Tournament Rules are created to raise the competition level of the game and to ensure it is played fairly. Some groups enjoy competition so much, they play by tournament rules. Typically, tournament rules do not apply to social games.
One might think that a player's turn begins when the previous player discards a tile but that is not the case. The reason for this is that turns can be interrupted when another player claims the discard to make an exposure. Therefore, a player's turn officially begins when they either pick a tile from the wall or call a discard.
The value of a Jokerless hand is doubled. For example, if a player declares mah jongg on a hand that can use jokers but it is jokerless, the value of the hand is doubled. If the player self-picks their winning tile, the value is doubled again.
A variation created by the National Mah Jongg League supports a 5-player game. Some people call this, "playing with a bettor", or "5th player betting" Here's how it works
In all games there are rules in place to ensure fair play, and this applies to American Mah Jongg. Rolling the dice to break the wall is similar to cutting a dead of cards and prevents cheating.
We often hear players refer to the letter "c" displayed to the right of a hand on the NMJL card as a "closed" hand. The proper term is a "concealed" hand. Incidentally, some players refer to the "x" hands as "open" hand . The property term for this type of hand is "exposed". It is acceptable to use closed for concealed and open for exposed with no penalty incurred.
