Alphabetical Index

Glossary entries will be added next.

Double-Sided Wait (DSW)
Two consecutive suited tiles that can complete a Chow from either end.

Middle Wait (MW)
Two suited tiles with one number between them, waiting for the middle tile to complete the Chow.

Edge Wait (EW)
A 1–2 or 8–9 combination waiting for the single tile that completes the Chow.

Table of Contents

1. Screens and Controls
2. Getting Your Hand Ready
3. Understanding Your Hand Display
4. Understanding the Boxes
5. Following the Turn Cycle
6. Chow, Pong, Kang, and Secret
7. Understanding Pathways
8. Understanding Release Tile (RT)
9. Understanding Recommendations and Coaching
10. Completing a Hand
11. Saving and Reviewing Hands
12. Correcting an Entry
13. Finding Help and Sharing Feedback
14. Quick Reference

Screens and Controls

This chapter identifies MJC’s screens, controls, and indicators and explains what each does.

Tile Selection Screen (TSS)

This is where you choose your settings and enter your starting hand.

Settings and Status

1 Role
Choose whether you are the Player or Dealer.

2 Ruleset
Choose the Mahjong rules used for your hand.

3 Display
Choose the order of the suits, Winds, and Dragons in MJC’s tile displays and selection screens.

4 Tiles Entered
Shows how many tiles you have entered and the required starting total: 16 for Player or 17 for Dealer.

5 Instruction Message
Shows guidance or feedback for your current task.

Tile Entry and Controls

Tiles are grouped into Chars, Bams, Dots, Winds, and Dragons. The shortened illustration below shows a sample tile group and the controls beneath the tile-entry area.

6 Tile Group and Total
Identifies the suit or honor group. The number in parentheses shows how many tiles you have entered in that group.

7 Tile Button
Identifies a tile and lets you enter its quantity. Long-pressing clears that tile’s quantity.

8 Tile Quantity
Shows how many copies of that tile you have entered. A blank quantity means zero.

9 Clear Tiles
Clears the tiles entered for your starting hand.

10 Play On!
Accepts your starting tiles and opens the Starting Hand Display. It becomes available when the required number of tiles has been entered.

11 Hand History
Opens your saved hands for review and sharing.

12 Undo Clear
Appears temporarily after clearing tiles and restores the cleared entry.

Starting Hand Display (SHD)

Shows your starting hand after you press Play On! You can review your tiles, change the view, or revise your starting hand.

Header

This illustration shows the Player role in Coaching View.

13 Screen Title
Identifies this as the Starting Hand Display.

14 Role Selector
Shows your selected role. Tap to switch between Player and Dealer. If the tile total no longer matches the role, MJC directs you to Revise.

15 Instruction Message
Identifies your next action or a correction needed before continuing. The wording depends on your role and selected view.

16 Six Box Theory™ Link
Opens Understanding the Boxes. This link appears in the Starting Hand instruction message in Coaching View.

Hand Area — Standard View

Standard View shows your starting tiles grouped by suit and honors, using your Display preferences.

17 Indices
Shows or hides the identifying numbers and letters added to the tile images.

18 Tile Groups
Identifies each occupied suit or honor group. Your starting tiles appear beneath its heading. Groups appear in the suit and honors order you selected in Display.

Hand Area — Coaching View

Coaching View reveals the structure of your hand by organizing its tiles into Reserves, Developing Boxes, and Complete Boxes. The illustration below identifies these three areas without displaying individual tiles.

19 Boxes Complete
Shows how many boxes are complete toward the hand's target. A standard 16-tile hand requires six boxes (five melds and one Eye). A standard 13-tile hand requires five boxes (four melds and one Eye). Special hands may have different completion targets.

20 Tiles In Hand
Counts the tiles outside your Complete Boxes.

21 Labels
Switches Developing Box type labels between full names and abbreviations. This control appears in Coaching View.

22 Reserves
Displays tiles not assigned to a Developing or Complete Box.

23 Developing Boxes
Displays your developing tile groupings, with a box number and type label for each.

24 Completed Boxes
Displays your complete groupings, identifying their box numbers, types, and meld visibility where applicable.

Action Controls

The available action controls depend on your role and the hand’s current state. This illustration shows a Player preparing to draw or claim a tile in Coaching View.

25 Draw
Opens the Draw Tile Screen to record a tile drawn from the wall.

26 Chow
Opens the process for claiming a discard to complete a three-tile sequence.

27 Pong
Opens the process for claiming a discard to complete three matching tiles.

28 Kang
Opens the process for declaring or claiming a Kang, with options allowed by your ruleset.

29 View Switch
Switches between Standard View and Coaching View. The button names the view it will open.

30 Pathways
Shows or hides completion pathways in Coaching View. “Pathways: On” turns them on; “Pathways: Off” turns them off. In Standard View, “Pathways: NA” is unavailable.

31 Pathways Explained
Opens Understanding Pathways. This link appears when Pathways are shown in Coaching View.

32 Revise
Returns to tile selection so you can correct your starting tiles and available settings.

Dealer’s First Discard — Coaching View

A Dealer begins with 17 tiles and selects a tile to discard. When available, MJC displays a discard recommendation above the hand.

33 Hide / Show Recommended Discards
Hides the recommendation and its Insight link. The control changes to “Show Recommended Discards” so you can display them again.

34 Recommended Discard
Names the tile or alternative tiles MJC recommends discarding. The recommendation does not select or discard a tile for you.

35 Insight
Opens an explanation of the current discard recommendation.

Discard Confirmation

In Coaching View, tapping a tile in your hand opens a confirmation dialog.

