Mah Jongg
Completing a hand that matches a pattern on the NMJL card, winning the game. Also the name of the game itself.
Definition
Mah Jongg (also spelled Mahjong or Mahjongg) refers both to the tile game itself and to the act of completing a winning hand. In American Mahjong, a player declares "Mah Jongg" when their 14 tiles match one of the hands listed on the current year's NMJL card. The declaring player wins the round and collects points from the other players.
How It Works in Gameplay
To win, you must arrange your tiles to exactly match a hand on the NMJL card. You can complete your hand either by drawing your final tile from the wall (self-pick) or by calling another player's discard. When you declare Mah Jongg, you reveal your hand so all players can verify it matches a valid pattern. A concealed hand (no exposures) is worth double. If you mistakenly declare Mah Jongg with an invalid hand, you are "dead" for the remainder of that round.
Example
Your hand contains a pung of 1 Bam, a kong of Green Dragons, and a pair of Flowers. You need one more Green Dragon to match a hand on the card. The player across discards a Green Dragon — you call "Mah Jongg!" and reveal your completed hand for the table to verify.
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