How to read the mahjong card

The layout

Hands are grouped into sections named after their pattern, such as the year, 2468 (even numbers), like numbers, consecutive runs, 13579 (odd numbers), winds and dragons, 369, and singles and pairs. Sections change a little from year to year.
Each line is one hand, written as groups of characters with spaces between the groups.
On the right of each line: X or C, and the hand's value.
Some lines add a short note in brackets, such as "any 2 suits" or "any like numbers". That note is part of the hand.

The code

On the card	Means	Tiles
A digit, e.g. 222	Suit tiles of that number. Three digits = a pung.
N E W S	North, East, West, South winds
F	Flower. Any flower counts.
D	Dragon. Its colour tells you which one.
0	White dragon (soap), used as zero
X	Exposed: you may call discards for groups
C	Concealed: no exposures except the winning tile

Colours: the part that trips everyone up

The card prints groups in up to three colours. The rule:

Same colour = same suit. Every group printed in one colour must be the same suit.
Different colours = different suits. A hand in three colours needs all three suits.
The colour is not the suit. A green group does not have to be bams. You choose which suit goes with which colour, as long as you stay consistent.
Dragons follow the colour they are printed in. A D printed in the same colour as a group of craks is a red dragon; next to bams, a green dragon; next to dots, a soap.

Reading a made-up example

This is an invented line in the card's style, not a real hand:

FF 111 222 3333 DD X 25

FF: two flowers, a pair (no jokers allowed in a pair).
111, 222, 3333: a pung of 1s, a pung of 2s and a kong of 3s, in three different suits because they are in three colours.
DD: a pair of dragons matching the suit of the 1s, because they share a colour.
X 25: exposures allowed; worth 25.

One way to make it: craks with red dragons, bams, dots. The joker is allowed because it sits in a pung.

How to find hands that fit your tiles

Sort your rack by suit, then honours (winds, dragons, flowers) and jokers.
Look for what you have most of: lots of even numbers, a run, many winds, pairs. Check the matching section first.
Pick two or three possible hands before the Charleston, and pass tiles that fit none of them.
Narrow down to one hand as the game goes on. Do not expose a group until you are fairly sure of the hand.

Practising this with a real hand of tiles is the fastest way to learn. Try the Charleston trainer with your card next to you.

Common questions

What does 0 mean on the mahjong card?

A 0 is played with the white dragon, or soap. It appears in year hands such as 2026, where the 0 is a soap.

What do the colours on the mahjong card mean?

Colours show how many suits a hand uses. Tiles printed in one colour must all be in the same suit. Two or three colours mean two or three different suits. The colours do not stand for particular suits: a blue group can be dots, bams or craks.

What do X and C mean on the mahjong card?

X means the hand may include exposures (groups you call from discards). C means the hand must be concealed: you can only call the very last tile that wins.

What do the numbers on the right of the card mean?

They are the hand's value, which sets how much the winner is paid. Harder hands, and concealed ones, are worth more.

What is the difference between D and a coloured D?

D means a dragon. Printed in the same colour as a suit group, it means the dragon that matches that suit: red with craks, green with bams, soap with dots.

Can I use last year's card?

Not for standard play. The hands change every year and you can only win with a hand on the current card.

Sources: The Mahjong Line, American Mahjong 101; Wikipedia: American mahjong. Buy the official card from the National Mah Jongg League.