JOKERTILE
Reference

The Words You'll Hear at Your First Table

Twenty-six terms, defined plainly. Keep this open during your first few games.

July 31, 20264 MIN READUPDATED Aug 2026
On this page
  1. The list
  2. The five you'll need in the first ten minutes
  3. Things people say that aren't rules
  4. How to use these without sounding like a manual

The vocabulary is the first wall you hit. People say "soap" and "quint" and "down is down" at conversational speed and you nod along wondering what just happened.

Here's the whole list. None of it is complicated once translated.

七萬 東 中 1 JOKER
Left to right: crak, bam (the bird), dot, wind, dragon, soap, flower, joker.

The list

BamThe bamboo suit, 1–9. One bam is a bird, not a stick.
CrakThe character suit, 1–9. Short for "character".
DotThe circle suit, 1–9. Count the circles.
SoapThe white dragon. As a dragon it pairs with the dot suit. It is a zero only where the card actually prints a 0 — never a free-floating zero or ten — and a zero is suitless, so the colour it is printed in means nothing.
Natural tileAny tile that is not a joker.
SuitlessFlowers, winds, and the white dragon played as 0.
GroupingSingle, pair, pung (3), kong (4), quint (5) or sextet (6).
PungThree identical tiles.
KongFour identical tiles.
QuintFive identical tiles. Only possible with jokers.
The cardThe League's annual list of legal hands. Every player needs their own, and it changes each year.
Exposed hand (X)A hand that may claim discards and show groupings on top of the rack.
Concealed hand (C)A hand that stays hidden. A discard may only be claimed to win outright.
ExposureA claimed discard plus your matching tiles, displayed on top of your rack.
The CharlestonThe opening exchange: three passes, an optional second three, then the courtesy pass.
Blind passPassing on tiles you were just handed, unseen. Legal on the last pass of each Charleston only.
Courtesy passThe final exchange of 0–3 tiles with the player across from you. The lower number wins.
Joker exchangeSwapping a natural tile from your hand for a joker sitting in any exposure.
Window of opportunityThe interval when a discard can be claimed. It shuts when the next player racks a tile.
Down is downOnce a discard is named or lands, it cannot be taken back.
Dead tileA discarded joker. Nobody can ever claim it.
Dead handA hand that can no longer win. Another player has to challenge it, and you may acknowledge the challenge or dispute it: acknowledge and you stop playing, dispute and you carry on until the hand is checked at the end. Either way it still pays the winner.
Wall gameAll four walls exhausted with nobody declaring. Nobody pays.
JokerlessA winning hand containing no jokers. Worth an extra doubling — but only if you announce it when you declare. It does not apply to singles-and-pairs hands.
Pivot playerThe original East. Once every player has had a turn as East, the Pivot swaps seats with the player on their right, taking the dice along, which mixes up the seating.
PusherThe optional arm used to push your wall forward without touching tiles.

The five you'll need in the first ten minutes

Pung — three of the same tile. The basic building block.

Exposure — the tiles you've claimed and put face-up on your rack. Everyone can see them, which is both the cost and the point.

Soap — the white dragon. Somebody will discard one in the first minute and you'll wonder what they said.

Call — what you say to claim a discard. Say it fast and say it clearly.

Same — what you say when you're discarding the tile that was just discarded. Saves everybody a syllable.

Things people say that aren't rules

"Down is down." A reminder that a discard is final. Usually said kindly, occasionally not.

"Passing blind." Announcing a blind pass. Polite, not required.

"I picked it." Said when declaring mahjong on a tile you drew yourself. It changes what everyone pays, so it isn't a boast.

"Wall game." Nobody won. Nobody pays. Start again.

How to use these without sounding like a manual

Short beats correct. "Two bam" not "the two of bamboos". "Call" not "I would like to claim that tile". The table is moving and everyone will thank you for the syllables you save.

And the words for tiles you'll actually say out loud, every turn, are on the naming page.

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One more click. We have sent you a confirmation email — open it and confirm, and the sheets follow straight after. It takes a second and it is what keeps this list clean.

Where this comes from

Definitions follow the American Mah-Jongg Association's published rulebook. Terms marked as things people say rather than rules — "down is down", announcing a blind pass — are community usage.