36 Selected Tile
Identifies the tile you are about to discard. Check it before confirming.

37 Cancel
Closes the confirmation without discarding the tile.

38 Discard
Confirms the selected discard and updates your hand. After the Dealer’s first discard, MJC changes from Starting Hand to Current Hand.

Current Hand Display (CHD)

The Current Hand Display updates as you record draws, claims, and discards. View switches, Indices, Labels, and Pathways work as described above for the Starting Hand Display.

Header and Coaching Alerts

39 Current Hand Title
Identifies the display used during ongoing play. The starting Role selector no longer appears here.

40 Instruction Message
Shows your next action, such as drawing or claiming, selecting a discard, or drawing a replacement tile. It also announces a completed Mahjong hand.

41 Coaching Alerts
Displays notices in Coaching View when relevant to your hand. Examples include “BOLO for Eyes,” “Protect Your Only Eye,” “Over-Paired,” special-hand pursuits, and “Kang Deferred.” More than one notice may appear.

When a discard recommendation is available in Current Hand Coaching View, Recommended Discard, Hide / Show Recommended Discards, and Insight work as illustrated above for the Dealer’s first discard.

Current Hand — Standard View

Standard View separates your current hand into Loose Tiles, Hidden Melds, and Exposed Melds. Tile images are omitted from this overview.

42 Loose Tiles
Shows tiles outside your Complete Boxes, grouped in the suit and honors order selected in Display. The number in parentheses counts these loose tiles.

43 Hidden Melds
Shows completed melds recorded as hidden, with each meld’s type above its tiles.

44 Exposed Melds
Shows completed melds recorded as exposed, with each meld’s type above its tiles. Tiles in exposed melds cannot be discarded.

Current Hand — Coaching View

Coaching View continues to organize your hand into Reserves, Developing Boxes, and Complete Boxes. When you are preparing to draw or claim, eligible hidden melds also offer Release Tile controls.

45 RT Explained
Opens an explanation of Release Tile. The link appears when Release Tile controls are available.

46 Complete Box Heading
Identifies the box number and completed grouping type. Meld headings also show whether the meld is Hidden or Exposed.

47 RT — Release Tile
Opens the process for selecting a tile from that hidden meld and exploring available alternate groupings. You preview the result before confirming a change. Exposed melds and the Eye do not offer this control.

Current Hand — Main Controls

These controls appear below the hand display. Their availability depends on the hand’s current state.

48 Fix Hand
Opens the hand correction screen to update your melds and remaining tiles so MJC matches your actual hand.

49 Correct Last Entry
Opens the correction process for your most recent recorded action. This control is unavailable when there is no eligible last entry to correct.

50 New Hand
Asks for confirmation before clearing the current hand and returning to tile selection. Role resets to Player, while Ruleset and Display preferences are retained. Previously saved hands remain in Hand History.

51 Save Hand
Saves the current hand’s recorded history for later review in Hand History.

52 Hand History
Opens your saved hands for review and the available sharing and deletion options.

Draw Tile Screen

Opens when you press Draw. Use its selection controls to record the tile you drew. This illustration shows the numbered-tile area after selecting 5.

53 Instruction Message
Identifies the selection task for this screen.

54 Number
Displays choices from 1 through 9. Selecting a number displays its tile in each of the three suits.

55 Suit Choices
Shows the three same-number tiles in the suit order selected in Display. Tap the tile matching the one you drew.

Honor Selection and Cancel

Honor tiles are selected by name. This example shows White selected, with its tile choice displayed alongside the controls. The tile name stands in for its image.

56 Winds
Displays East, South, West, and North. Selecting a name displays that Wind’s tile choice. Winds and Dragons appear in the honors order selected in Display.

57 Dragons
Displays Red, Green, and White. Selecting a name displays that Dragon’s tile choice.

58 Honor Tile Choice
Shows the selected honor tile. Tapping its tile image records the draw. Likewise, tapping a numbered tile in the Suit area records that tile’s draw.

59 Cancel
Leaves the Draw Tile Screen without recording a draw and returns to your hand display.

Footer Links

The footer provides quick access to instructions, reference material, and information about MJC. Its nine links are arranged in three rows.

60 Quick Start
Opens the Quick Start instructions for entering your starting hand and beginning play.

61 About MJC
Opens information about Mahjong Coach and its purpose.

62 About 6BT
Opens an introduction to Six Box Theory™.

63 User Guide
Opens this owner’s manual and its chapter contents.

64 Discover MJC
Introduces what Mahjong Coach is all about, how Six Box Theory™ helps players understand their hands, and what MJC can do to support learning and improvement.

65 Glossary
Opens definitions of terms and abbreviations used in MJC and Six Box Theory™.

66 Acknowledgments
Opens credits and acknowledgments.

67 Feedback
Opens information on sending feedback about MJC.

68 Support MJC
Opens information on supporting the Mahjong Coach project.

Mahjong Watch Controls

When MJC identifies Mahjong Watch, the acquire controls change from Draw, Chow, Pong, and Kang to Draw and Mahjong.

69 Draw
Opens the Draw Tile Screen to record your next tile drawn from the wall.

70 Mahjong
Opens tile selection to record an opponent’s discard that you are claiming to complete your Mahjong hand.

Tile Highlights

Colored highlights help identify the last-drawn tile and a tile selected for discard.

71 Last-Drawn Tile
A green highlight identifies the tile most recently drawn. It helps you locate that tile within your Current Hand Display.

72 Selected Discard
A yellow outline identifies the tile selected for discard. Selecting it opens the discard confirmation dialog; the tile is not discarded until you confirm.

