A dealer is appointed who shuffles and deals 13 cards to each player; 14 to themselves. Place the remaining deck face down which is positioned in the middle of the table

The Objective, in the beginner's game, is to GO MAHJONG! & by drawing and discarding until you have 3 sets of FOUR identical cards, and one pair. Each player starts with 650 points. A scorekeeper keeps track with a pencil and score sheet.

Each player now exchanges three cards with the player sitting on the RIGHT, then three cards with the player sitting OPPOSITE, then three cards with the player on the LEFT.

East (dealer) discards one card face up to start the game. Thereafter, play will pass to the RIGHT. On your turn, draw the top card, add it to your hand, and then discard a card face up on the discard pile. Play continues until someone goes mahjong!

SETS are composed of multiple cards of the same-colored number (or letter)- like the four Green Dragons or the 9-9-9-9 of the red suit (all suit have names as you'll see). Jokers are wild. One or more can be used to represent the cards needed to complete a set.

Whenever an opponent discards a card that you can use to complete a set of four cards, you may call for it. If you do, you take it and LAY DOWN the complete set to prove you're correct.

(This is the only time you lay down cards prior to going mahjong)

Lay down your hand and shout out "Mahjong!" as soon as you have 3 sets of four cards each, and a pair. (You do not discard on your final turn; you need your final draw.)

If you go mahjong & you take points from each opponent (either 50 or 100 points from each-or more if you laid down no jokers. See scoring chart.)

EAST (dealer) is now the player on the right of the last dealer. She shuffles all cards and deals new hands. Play until each player is EAST once. High score wins!