Editorial policy

How the guides are written

Every guide teaches standard American mahjong: the rules as the National Mah Jongg League publishes them, with the common house variations marked as variations.

Behind the site sits a working reference of those rules, including a list of 109 fine points, the small rulings that settle a table argument, which the game engine on this site implements. A rule claim in a guide is checked against that reference and against what the engine does at the table, so the articles and the game agree.

Each guide names its sources at the end. Sloperama’s American Mah-Jongg FAQ is among them, and so is the rulebook at your own table, which has the final word on any house rule.

Who writes them

The Mahjong Pals team. AI tools help draft and check text; people review every guide, decide what is published, and answer for what it says. The byline is the team’s, never a named persona.

What is never done

No guide reproduces the hands on any printed card. The examples that teach card reading use an invented line that appears on no card. Mahjong Pals is not affiliated with the National Mah Jongg League.

Drafts

A guide that has not finished review shows “Editorial preview” under its title and asks search engines not to index it. It can still be read at its own address.

Corrections

Found a mistake? Email support@mahjongpals.com with the page and the line. Corrections are logged, and the guide’s “Last reviewed” date updates when it is fixed.