UNDERSTANDING YOUR EXPERIENCE LEVEL (ARTICLE 277; AMJ ELE)

A meaningful look at how mah jongg players grow—and how to recognize your place in the journey.

American mah jongg isn’t learned all at once. Growth is progressive and layered. You gain confidence in one area while still developing another, and that mix is perfectly normal. Someone might grasp the purpose of the Charleston early but struggle with hand selection. Another might be great at identifying the strength of the hand but slower at determining the appropriate hand development tactic. That’s the beauty of the game—there is always something new to learn.

Most players underestimate just how much skill they’ve already built. They know they’re improving, but the day-to-day progress is easy to miss. Being able to name your current experience level helps bring clarity to your growth, confidence to your decisions, and direction to your practice.

Here are the three broad stages most players move through:

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Beginner: Building the Foundation

This stage is all about comfort and clarity.

Players are learning how to read the card, navigate the Charleston, recognize simple patterns, claim discards correctly, and get through a game without feeling overwhelmed.

Beginners benefit most from:
• steady repetition
• guided play
• basic rules
• structure that reduces confusion

The focus is on learning the flow of the game and building early confidence.

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Intermediate: Developing Rhythm & Intent

This is where the game becomes more intuitive.

Intermediate players understand the basics and are ready to strengthen timing, pivoting, exposure judgment, tempo awareness, and early forms of hand reading. They’re beginning to understand position, identify risk, and adapt as the tiles in the wall deplete.

Intermediates often feel “on the cusp”—they know what they want to do, and they’re refining the timing of when to do it.

Their growth comes from:
• practicing middle game pivots
• reading hands more accurately
• improving push–fold judgment
• developing end game awareness

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Advanced: Playing with Strategy & Precision

Advanced players move with intention.

They manage both offense and defense with clarity, pivot with ease, read hands accurately, and understand the nuanced rules—concurrent interests, commitment, joker protocols, disqualifications, and more.

At this level, the focus is refinement:
• confident tempo control
• sharper end game decisions
• more accurate opponent playing style identification
• stronger adaptation under pressure

Advanced players aren’t “finished”—they’re polishing.

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Why This Matters

Understanding your level isn’t about ranking.

It’s about orientation—knowing where you are today so you can choose the right kind of practice tomorrow. It gives you language for what you’re experiencing and helps you see progress you may have missed.

Players often discover they’re stronger than they realized and can see what they need to do to get to the next level.

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Ready to Discover Your Experience Level?

To help players understand where they truly are across the game, we have created a 25-question, narrative-style evaluation that follows the natural rhythm of a full round.

It’s not a test. It’s a snapshot of your play style, decision-making, timing, and rule understanding—so you can see your strengths clearly and identify your most meaningful next steps.

The American Mah Jongg Experience Level Evaluation (AMJ ELE) is available exclusively to subscribers of the Mahj Life mailing list.

You deserve to see your progress reflected back to you.

Let’s discover your current level—and your next level—together.

Create your free account below to unlock access.
Once you submit the form, we’ll set up your account and send an email with a link to the quiz.