| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Bam, Crak, Dot | The three suits (bamboo, character, circle), 1 through 9, four of each |
| Charleston | The tile-passing round before play: right, across, left, then an optional reverse round. Try it |
| Blind pass | On the last pass of a Charleston, passing along tiles you're receiving without looking at them |
| Courtesy pass | Optional swap of 0 to 3 tiles with the player across, after the Charleston |
| Concealed (C) | A hand you can't call tiles for, except the winning tile |
| Dead hand | A hand that can no longer win, for example after exposing tiles no card hand uses. That player sits out the rest of the hand and still pays the winner |
| East | The dealer, who starts with 14 tiles and discards first |
| Exposure | A called group placed face up on your rack |
| Exposed (X) | A hand you may build by calling discards |
| Flower | One of 8 flower tiles, used where the card shows F |
| Jokerless | A winning hand with no jokers; doubles the payout (not on Singles & Pairs) |
| Kong | Four of the same tile |
| Mahj / Mahjong | What you call when you win |
| NEWS | North, East, West, South winds, one of each |
| Pung | Three of the same tile |
| Quint | Five of the same tile (needs a joker except with flowers) |
| Rack | The stand that holds your tiles |
| Self-pick | Drawing your own winning tile from the wall; everyone pays double |
| Singles & Pairs | Card section built from singles and pairs; no jokers, no exposures |
| Soap | The white dragon, used as zero in year hands |
| Wall | The rows of face-down tiles each player builds: 19 long, 2 high |
| Wall game | The wall runs out with no winner; nobody pays |
Questions
What is a pung in mahjong?
Three of the same tile. Jokers can fill any part of a pung.
What is a kong in mahjong?
Four of the same tile.
What is a quint?
Five of the same tile. Because there are only four of most tiles, a quint needs at least one joker (flowers are the exception, with eight in a set).
What is a dead hand?
A hand that can no longer win, usually because a player exposed tiles that don't match any hand on the card. That player stops drawing, discarding and calling for the rest of the hand, and still pays the winner.