Settings Dialogs

Role

The Role button on the Tile Selection Screen opens Select Your Role.

73 Player
Selects the non-dealer role. Begins with 16 tiles in a 16-tile ruleset, or 13 tiles in a 13-tile ruleset.

74 Dealer
Selects the dealer role. Begins with 17 tiles in a 16-tile ruleset, or 14 tiles in a 13-tile ruleset, and discards first.

75 Cancel
Closes the dialog without applying your selection.

76 Save
Applies the selected role and closes the dialog.

Ruleset

The Ruleset button opens the ruleset choices and their available options. This illustration shows Filipino 16-Tile with Honors enabled.

77 Filipino 16-Tile
Selects the Filipino ruleset and makes its Honors options available.

78 Honors Enabled
Includes Winds and Dragons in the Filipino ruleset.

79 N-E-W-S Allowed
Controls whether the N-E-W-S grouping is allowed when Filipino Honors are enabled.

80 Honors Disabled
Excludes Winds and Dragons from the Filipino ruleset.

81 Taiwanese 16-Tile
Selects the Taiwanese ruleset.

82 Chinese 13-Tile
An upcoming adaptation of MJC for Chinese 13-Tile Mahjong. This option is not yet available.

83 Cancel
Closes the dialog without applying changes.

84 Save
Applies the selected ruleset and its options, then closes the dialog.

Display

The Display button opens your suit and honors ordering preferences. This example shows Chars, Bams, then Dots, with Winds before Dragons.

85 First Suit
Chooses which numbered suit appears first.

86 Second Suit
Chooses which of the remaining suits appears second.

87 Third Suit
Shows the remaining suit automatically. This is a preview, not a selector.

88 Winds → Dragons
Places the Winds group before the Dragons group.

89 Dragons → Winds
Places the Dragons group before the Winds group.

90 Cancel
Closes the dialog without applying changes.

91 Save
Applies your display order and closes the dialog. This order is used where MJC groups tiles or choices by suit and honors. It does not change the Reserves, Developing Boxes, and Complete Boxes layout in Coaching View.

Revision and Hand Correction

Revise Starting Hand

Revise returns you to tile selection with your starting tiles still entered. The settings and tile-entry controls work as described earlier in this chapter.

92 Revision Instructions
Identifies the starting-hand revision task and provides guidance as you change your tiles.

93 Clear Tiles
Clears the entered starting tiles. Undo Clear is available after clearing.

94 Play On!
Returns to the Starting Hand Display using your revised settings and tiles. Available when the required starting tile count is entered.

Fix Hand — Status and Next Action

Fix Hand opens a correction screen for matching MJC’s recorded hand to your actual hand. This example shows a player preparing to draw, with two three-tile melds.

95 Tile Target
Shows the required total number of physical tiles, including melds. It accounts for your next action and extra tiles in Kangs or NEWS.

96 Melded Tiles
Counts the tiles assigned to the melds currently included in your correction.

97 Free Tile Count
Shows how many tiles outside your melds are entered and how many are required.

98 How to Fix Your Hand
Opens instructions for the hand correction screen.

99 Preparing to Draw
Sets the corrected hand’s next action to drawing or claiming and updates the required tile count.

100 Preparing to Discard
Sets the corrected hand’s next action to discarding and updates the required tile count.

Fix Hand — Set Your Melds

101 Existing Melds
Lists completed groupings recognized when you opened Fix Hand, with their types and tiles.

102 Hidden
Includes the grouping in your corrected hand and records it as hidden.

103 Exposed
Includes the grouping in your corrected hand and records it as exposed.

104 Remove
Excludes the grouping and its tiles from the corrected hand. Its tiles are not automatically returned to Free Tiles.

105 Added Melds
Lists melds added during this correction. They also offer Hidden, Exposed, and Remove choices.

106 Add Meld
Opens the meld builder to enter a grouping missing from the recorded hand.

Fix Hand — Meld Builder

Add Meld opens Set a Meld. Choose the grouping type to display its tile-selection controls.

107 Chow
Opens controls for entering three consecutive numbered tiles of the same suit.

108 Pong
Opens controls for entering three matching tiles.

109 Kang
Opens controls for entering four matching tiles.

110 NEWS
Opens controls for entering the North, East, West, and South grouping. Available when Filipino N-E-W-S is allowed.

111 Cancel Meld Builder
Closes the meld builder without adding the unfinished meld.

Meld Builder — Chow Selection

This example shows the Chow builder after choosing Chars.

112 Suit
Chooses the Chow’s suit. Suit choices follow the order selected in Display.

113 Starting Tile
Selects the lowest-numbered tile of the Chow. Choosing 3, for example, selects 3–4–5. Only 1 through 7 can start a Chow.

114 Hidden
Records the new Chow as hidden.

115 Exposed
Records the new Chow as exposed.

116 Add Chow
Adds the selected Chow to Added Melds when the selection is valid.

Meld Builder — Pong Selection

The Pong builder uses a number pad and suit choices, or an honor-tile selection. This simplified example shows number 5 selected.

117 Number
Displays the selected number in each suit.

118 Suit Choices
Selects the numbered tile used for the Pong.

119 Honor Choices
Selects a Wind or Dragon for the Pong.

120 Hidden / Exposed
Sets how the new Pong is recorded.

121 Add Pong
Adds three copies of the selected tile as a Pong when the selection is valid.

Meld Builder — Kang Selection

Kang uses the same number, suit, and honor selection layout illustrated for Pong. Choose the tile to be repeated four times, then set its visibility and add the Kang.

