As you learn with Pacific Mahj, your host can guide the table through this setup step.
East rolls the dice and the result is used to determine where the wall is broken so dealing can begin. This sounds more complicated in words than it feels at the table—after seeing it once or twice, it becomes familiar.
Tiles are distributed around the table until East has 14 tiles and the other players have 13. You’ll see the numbers 13 and 14 repeatedly in Mahjong, so this is a useful relationship to remember.
Place your tiles on your rack with their faces toward you so the other players can’t see them. Your rack gives you a private workspace for organizing and evaluating your hand.
Arrange your tiles in whatever way helps you see possibilities—perhaps by suits, honors, pairs, or patterns. There is no required order. As a beginner, clarity is more important than trying to hide how you organize your tiles.
With your tiles organized, look at the card for possibilities. Notice suits, even or odd numbers, Flowers, Winds, Dragons, pairs, and consecutive numbers. You aren’t choosing your final hand yet—you’re simply noticing what might work.
You’re ready for the next chapter.