Siamese Mahjong: American Mahjong for 2 Players

What is Siamese mahjong?

Siamese mahjong is a way for 2 people to play American mahjong. Gladys Grad created it in 2015.

Each player plays 2 hands at the same time. Each hand sits on its own rack. A rack holds your tiles up so the other player can't see them.

In regular American mahjong, you call "Mah Jongg" when your tiles match a hand on the card. In Siamese, you try to do that twice.

New to the game? Learn the basics in how to play American mahjong.

How do you set up Siamese mahjong?

To set up, each player takes 2 racks and 27 tiles, and you skip the Charleston.

1. Set up the racks. Each player sets up 2 racks, one for each hand.
2. Build the walls. Make them 19 stacks long and 2 tiles high.
3. Skip the Charleston. In a 4-player game, the Charleston is a tile swap before play. Siamese does not use it.
4. Take your tiles. Each player takes 27 tiles.
5. Start. East takes a 28th tile to begin the game.

The picture shows seats for regular American games with 2 or 3 players. In Siamese, each player has 2 racks instead of 1.

What are the Siamese mahjong rules for winning?

To win, you declare Mah Jongg twice. Here is how a game ends and pays.

• The game ends when one player has declared Mah Jongg twice.
• It also ends if the wall runs out of tiles.
• The first Mah Jongg is paid at the value on the card.
• The second Mah Jongg is paid double.

For every detail, read the full Siamese rules on mahjongg.org.

Is there a simpler way to play with 2 players?

Yes. The National Mah Jongg League (NMJL) has its own 2-player rules. Each player keeps just one hand.

• There is no Charleston.
• Each player builds 2 walls: their own and the one to their right.
• You play normal hands of 13 and 14 tiles.

Compare both ways in our guide to 2-player mahjong.