122 Kang Tile Selection
Selects the numbered tile or honor used for the four matching tiles of the Kang.

123 Hidden / Exposed
Sets how the new Kang is recorded.

124 Add Kang
Adds four copies of the selected tile as a Kang when the selection is valid.

Meld Builder — NEWS

NEWS uses a fixed set of four Winds. No number or suit selection is needed.

125 NEWS Tiles
Displays North, East, West, and South. These are fixed tiles, not selection buttons.

126 Hidden / Exposed
Sets how the new NEWS grouping is recorded.

127 Add NEWS
Adds the four Winds as a NEWS grouping when allowed by your ruleset settings.

Fix Hand — Free Tiles and Completion Controls

Below the meld controls, MJC shows tile-count guidance and the Free Tile entry area. Free Tiles are the tiles outside the melds included in your correction.

128 Tile-Count Guidance
Explains the required tile total and how many Free Tiles to add or remove. Updates as you change melds, Free Tiles, or your next action.

129 Free Tile Entry
Adjusts the tiles outside your included melds. Tap a tile to cycle its count from 0 through 4, or long-press to clear that tile’s count. Green entry tiles identify tiles carried over from MJC’s last recorded hand.

130 Validation Message
Identifies a correction needed before the hand can be accepted, such as an incorrect tile count or more than four copies of a tile.

131 Cancel Fix Hand
Leaves Fix Hand and restores the recorded hand from before you opened the correction screen.

132 Accept
Applies the corrected melds, Free Tiles, and next action, then returns to Current Hand. Available when the required Free Tile count is entered; the hand must also pass validation.

Correct Last Entry

Correct Last Entry reopens tile selection for the most recent recorded draw, claim, or discard. A red highlight identifies the previous entry.

133 Previous Entry Highlight
Marks the tile recorded in the action you are correcting. Red identifies the previous entry, not a recommended tile.

134 Correction Tile Selection
Lets you select the correct tile. Draw and claim corrections use the Draw Tile selector; discard corrections open the Discard Tile Screen.

135 Cancel Correction
Leaves the correction without replacing the previous entry and restores your hand and recorded history.

Meld Selection and Declarations

When MJC offers multiple meld groupings, each available grouping appears as a choice.

136 Meld Choice
Identifies a grouping by its type and tiles. Tapping the choice selects that grouping and continues the pending action.

137 MJC Recommended
Marks a grouping MJC recommends. Multiple groupings may be marked when they are equally recommended. You may choose another available grouping.

137b Affected Developing Boxes
Shows the original Developing Boxes involved in the offered meld choices. The incoming tile appears separately with a yellow highlight. These cards provide visual context; they are not additional selection buttons.

137a Insight
Expands a comparison of the Complete Boxes, Developing Boxes, and Reserves left by each meld choice. Explains why MJC favors its recommendations and acknowledges ties. The button changes to Hide Insight while expanded. Opening Insight does not select a meld.

138 Ignore Melds
Declines the offered meld groupings and continues without selecting one.

Declaration Choices

Kang, NEWS, and Sagasa opportunities can open a declaration dialog. Labels and available choices depend on the ruleset and situation. This example shows a Filipino hidden Kang.

139 Declare / Commit
Accepts the offered grouping and continues its declaration or claim. Labels can include Declare Secret, Declare Kang, Declare NEWS, Declare Sagasa, Commit Kang, or Commit NEWS.

140 Defer
Postpones the declaration and lets play continue without declaring it now. Appears as Defer Kang or Defer NEWS when that choice is available.

141 Ignore
Declines the offered declaration. The label identifies the opportunity: Ignore Kang, Ignore NEWS, or Ignore Sagasa.

Hand History

Hand History lists your saved hands. Open it from tile selection or Current Hand. This illustration shows one example entry.

142 Saved-Hand Count
Shows how many hands are saved. MJC keeps your 80 most recent hands. When empty, it displays “No saved hands.”

143 Clear All
Asks for confirmation before deleting all saved hands from History.

144 Saved-Hand Entry
Identifies a saved hand by its saved date and time, status, and ruleset.

145 View Transcript
Opens that hand’s recorded history and its individual hand controls.

146 Close History
Closes Hand History and returns to the screen underneath.

Saved Transcript Controls

View Transcript opens the selected hand’s recorded history and these controls.

147 Back to History
Returns to the list of saved hands.

148 Delete
Asks for confirmation before deleting this saved hand.

149 Share
Opens the sharing process for this saved hand. Available destinations depend on your browser and device.

150 Edit Details
Opens optional information you can add or change for this saved hand.

151 Transcript
Displays the saved hand’s details and recorded actions for review. Scroll within the transcript to read additional entries.

Share a Saved Hand

Share opens a short form asking for your name or nickname before preparing the hand for sharing.

152 Your Name or Nickname
Identifies you on the shared hand. A name or nickname is required to continue.

153 Share Hand
Prepares the selected saved hand for sharing. Your browser and device determine the available sharing or download options. Choose the destination to complete sharing.

154 Cancel Sharing
Closes the name-entry form without proceeding to sharing.

Edit Hand Details

Edit Details opens optional information attached to the selected saved hand.

155 Name or Nickname
Adds or changes the player name associated with this saved hand.

156 Seat Wind
Records East, South, West, or North as your Seat Wind for this saved hand. You may leave it Not specified.

157 Round Wind
Records East, South, West, or North as the Round Wind for this saved hand. You may leave it Not specified.

