American NMJL glossary
23 terms with example hands.
Year card
Official NMJL list of scoring patterns for the current year.
2s
2s pair
Seasons
Dragons
Charleston
Pre-play tile exchange phase before the first discard.
123 Man
456 Pin
789 Sou
Flowers
Winds
Pattern hand
A hand that matches a specific year-card diagram (often with jokers).
2s2s pairSeasonsDragonsJoker
Wild tile used in exposed melds for pung/kong/quint on the card.
RedGreenWhite123 ManPairExposure
Open meld placed on the rack after calling a discard.
RedGreenWhite123 ManPairCall
Claiming a discard to complete a pung, kong, quint, or pair per card.
123 Man456 Pin789 SouFlowersWindsRack
Standing tile holder; exposed and concealed tiles are arranged here.
123 Man456 Pin789 SouFlowersWindsDead hand
Invalid hand that cannot win — wrong exposure, too few tiles, etc.
123 Man
456 Pin
789 Sou
South
Pair
Quint
Five identical tiles — common on year-card patterns.
RedGreenWhite123 ManPairKong (Four of a kind)
Four identical tiles; may use jokers when exposed.
RedGreenWhite123 ManPairPair
Two matching tiles; often the last set completed for mahjong.
2s2s pairSeasonsDragonsSingles and pairs pattern
Card category using isolated tiles and pairs instead of pungs.
2s2s pairSeasonsDragonsConsecutive run
Sequence of numbers in one suit required by many card lines.
123 Man456 Pin789 SouFlowersWindsDragon tile
Red, green, or white dragon — frequent in year-card patterns.
RedGreenWhite123 ManPairWind tile
East, south, west, or north — used in winds/dragons patterns.
123 Man456 Pin789 SouFlowersWindsSoap (zero)
White dragon used as 0 in year-dated patterns like 2025.
2s2s pairSeasonsDragonsTable rule
House agreements on joker exchange, wall game, and scoring.
123 Man456 Pin789 SouFlowersWindsWall game
No winner when tiles run out — often no payments or split pot.
123 Man456 Pin789 SouFlowersWindsPass (Charleston)
Mandatory tile exchange with another player during Charleston.
123 Man456 Pin789 SouFlowersWindsCourtesy pass
Optional final exchange after the main Charleston rounds.
123 Man456 Pin789 SouFlowersWindsAmerican mahjong
NMJL-style tile mahjong played with a yearly pattern card and jokers.
2s2s pairSeasonsDragonsPung (Triplet)
Three identical tiles — a common building block on the year card.
RedGreenWhite123 ManPairRedeem joker
Swap a natural tile for a joker in an exposed meld when you hold the matching tile.
RedGreenWhite123 ManPair