The moment after the deal is when the whole table reaches for the card. Hold off for one minute. If you sort your mahjong rack first, the card becomes far easier to read, because you already know what you are holding. This guide gives you a simple 60-second routine for sorting 13 tiles (or 14 if you are East), shows what a sorted rack tells you, and explains why sorting before you read is the better order for new players.
Key takeaways
- Count your tiles first: 13, or 14 if you are East.
- Group by suit (dots, bams, craks), then winds and dragons, with jokers and flowers kept easy to see.
- A sorted rack quickly shows your pairs, your dominant suit and how many jokers you have.
- Sort first and read the card second, so you look for lines that use your tiles instead of hunting for tiles to fit a favorite line.
- Re-sort for ten seconds after every pass in the Charleston.
The 60-second routine
You can do this with the tiles still on your rack. Keep the faces toward you and hidden from the rest of the table.
- Count your tiles. You should have 13, or 14 if you are East. Our guide to the 13 and 14 starting tiles explains why.
- Group by suit. Put dots with dots, bams with bams and craks with craks. Within each suit, place the numbers in order from low to high, so a gap or a pair stands out at a glance.
- Put winds and dragons together. Many players keep them side by side at one end of the rack. Some prefer to put each dragon next to the suit it matches on the card: red with craks, green with bams and white (the "soap") with dots.
- Keep your jokers in plain view. They can do more for you than any other tile, and they are the tiles players most often overlook when they are buried in the middle of the rack.
- Set flowers apart. All eight flowers are interchangeable on the card, so keep them in a small group of their own.
- Take one slow look. Ask yourself three questions: Which suit do I hold the most of? Where are my pairs? How many jokers do I have?
What a sorted rack tells you
A jumble of 13 tiles looks like 13 separate problems. Sorted, the same tiles show a pattern. The three things to look for are:
- Pairs and triples. Matching tiles side by side are the easiest raw material for the groups that most lines on the card are built from.
- A leading suit. If one suit has five or six tiles and the others have two or three, you know where your strength lies.
- Jokers. A joker can stand in for a tile in a group of three or more. It can never be used in a pair or as a single, so your jokers are worth the most when you also hold matching tiles to build groups around them.
With those three facts in hand you can set aside most of the card without reading it line by line.
Worked example with a made-up rack
Imagine an invented rack of 13 tiles, dealt face up here only for learning. Sorted, it looks like this:
| Group | Tiles held | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Dots | 2, 2, 5, 6 | 4 |
| Bams | 3, 3, 7 | 3 |
| Craks | 9 | 1 |
| Winds | East, East | 2 |
| Dragons | red | 1 |
| Flowers | one flower | 1 |
| Jokers | one joker | 1 |
| Total | 13 |
One look gives you a lot. There are three pairs (two dots, two bams, two East winds), one joker, one flower, and a lone crak, a lone red dragon and a few single tiles that may not connect to anything yet. Dots are your largest suit by a small margin. You do not need to commit to anything, but you now know which lines to look for first and which tiles are the best candidates to pass.
That second point matters in the Charleston. A joker can never be passed, so a visible joker is a tile you can safely stop worrying about while you pick three others. A lone, unconnected tile is a better candidate than a tile that sits in a pair.
What goes wrong when you read first
If you open the card before you sort, it is easy to fall for a line that looks attractive and then search your rack for proof that it can work. It is a bit like planning a route before you know where you are starting from.
Sorting first flips the order. You learn what you hold, then you look for lines that use it. That keeps you flexible, which is especially helpful in the early Charleston passes, when your hand is still changing.
If you are new to the card, what is the mahjong card explains how it is organized, and the National Mah Jongg League publishes a new one each year. Some players use a line reader card to keep their place while they scan a long card. SOLMAY's line reader cards come in a 4-pack; the yearly hand card itself is not included.
Sort again after each pass
During the Charleston your hand changes every few minutes. Three tiles leave and three arrive on every pass, which means any sorting you did a minute ago is already a little out of date.
A ten-second re-sort after each pass keeps your picture honest. It also acts as a free count, because you will notice quickly if you have 12 or 14 tiles by mistake. Our first Charleston guide walks through the passes one at a time.
Once the Charleston is over, sorting helps again. As you choose which line to chase, choosing a hand after the Charleston builds on exactly this view of your rack.
Common mistakes and a quick reference
- Opening the card first. It is tempting, but it can anchor you to a line that does not fit.
- Burying jokers. A joker lost in the middle of the rack is easy to overlook.
- Mixing flowers into suits. Flowers are not a suit, so keep them in their own group.
- Skipping the count. Count before you sort. A rack with the wrong number of tiles can cause trouble later.
- Letting others see your tiles. Keep the faces toward you and hidden.
- Never re-sorting. A rack that was sorted before the Charleston is not sorted any longer after it.
| Tile type | Where to put it | What to note |
|---|---|---|
| Dots, bams, craks | Grouped by suit, numbers in order | Pairs, near-pairs and your leading suit |
| Winds and dragons | Side by side at one end | Pairs and any matching tiles |
| Flowers | A small group of their own | All eight are interchangeable |
| Jokers | In plain view | Groups of 3 or more only; never in a pair or alone; never passed |
Try it at your next game
Set a timer for 60 seconds as the deal ends and put the card face down beside you. Sort, then say out loud to yourself: "My strongest suit is ___, I have ___ pairs, and ___ jokers." Only then open the card. Do this for three games and it will become automatic.
Frequently asked questions
How do you sort a mahjong rack?
Count your tiles, then group them by suit (dots, bams, craks), with the numbers in order within each suit. Place the winds and dragons together, keep your flowers in a small group, and leave your jokers where you can see them. The whole routine takes about a minute.
Should I look at the card before I sort my tiles?
Many players find it easier to sort first. When you know what you hold, you can scan the card for lines that use your tiles, instead of hunting for tiles to fit a line you liked at first glance.
Where should I put my jokers on the rack?
Somewhere you can see them easily, such as at one end of the rack. They are valuable, and buried jokers are easy to forget about. Remember that jokers can never be passed in the Charleston.
How many tiles should be on my rack?
Thirteen, or fourteen if you are East. After the Charleston, East discards first and goes down to 13 as well. During a turn you briefly hold 14 after drawing, then discard one.
Do flowers go with a suit?
No. Flowers are their own group of tiles, and on the card any flower can stand for any other. Keep them together in a small group, separate from dots, bams and craks.
Do I need to re-sort during the Charleston?
It helps. Each pass swaps three tiles, so your hand changes. A ten-second re-sort after each pass keeps your picture accurate and doubles as a quick tile count.
Keep reading
- What is the mahjong card?
- The first Charleston, step by step
- After the Charleston: choosing which hand to chase
- Jokers: what they can replace
- What the card colors mean
These guides follow the way American mahjong is commonly played with the National Mah Jongg League card. Groups sometimes add house rules, so agree on yours before the first hand, and always use the current year's official card. SOLMAY is not affiliated with the NMJL.