158 Notes
Adds your own comments or observations to the saved hand.

159 Save Details
Saves your changes and returns to the transcript.

160 Cancel Editing
Returns to the transcript without saving changes made in this form.

Release Tile Dialog

RT opens a dialog for exploring an alternate grouping using a tile from a hidden meld. Its choices change as you move from tile selection to grouping selection and preview.

161 Tile Choices
Selects a tile from the hidden meld to explore its available alternate groupings.

162 Alternate Groupings
Lists available destination groupings for the selected tile. Selecting one opens its preview.

163 Expected Results
Previews the affected boxes before you commit the regrouping.

164 Back
Returns to the previous selection stage: from preview to grouping selection, or from grouping selection to tile selection.

165 Cancel
Closes Release Tile without applying the proposed regrouping.

166 Confirm
Applies the previewed regrouping and closes the dialog.

167 OK
Closes the notice when no viable alternate grouping is available for the selected tile.

Discard Tile Screen

Correcting a discard opens this screen. The previous entry is highlighted red. This simplified illustration omits the remaining tile choices.

168 Discard Instructions
Identifies the tile-entry task: record the tile you actually discarded.

169 Discard Tile Choices
Tapping a tile records it as the corrected discard. There is no separate Confirm button on this screen. Red identifies the previous entry.

170 Cancel
Leaves the correction and restores the previously recorded hand and history.

171 Insight
Currently displays a coming-soon message on this screen. Discard recommendation explanations are available through Insight on the Coaching View hand display.

Control Availability and Guide Navigation

Available and Unavailable Controls

MJC enables controls when they apply to your current task. A disabled control cannot be used until its requirements are met. Some controls appear only when relevant.

172 Available Control
Can be used for the current task. For example, Play On! becomes available when the required starting tile count is entered. Available controls do not all use the same color.

173 Unavailable Control
Is disabled for the current state. For example, Play On! is unavailable when the starting tile count is incorrect. Pathways: NA is unavailable in Standard View.

Moving Around the User Guide

174 Chapter Sections
Returns to the “In this chapter” index. Select a link there to jump to a section.

175 Back to Contents
Returns to the User Guide’s main Table of Contents.

176 Close
Closes the chapter and returns to the app screen underneath.

Begin on the Tile Selection Screen (TSS). Set up MJC to match the hand you are about to play, then enter the tiles you were dealt. Keep your actual tiles nearby so you can check your entry.

1. Choose Your Role

Tap Role. Select Player if you are not the dealer, or Dealer if you are dealing this hand. Tap Save.

Check that the target beside Tiles Entered matches your role.

2. Check Your Ruleset

Tap Ruleset and select Filipino 16-Tile or Taiwanese 16-Tile to match your game.

For Filipino Mahjong, choose Honors Enabled or Honors Disabled. Honors are the Winds and Dragons. With Honors enabled, also check whether N-E-W-S Allowed matches your table’s rules.

Tap Save when finished. Chinese 13-Tile is marked Feature Coming Soon.

3. Choose Your Display Order

Tap Display. Choose your First Suit and Second Suit. The remaining suit automatically becomes the Third Suit.

Under Honors Order, choose Winds before Dragons or Dragons before Winds. Tap Save.

Use an order you find easy to follow. This setting controls how suit and honor groups appear in MJC’s tile displays and selection screens.

4. Enter Your Starting Tiles

Work through your actual hand one suit or honor group at a time. Find each tile on the TSS and tap it once for each copy you hold.

For example, if you have two copies of 5 Char, tap its tile twice from a count of zero.

Check the quantity shown on each selected tile. A blank quantity means zero. Each tap cycles the count from zero through four, then back to zero. Long-press a tile to clear its count.

Watch Tiles Entered as you work. Continue until all your starting tiles are recorded: 16 for Player or 17 for Dealer.

If you need to start the entry again, tap Clear Tiles. Undo Clear appears temporarily if you need to restore the cleared tiles.

5. Review and Play On!

Before continuing, compare your entry with your actual hand:

• Your Role and Ruleset are correct.
• Each tile is in the correct suit or honor group.
• The quantity of each tile matches your hand.
• The entered total matches the required target.

Play On! becomes available when the required tile count is entered. A matching total alone does not confirm that every tile is correct, so finish checking the tile identities and quantities before tapping it.

Tap Play On! to open the Starting Hand Display. If you notice an entry mistake there, use Revise to return to tile entry.

MJC reveals the structure hidden within a Mahjong hand. Learning to read its displays helps you follow your hand as tiles are drawn, claimed, and discarded.

1. Starting and Current Hand

Starting Hand shows the tiles you entered before beginning play. Review them against your actual hand. Use Revise if you need to correct the entry.

Current Hand shows your recorded hand as play progresses. It updates as you record your actions. Keep those actions in step with your actual game so MJC continues to show the hand you hold.

Starting and Current describe when you are viewing the hand. Standard and Coaching describe how MJC presents it. Both hand displays offer both views.

2. Standard View

Starting Hand Standard View groups your tiles by suit and honors. The groups follow the order selected in Display.

Current Hand Standard View separates your tiles into three areas:

“Loose” describes where MJC displays these tiles. They may still form pairs or other developing groupings.

3. Coaching View

Tap Coaching View to see your hand organized using Six Box Theory™. MJC presents its developing and completed structures, along with any Reserves.

Box headings identify each grouping. DB means Developing Box; CB means Complete Box. Meld headings also identify whether the meld is Hidden or Exposed.

Switching views changes the presentation of your recorded hand. It does not draw, discard, or change any tiles. The view button names the view you can switch to: while Coaching View is shown, the button reads Standard View.

Chapter 4 explains the boxes and their grouping types in detail.

