How Jokers Work

In American mahjong, a joker is a wild tile that can stand in for any tile in a set of three or more: a pung, kong, quint, or sextet. It cannot fill a pair or a single tile. It cannot be passed in the Charleston, and once discarded it is out of play. On your turn, you can take a joker from an exposed set by giving back the real tile it stands for.

Where jokers can go

A joker can fill any place in a set of three or more identical tiles.

Quints and sextets need jokers, since a set has only four copies of any tile.

Where jokers cannot go

A joker cannot be part of a pair or stand in for a lone tile.

If you expose or declare a hand with a joker in a pair, it is an error, and your hand may be dead. A hand on the card can also have single tiles in it. A joker cannot fill those either.

Swapping for a joker

If another player has an exposed set with a joker, and you hold the real tile the joker stands for, you can trade for it.

1. On your turn, after you draw, place the real tile on their exposed set.
2. Take the joker.
3. Keep playing your turn: you still discard.

You may do this with your own exposures too, and more than once in a turn. You must wait until your turn, and you can only swap with a tile from your hand or the tile you drew. Some group rules add other limits, for example about exposures of dead hands.

Discarding a joker

You may discard a joker, though you rarely should. A discarded joker is out of play, and no player can call it. So treat a joker as valuable, and discard one only when you have thought it through.

When to keep them

• Always early on. They fit many hands.
• For the end of your hand. A joker can finish a set you could never draw naturally.
• Sometimes to protect your score. Many groups give a bonus for a hand with no jokers. If you are close, ask your group how they score it.

Common beginner mistakes

• Putting a joker in a pair. It is the most common mistake on this page, and it can kill a hand.
• Calling a discarded joker. You cannot. It is out of play.
• Passing a joker in the Charleston. That is not allowed.
• Missing a swap. Check all exposures at the start of each turn. A joker may be waiting for you.
• Exposing jokers too freely. Each joker you expose may be taken by someone else.