2026 Card Update Live · 60% OFF

Complete Video Course + Hands Guide

From Beginner to Champion
in 7 Days

The NMJL card, the Charleston, picking the right hand — finally explained in plain English, with frameworks that hold up for any card, any year.

127 players enrolled this week

  • 4.9/5 from 2,500+ students
  • 30-day money-back guarantee
  • Instant access on any device
60% Save
American Mahjong Academy course shown on laptop and phone with the 2026 Official Hands Guide printable sheets
5 Modules
+ Printable Guide

One-time payment · Lifetime access · No subscription

None of this is your fault

Six reasons the game feels harder than it should. Recognise any?

A year of progress, reset each spring

The new card owes you nothing.

Passing tiles blind

Six exchanges, zero guidance.

Your rack, your problem

The table moves on. You're still deciding.

A card written in code

Dots, bams and cracks — and no key.

Practice apps only keep score

They tell you that you lost, never why.

The pressure of four seats

Three people waiting while you work it out.

Every player hits these. The card assumes knowledge nobody hands you, and the rest gets picked up in fragments — if it gets picked up at all.

That stops here.

Players mid-hand at a Mahjong table, tiles spread across red felt

One week from now

Same table. Same card. Different player.

Nothing about the game changes. What changes is you.

Before

  • Squinting at the card, none the wiser
  • Picking a hand on instinct alone
  • Bracing yourself for the Charleston
  • Praying nobody clocks that you're lost
  • Ducking tables with seasoned players

After

  • Reading the card with real fluency
  • Settling on a hand in half a minute
  • Working the Charleston to your advantage
  • Sitting at any table and keeping pace
  • Passing on what you've worked out

Five modules stand between one column and the other.

The path

Five steps, start to finish

Taught in the order your head needs it, not the order a rulebook lists it. Seven days, end to end.

01

Tiles and terms

Suits, honours, jokers, and what a set really is.

02

Reading the card

Every line decoded until the notation reads like English.

03

The Charleston

What to keep, what to send, and what the passes tell you.

04

Choosing a hand

How strong players commit early — and when they pivot.

05

Playing to win

Defence, counting and closing out a game.

Nothing skipped, nothing assumed — each step earns the next.

Inside the course

What the course covers

Five modules, taking you from your first tile to holding your own anywhere.

The American Mahjong Academy course playing on a laptop and phone
1 The fundamentals Explained without shortcuts

Tiles, suits, jokers, pairs, pungs and kongs — and why the game is built the way it is.

2 Reading the NMJL card No tears required

How the card is structured, section by section, and how to decode the notation.

3 Strategy that holds up Choosing hands, seeing patterns

Stop staring at your rack and start making decisions.

4 Advanced play For anyone tired of losing

Switching hands mid-game, defensive thinking, the probability that matters, and when to expose.

5 Tournament mindset Real hands, start to finish

Whole hands broken down decision by decision — like sitting beside a strong player.

Watch it through once, then dip back in mid-game whenever you need it.

Included with the course

The cheat sheet you'll actually use

Every winning hand on one clean, readable reference — made for the table, not the filing cabinet.

  • Every winning hand laid out visually, not in shorthand
  • Grouped by category so you can find a line fast
  • Sized for ordinary letter paper
  • A phone version for use at the table
  • Reissued each year — yours free, always
Print friendly Phone ready Instant download 2026 edition

Print it, laminate it, keep it beside your rack.

Why it works

Built the way you'd actually learn it

Not a rulebook with videos attached. A route through the game.

Written from real sticking points

Every lesson exists because somebody actually got stuck there.

Plain language, no lecture

Explained the way a patient friend would, not a rulebook.

Nothing to memorise

Frameworks that hold for any card, so next year isn't a reset.

The why, not just the what

You'll understand why a move is right, which is what transfers.

Practise off the clock

Get comfortable alone, then arrive already competent.

Teaching and reference together

The lesson explains it; the sheet is there when you forget.

The lessons Teach you the thinking
+
The cheat sheet Catches you mid-hand
=
It sticks Which is the whole point

In their words

What students say afterwards

The part that matters isn't the course. It's the next game you sit down to.

The numbers so far

It works for most people

Not a promise — just what students report back.

2,500+ Students enrolled
94% Won their next game
7 days To see the difference
4.9/5 Average student rating

Figures are drawn from our own student records and post-course survey responses.

Susan Bennett, American Mahjong instructor, seated at a table
Susan Bennett American Mahjong instructor

Who's teaching

Taught by someone who was once lost too

Susan spent her first couple of years at the table guessing. This is the explanation she never got.

  • Fifteen years at American Mahjong tables
  • Has taught 2,500+ students, complete beginners upward
  • Competes in tournaments, not just kitchen games
  • Known for explaining things without the jargon
Course creator Tournament player Teaches all levels
"I built this because I still remember how baffling it all was. Now I get to hand people the shortcut I never had." Susan Bennett

Learn it once. Play it for years.

Everything arrives the moment you buy. One payment, yours to keep. Nothing renews.

Best value — save 60%
American Mahjong Academy course on laptop and phone with the 2026 Official Hands Guide sheets

The Complete Bundle

Video course · Cheat sheet · 2026 Hands Guide

$97 $37 USD

Paid once · Yours for life

Introductory price for the 2026 edition

That's $60 off today
  • Five-module video course, start to finish
  • Printable cheat sheet for every winning hand
  • The 2026 Hands Guide, included
  • Phone-sized version for use at the table
  • Lifetime access — nothing to renew
  • Every future card update, free
  • Thirty days to change your mind
Get instant access — $37

Delivered the second you pay · Nothing to cancel later

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Secure payment Instant download

Thirty days, no hard feelings

Still not feeling more confident a month from now? Ask for your money back and keep the cheat sheet anyway. The risk sits with us, not you.

Before you buy

The things people always ask

And a few they should.

I've never touched a tile. Is this too advanced?

Module 1 starts from nothing — what the tiles are, what the suits mean, why a pung beats a pair. Nothing is assumed. By module 3 you're making real strategic calls, one step at a time.

I've played for years. Is there anything here for me?

Experienced players tell us the later modules earn it back — defensive discards, reading what exposures tell you, and spotting a dead hand early enough to act on it.

Why pay when there's free content on YouTube?

There's good free material out there. It's just scattered, inconsistent, and assumes you already know the piece you're missing. This is one sequence, in order — and the cheat sheet is the part nobody gives away.

What exactly is the cheat sheet?

A print-ready PDF for standard letter paper, with every winning hand laid out visually and grouped by category. There's a phone-sized version too, for use at the table.

The card changes every year. Does this go stale?

That's the whole design. You learn to read any card rather than memorise one — and every future edition of the hands guide lands in your account free.

How long do I keep access?

Indefinitely. One payment, no renewal, nothing to cancel. Anything added later shows up in your account at no extra cost.

Can I watch on my phone or tablet?

Phone, tablet, laptop or TV — it all works, and your progress follows you between them.

Do I still need the official NMJL card?

For league play, yes — get it from the National Mah Jongg League. Our guide sits alongside it as a reference, not a substitute. We're not affiliated with the NMJL.

What if it isn't what I hoped?

Email us inside thirty days and we'll refund you in full. No form, no reason required — and you keep the cheat sheet.

Something we didn't cover? Email us directly

A week from now

Nobody at the table will guess you were new

No more nodding along, no more hoping the pass was right. Just sitting down and knowing.

$97$37paid once, kept for good

Thirty days to change your mind · Delivered instantly · Nothing renews

Alongside 2,500+ players who stopped guessing