4. Counters and Display Options

Boxes Complete shows how many of the required boxes are complete. The usual six-box structure consists of five melds and an Eye. Special-hand pursuits use their own box targets.

Tiles In Hand counts tiles outside Complete Boxes. It is not the total number of tiles in your entire recorded hand. Tiles in Complete Boxes are still part of your hand.

Indices shows or hides the identifying numbers and letters added to tile images. Labels switches Coaching View’s box-type labels between full and shortened names.

Pathways adds information about completion opportunities to supported developing groupings. It is available in Coaching View. Chapter 7 explains how to read it.

5. Messages and Tile Highlights

Read the instruction beneath the hand heading to see what MJC expects next, such as drawing or claiming a tile, selecting a discard, or recording a replacement draw.

Coaching messages may draw attention to your Eye, a special-hand pursuit, or a deferred Kang. These messages provide context for the hand currently recorded.

When available during a discard step, Recommended Discard identifies MJC’s suggested choice. Insight explains the recommendation. Chapter 9 covers recommendations and coaching.

• Green highlight: identifies the last-drawn tile.
• Yellow outline: identifies a tile selected for discard.

As your hand changes, MJC may move tiles between displayed groupings. Follow the tile names, box headings, and counters to understand the new arrangement.

Six Box Theory™ is a method for understanding Mahjong hand structure. In Coaching View, MJC shows which groupings are complete, which are developing, and which tiles remain outside those groupings.

The illustrations below show examples of Mahjong hand structures. Where a suit is named, every numbered tile in that example belongs to that suit.

1. The Six-Box Goal

For the usual 16-tile hand structure, the goal is five melds and one Eye: six Complete Boxes. The winning hand normally contains 17 tiles, with additional tiles for four-tile melds such as Kangs.

A box represents a structural grouping, not a fixed number of tiles. An Eye has two tiles, a Chow or Pong has three, and a Kang has four.

Special hands such as Siete Pares / Seven Pairs and Escalera / Straight use different structural targets. MJC adjusts the displayed box target when you pursue those hands.

2. Complete Boxes

A Complete Box (CB) contains a completed grouping. The main examples are:

When allowed by the selected rules, NEWS groups North, East, West, and South as a four-tile meld.

Meld headings show Hidden or Exposed. A complete grouping can still be hidden in your hand; being structurally complete does not mean you have exposed it.

3. Chow Candidates

A Developing Box (DB) holds a grouping that is working toward completion. A Chow Candidate contains two suited tiles that need another tile to form a Chow.

Each example describes tiles that would complete that grouping. Whether a needed tile can be drawn or claimed depends on the game situation and rules.

4. Other Developing Boxes

Candidates hold the potential to become Complete Boxes. Some have more than one possible role.

Eye Candidate (EC)

Two matching tiles being held as the Eye. The pair is present, but MJC identifies it as a candidate while the hand’s structure is developing.

Eye-Pong Candidate (EPC)

Two matching tiles that can serve as the Eye or develop into a Pong. The tiles look like an Eye Candidate; the label identifies their structural role in MJC’s current arrangement.

Chow-Pong Candidate (CPC)

Three or four suited tiles that can develop into either a Chow or a Pong. A matching pair provides a Pong option, while nearby tiles provide Chow options.

Pong-Kang Candidate (PKC)

A four-tile Developing Box that can be declared as a Kang or NEWS. Having the tiles available and recording the declaration are separate steps. Follow MJC’s declaration controls when the grouping is offered.

Half Eye (HE)

A single tile being held as a possible half of the Eye. A matching tile would form a pair.

5. Reserves

Reserves are tiles outside MJC’s displayed Developing and Complete Boxes. They may later join a grouping as new tiles enter your hand.

A Reserve and a Half Eye may each contain a single tile. Their placement tells you the difference: a Half Eye occupies a Developing Box as a possible Eye, while a Reserve sits outside the displayed boxes.

Being a Reserve does not automatically make a tile the best discard. Use the current recommendation and its Insight explanation to understand MJC’s assessment.

6. Reading Your Structure

Start with the Complete Boxes. Then look at the Developing Boxes and what each needs. Finally, examine the Reserves. This gives you a practical way to review your hand’s structure.

CB and DB headings include box numbers. Those numbers identify positions in the displayed structure; they are not tile quantities or strength ratings.

An Empty Developing Box marks an unfilled structural position. It contains no tiles.

The displayed arrangement can change as tiles enter or leave your hand. A candidate may complete, change type, or give way to another grouping. A tile belongs to only one displayed grouping at a time.

Use Labels: Full while learning the names. Once the abbreviations become familiar, shortened labels offer a more compact display.

Chapter 7 explains the completion opportunities shown by Pathways. Chapter 8 explains how Release Tile lets you explore eligible alternate groupings involving a hidden Complete Box.

MJC accompanies your actual game. You draw, claim, and discard at the table, then record those actions in the app. Follow the instruction beneath the hand heading to see which action MJC expects next.

Replacement draws add a step before discarding. Completing Mahjong ends the hand instead of continuing the usual cycle.

1. Your First Action

After entering your starting tiles and pressing Play On!, your role determines the usual first action.

Check the role and instruction before recording your first action. If your starting entry is incorrect, use Revise.

2. Record a Draw

1. Draw your actual tile from the wall.
2. Tap Draw in MJC to open the Draw Tile Screen.
3. For a suited tile, select its number, then tap its tile image under Suit.
4. For an honor tile, select its name under Winds or Dragons, then tap the displayed tile image.

