The NMJL card, explained: release, sections, and how to read it
The National Mah Jongg League card is the official list of winning hands for American mahjong, reissued every spring since the League’s founding in 1937. It’s copyrighted and sold by the League, so you won’t find it reproduced here. What you will find: what it is, how it works, and how to get good at reading it before yours arrives in the mail.
The NMJL card is the League’s list of every winning hand for the season, grouped in sections, with a value and an open or concealed mark on each line. The 2026 card lists 55 hands. A new card ships in early April every year, and tables switch to it as soon as it arrives. Buy it from the League, and learn the notation and sections now, since they work the same way on any card built in this style.
This guide covers standard American mahjong. Tile artwork and house rules can vary; use the rules and card agreed on by your table.
What the card is
American mahjong doesn’t let you invent a hand. Every table plays against a shared list of legal hands, and for most of the country that list is the League’s card: a folded sheet that stands up next to your rack, listing every winning hand for the season in a compact notation of digits, letters, and colors.
The 2026 card lists 55 hands. Each line carries a value, and each is marked either open, meaning you may call discards on the way, or concealed.
The hands change every year, and that change is the engine: a new card resets the puzzle each spring, veterans and second-year players start even, and the season has an opening day. Card release is the closest thing this game has to a holiday.
| At a glance | Details |
|---|---|
| Published by | The National Mah Jongg League, founded in 1937 |
| Hands on the 2026 card | 55 |
| Each line shows | A value and an open or concealed mark |
| New card ships | Early April, every year |
| Where to buy | nationalmahjonggleague.org, in standard or large print |
The sections
The card organizes its hands into sections of shared structure, and the section names are half the game’s vocabulary: the year hands, 2468 for evens, 13579 for odds, Any Like Numbers, Consecutive Run, Quints, Winds and Dragons, 369, and Singles and Pairs.
Each section has a personality. Consecutive Run is the workhorse where flexible deals go; Quints needs jokers by definition; Singles and Pairs refuses jokers entirely and pays accordingly.
Sorting your deal into the right section within the first few turns is the core skill of the whole game, and it’s the same skill on any card built this way, including our own house card.
Getting the card
Buy the card from the League at nationalmahjonggleague.org, in standard or large print. Order one per player; sharing a card across a table is miserable in practice.
It ships in early April, the cover alternating red and blue by year, and the first week with a new card is slow at every table in America. That’s part of the fun.
Getting ready before it arrives
If you’re learning now, don’t wait for the mail. The notation system, the sections, the open and concealed marks: all of it can be learned today.
Mahjong Pals lets you choose the card before each game, and the lessons teach card reading on our own house card, built in the same style precisely so the skill transfers. Players who learn here sit down to their first official card already knowing how to read one, and the Charleston and joker rules are identical either way.
Learn to read a card, one line at a timeCommon questions
When does the new NMJL card come out?
Early April, every year. Tables switch to the new card as soon as it arrives, and the old card retires.
How many hands are on the NMJL card?
It varies a little year to year. The 2026 card lists 55 hands across its sections.
Where do you buy the NMJL card?
From the National Mah Jongg League directly, at nationalmahjonggleague.org, in standard and large print sizes. Buying from the League is also what funds it.
Can I see the NMJL card online for free?
Not legitimately. The card is copyrighted and the League sells it; sites that reproduce it are violating that copyright. That’s why this site teaches card reading on its own house card instead.
Can I play with last year’s card?
At a kitchen table, if everyone agrees. Clubs and tournaments play the current card, and hands from old cards are not valid on new ones.
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