How to Set Up Mahjong

Mah jongg set up in 5 steps

1. Seat four players with a rack each. East is the dealer. Racks with pushers make this easier.
2. Shuffle all tiles face down on a mahjong mat.
3. Build the wall: each player builds a wall 19 tiles long and two tiles high in front of their rack.
4. Break the wall: East rolls two dice and counts that many stacks from the right end of their wall.
5. Deal: take four tiles at a time until everyone has 12, then East takes two more and the others one more. East holds 14, everyone else 13.

Then comes the Charleston, where players pass tiles before the first discard. Full rules: how to play mahjong.

What you need

A complete American mahjong set, four racks, two dice, a mat and this year's card of hands.