Tapping the tile image records the draw immediately. There is no separate confirmation button on the Draw Tile Screen. Cancel leaves that screen without recording a draw.

MJC updates your hand. A green highlight identifies the last-drawn tile. If a meld choice or declaration is offered, resolve it before continuing. Otherwise, follow the discard instruction.

3. Record a Claim

A claim uses another player’s discard to complete a grouping. Record it through the appropriate claim control rather than Draw.

1. Confirm that the claim is permitted by your table’s rules.
2. Tap Chow, Pong, or Kang to match the claim you are making.
3. Select the discarded tile you are claiming.
4. If MJC offers grouping choices, select the grouping that matches your intended meld.

After a Chow or Pong claim, continue with your discard. A Kang requires a replacement draw before the discard. Follow MJC’s instruction for the resulting state.

When Mahjong Watch controls are shown, Mahjong records an opponent’s discard claimed to complete your winning hand. Use Draw when the winning tile comes from the wall.

Chapter 6 covers meld choices, declarations, and Secret in detail. Chapter 10 covers completing a hand.

4. Record Your Discard

When MJC asks you to select a discard, review your hand and decide which tile you will release. In Coaching View, a recommendation and Insight may help explain the available choice.

1. Tap the tile you intend to discard in the hand display.
2. Check the tile identified in the Discard Tile? confirmation dialog.
3. Tap Discard to record the discard, or Cancel to return without discarding it.

Make sure the recorded discard matches the tile you release at the table. Tiles belonging to an exposed meld cannot be discarded.

After the discard, MJC prepares for your next draw or claim. Continue following the actual game; the app’s acquisition controls do not mean it is immediately your turn to draw at the table.

5. Replacement Draws

Declaring a Kang, NEWS, or Sagasa can lead to a replacement-draw step under the applicable rules. MJC identifies the declaration and asks you to draw a replacement tile.

Use Draw to record the replacement tile from the wall. The normal claim controls are unavailable during this replacement-draw step.

Do not record an ordinary discard before the required replacement draw. If another declaration is offered, or the replacement completes Mahjong, follow the resulting instruction instead of assuming a discard must come next.

6. Keep MJC in Step

Record your own draws, claims, declarations, and discards as they occur. You do not enter every opponent’s ordinary draw or discard in this cycle. Enter an opponent’s discarded tile when you claim it for your hand.

Before each entry, check both the action and the tile. A draw and a claim may add the same tile, but they describe different events in the hand.

• Use Correct Last Entry when the most recent recorded action needs correction and the control is available.
• Use Fix Hand when you need to bring the recorded hand back into agreement with your actual tiles and melds.
• Use Revise for an entry correction while still on the Starting Hand Display.

Chapter 12 explains corrections. Keeping the recorded hand accurate allows MJC’s structure, available actions, and coaching to follow your actual game.

Melds are completed groupings such as Chows, Pongs, and Kangs. This chapter explains how to record them in MJC and respond when the app offers a grouping or declaration.

Follow your table’s rules for when a claim or declaration is permitted. MJC’s controls record the action you take in your actual game.

1. Drawn Tiles and Claimed Tiles

Use Draw when the incoming tile comes from the wall. MJC evaluates the recorded hand and may offer meld choices or a declaration.

Use Chow, Pong, or Kang when you claim another player’s discard for that meld.

A completed grouping can be Hidden or Exposed. Claiming a discard to form a meld makes that meld exposed. A grouping completed with your own tiles can remain hidden.

2. Chow and Pong

Chow

A Chow contains three consecutive tiles of one suit. To record a Chow claim, tap Chow and select the opponent’s discarded tile. Choose the intended grouping if MJC offers more than one.

Pong

A Pong contains three matching tiles. To record a Pong claim, tap Pong and select the discarded tile that matches the pair you hold.

After recording a Chow or Pong claim, follow the instruction to discard. Use the separate Mahjong control when claiming a discard to complete your winning hand.

3. Choosing a Meld

An incoming tile may fit more than one grouping. When MJC presents multiple meld choices, compare the tiles shown in each choice before selecting one.

Selecting a grouping records that choice and continues the action. There is no separate Confirm button for the ordinary meld choices.

MJC marks its recommended groupings with MJC Recommended. More than one grouping may be marked when the best choices are structurally tied. You may select any available grouping.

Below the meld choices, Affected Developing Boxes shows the original DBs involved. The incoming tile appears separately with a yellow highlight. Compare these boxes before selecting your grouping.

Tap Insight to compare the structure left behind by each choice: its Complete Boxes, Developing Boxes, and Reserves. The explanation identifies why MJC favors the marked choices. Tap Hide Insight to collapse the explanation. Opening Insight does not select a meld.

Ignore Melds declines the offered groupings. It does not serve as an undo control for the tile entry. If you entered the wrong tile, use the appropriate correction control.

4. Kang and Secret

A Kang contains four matching tiles. How you obtained the fourth tile determines how you record it.

If you claim an opponent’s discard to complete the Kang, use Kang and select that discarded tile. A declaration control such as Commit Kang completes the offered action.

If you hold all four tiles hidden, MJC may offer a hidden Kang declaration. In Filipino mode, the control reads Declare Secret. Other ruleset contexts may use Declare Kang.

Secret is the Filipino declaration wording for the eligible hidden four-tile grouping. The underlying grouping is still recorded according to its type, such as Kang.

After recording the declaration, follow the replacement-draw instruction. Record that draw before continuing to the ordinary discard step.

5. NEWS and Sagasa

NEWS

NEWS groups one each of North, East, West, and South. In Filipino mode, it is available when Honors are enabled and N-E-W-S Allowed is selected in Ruleset.

