About Four Winds Toolkit
Free browser tools that keep an American Mahjong table moving, and plain guides for people who are new to the game.
Why it exists
Everybody who plays this game has a phone on the table. Nobody had built the thing a host needs when she is teaching four beginners at once: who goes first, which Charleston pass is this, whose turn is it, how did that hand score. There are plenty of calculators for experts. This is for the table.
It started at one weekly game in one neighborhood. The tools got built because the questions kept coming up.
Who it is for
Hosts first. If you organize a group, teach beginners, or run more than one table, you have the most friction and the most reason to come back every week. New players second. If you know the tiles but lose the thread in the Charleston, or cannot remember how the last hand scored, the guides are written for you.
How it works
- Everything is free. No accounts, no sign-up, no email to enter.
- Nothing you type leaves your phone. Names and scores are remembered in your own browser and nowhere else.
- No app to install. Open a link, use it, put the phone down.
- The tools carry no advertising.
American Mah Jongg rules
This site follows NMJL-style American Mah Jongg rules by default, with optional house rules clearly identified. Everything here is written in our own words. For the annual Official Standard Hands and Rules card and authoritative League information, visit the National Mah Jongg League.
About the card
The annual card of hands is published by the League, and it belongs to them. This site does not reproduce it, look hands up, or tell you what your hand is worth. You type the value from your own card, every time.
Independent resource: this website is an independent American Mah Jongg companion and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the National Mah Jongg League, Inc. "NMJL" and related names belong to their respective owner. For official League information and the annual Official Standard Hands and Rules card, visit the National Mah Jongg League.
Getting the rules right
The person who built this is new to the game, which helps with knowing what confuses beginners and does not help with asserting rules. Every rule the site encodes was walked through with an experienced player in our group before launch. Where tables commonly differ, the site says so and lets you choose.
If you spot something wrong, say so. The fastest way to reach us is on Instagram at @fourwindstoolkit.
The name
The four winds are the four seats at the table. The toolkit is what is on the phone in the middle of it.