The Complete Book of Mah Jongg: An Illustrated Guide to the Asian, American and International Styles of Play

We were new to Chinese Mah Jongg, and only barely followed the American rules a long time ago, so got this as a refresher when one of our family members took up the game. And: wow! So good. It's beautifully-illustrated, with clear explanations about basic rules in a decently-paced introduction to the game, and with explanations of the most popular variations and a basic overview of strategy. Special shoutout to the typography (was it done in TeX??) which makes it quite readable, and the heavy duty end flaps which can be used as bookflaps. One of those little books that could have been done cheaply but which is, in its excellent execution, a real pleasure to own.

This is a great resource for many styles of mahjong, and even though the rules aren’t exhaustive for each style, there are enough examples and instructions to get you started. My only quibble is with some edge cases that could be more explicitly explained or more hands used as examples in scoring, but well, you can’t show every possible hand. The list of courtesies is appreciated — though some are laughable for my game group, who will never observe them. I’ve used this reference to create my own group’s beginners scoring cheat sheet. Combining different scoring traditions is not generally recommended, but I wanted to give my group stepping stones to more scoring opportunities without overwhelming them from the jump. This book really helped with that.

Personably like this book very much, very easy to read and go along with other players wherever you are.

Bought this to (re) learn how to play the game and for this the book is ideal. Takes you through the basics and the rules for Cantonese, Taiwanese, Hong Kong and American versions of the game. We play Cantonese rules and the book takes you through setting up the seats for the 4 players, making and breaking the rules and the basic strategies of the game. Also gives some examples of winning hands, at the moment we are playing Cantonese rules with the “People’s” (simplified) game scoring rules, until we have worked through the complexities of fans etc. All in all a great book to get you up and running and enjoying this great game.

Good book but a little complex to muster