Mahjiku › Mahjong variants › American vs Singaporean
How American and Singaporean mahjong differ — the tile set, the hand, and above all how each one is scored.
| American | Singaporean | |
|---|---|---|
| Also called | American Mah Jongg | Singapore Mahjong |
| Played in | United States | Singapore, Malaysia |
| Tiles | 152 | 148 |
| Flowers | 8 flowers — a distinct honor category; how many a hand needs is set by that year's card | 4 flowers + 4 seasons, plus 4 unique animal tiles (Cat, Rat, Rooster, Centipede) forming two predator-prey pairs |
| Jokers | 8 jokers — wild only in groups of three or more (pungs/kongs/quints), never singly or in a pair | none |
| Hand size | 13 | 13 |
| Scored in | points (card-assigned) | fan/tai (doubling) |
| Scoring system | fixed point value per card pattern | exponential doubling with a house-configurable minimum and limit |
| Learning curve | advanced | intermediate |
American. American mahjong (NMJL rules) is a four-player game where legal hands are defined entirely by an officially published card that changes every year, played with 152 tiles including 8 wildcard jokers and preceded by the Charleston tile-passing ritual.
Singaporean. Singaporean mahjong plays much like Hong Kong mahjong with a 148-tile set (144 plus four unique animal bonus tiles) and doubling-based scoring whose minimum and limit vary by house rule.
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