WRONG NUMBER OF TILES (Article 205)

Commentary: Players must maintain 13 tiles on their rack at all times, except during the Charleston, or during active turns when temporarily holding a 14th tile. Brief exceptions also occur during joker exchanges or while rearranging tiles, which are considered part of normal play rather than rule violations.

If it is noticed that the fourth player (i.e., the player to the left of East, North) is short a tile and East has not yet discarded to start the game, North can pick their 13th tile and the game can continue. However, if it is noticed after East discards, another player should declare their hand dead. 

If more than one player has the wrong number of tiles during the Charleston, all the tiles must be thrown in, and a new game should start.

When a player has the wrong number of tiles during the play, they can be disqualified by another player (Article 24). Since a player cannot disqualify themselves, they should discard to block opponents from winning. When they are disqualified by another player, they stop playing so they do not discard.

Question from a Player: When a player picks a tile and discovers that they have too many tiles, do they discard the picked tile?

Answer from the NMJL:  Should a player’s hand contain the wrong number “of tiles after East has discarded the first tile, or if an incorrect number of tiles are exposed, the player’s hand is “dead”. Mah Jongg cannot be called. The “dead” hand ceases to pick and discard but will pay the winner full value of hand. A player should not declare their own hand dead. It is up to other players to declare a hand “dead.”

Source: Mah Jongg Made Easy (2024 page 17 #7)