Small Table Mahj / Setup

How to set up American mahjong

Shuffle the tiles face down, build four walls 19 tiles long and 2 high, push them into a square, roll the dice to break East's wall, and deal 13 tiles to each player and 14 to East, four at a time.

Questions

Four-player setup

Walls, the break and the deal

Shuffle all 152 tiles face down.
Build: each player builds a wall 19 tiles long, 2 high, and pushes it out to form a square.
Break: East rolls two dice, counts that many stacks from the right end of East's wall, and splits it there.
Deal: going to the right from East, each takes 4 tiles, three times round. Then East takes 2 more, the others 1.
Check: 13 tiles each, 14 for East.

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The count, so you know the walls are right

Four walls of 19 stacks, two tiles high: 4 x 19 x 2 = 152, every tile in the set. If a wall comes out short or long, someone's stack count is off; fix it before the dice.

A break, worked

East rolls a 4 and a 5: 9. East counts 9 stacks from the right end of their own wall and splits it there. East takes the first four tiles from the break, and the deal continues from there.

Short a player?

With two or three, you still build all four walls. See the two-player and three-player setup cards.

Questions

How many tiles in each mahjong wall?

In American mahjong, 38: 19 stacks, two tiles high.

Who deals in American mahjong?

East. After the first game, East passes to the player on the right.

How many tiles does each player get?

13, and East gets 14. East starts by discarding, after the Charleston.

Do you need dice to set up mahjong?

They decide who is East and where the wall breaks. Without dice, agree on East and break at any point.

Related cards

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