Resolve the NEWS offer using the declaration control shown. Filipino hidden NEWS can use Declare Secret; other contexts may show Commit NEWS or Declare NEWS. Follow the replacement-draw instruction after declaring.

Sagasa

Sagasa adds a fourth matching tile to an already exposed Pong. When your draw makes this available, MJC can offer Declare Sagasa.

The Sagasa offer also provides Ignore Sagasa. It does not provide a Defer option.

6. Declare, Defer, or Ignore

Four-tile declaration offers may provide different ways to continue. Read the actual button labels before choosing.

Declare / Commit
Records the offered four-tile meld declaration now. Follow the resulting replacement-draw instruction.

Defer Kang / Defer NEWS
Postpones the declaration. MJC tracks the deferred grouping while you continue. A deferred declaration has not yet been completed, so do not record its replacement draw at this point.

Ignore Kang / Ignore NEWS / Ignore Sagasa
Declines the current offer. It does not remove the incoming tile or reverse the action you recorded. Follow the next instruction.

Keep MJC’s record consistent with the declaration and meld you actually play at the table. Use Correct Last Entry or Fix Hand when a recorded action or grouping needs correction.

Pathways show how supported Developing Boxes can advance toward completion. They help you connect the tiles already grouped in a box with the incoming tiles that could help it.

1. Turn Pathways On

1. Open your hand in Coaching View.
2. Tap Pathways: On to show pathway information.
3. Examine the markers and numbers added to supported Developing Boxes.

Once Pathways are displayed, the button reads Pathways: Off, offering to hide them. Pathways Explained opens a quick reference.

In Standard View, the Pathways control reads Pathways: NA and is unavailable. Switch to Coaching View to use it.

2. Read the Colored Markers

The marker color identifies the kind of incoming tile that advances the grouping.

For example, adding 3 Bam to 4 Bam · 5 Bam follows a same-suit pathway. Adding Red to Red · Red follows a matching-tile pathway.

The colors identify pathway types. They do not mark a tile for discard.

3. Read the Numbers

Acceptance
The number of tile opportunities that can advance the Developing Box toward completion.

Sources
How a needed tile can enter your hand: through your own draw or through an eligible discard claim. Claim eligibility depends on the grouping and game rules.

Effective Acceptance (EA)
The number above a pathway marker. It represents the remaining tile opportunities MJC calculates for that particular pathway.

A tile type and a tile opportunity are different things. A DSW may need either of two tile types, with multiple copies of each type potentially contributing to its opportunities.

4. Follow a Chow Pathway

Begin by identifying the tiles already in the box. Then ask: which same-suit tile would complete the Chow?

This DSW has two completing tile types: 3 Bam and 6 Bam. Read the EA figure for each pathway, then the Acceptance and Sources information shown for the box.

Middle Wait

The missing tile fits between the two existing tiles. The pathway marker appears in that middle position.

Edge Wait

The completing tile fits at the available end. Likewise, 8 Dot · 9 Dot needs 7 Dot. Each Edge Wait has one completing tile type.

5. Read Multiple Pathways

A Chow-Pong Candidate can offer both same-suit and matching-tile pathways. Read them as alternative ways to develop the grouping.

Completing a Chow in this example leaves one 2 Char outside that meld. Completing the Pong leaves the 3 Char. The same physical tile cannot belong to both completed alternatives.

Where MJC shows separate Chow and Pong summaries, read each alongside its corresponding markers. Do not treat every displayed figure as a separate quantity to add into one total.

Matching-tile pathways also help explain an Eye-Pong Candidate becoming a Pong or a Half Eye developing into a pair. The grouping determines what that matching tile accomplishes.

6. Use Pathways in Your Decisions

1. Identify the Developing Box and the tiles it contains.
2. Read the marker colors to distinguish same-suit and matching-tile pathways.
3. Identify the incoming tiles that advance each pathway.
4. Read the EA figures and the Acceptance and Sources summaries.
5. Consider how the grouping fits the rest of your hand.

More opportunities can make a grouping easier to develop, but a single figure does not settle every decision. Your Eye, completed melds, other candidates, and the current stage of play also matter.

Pathways explain development options. For MJC’s current discard suggestion, read Recommended Discard and Insight. Chapter 9 explains that coaching.

1. What Release Tile Does

Release Tile (RT) lets you explore a different arrangement by freeing a tile from an eligible hidden Complete Box and using it in another grouping.

The tile stays in your hand. RT changes its structural assignment; it does not draw, claim, or discard a tile.

In this example, moving the 3 Char completes one Chow and leaves 1 Char · 2 Char developing. You still hold exactly the same tiles.

An alternate arrangement is not automatically an improvement. RT lets you inspect the result before deciding whether to keep it.

2. When RT Is Available

Look for RT beside an eligible Complete Box heading in Current Hand Coaching View while preparing to draw or claim.

Eligible boxes are hidden melds. Exposed melds and the Eye do not offer this control. RT is not offered during the ordinary discard step.

The RT Explained link provides a short explanation when Release Tile controls are available.

3. Select a Tile and Grouping

1. Tap RT beside the hidden Complete Box you want to explore.
2. In Select Tile to Release, tap the tile you want to move out of that grouping.
3. If viable alternatives are available, MJC displays Select Alternate Grouping.
4. Review the listed Developing Boxes and tap the destination grouping.

Each alternate grouping shows its box number, grouping type, and tiles. Choose by those details so you direct the released tile to the intended grouping.

Only the alternatives MJC finds for the selected tile are listed. RT does not let you place a tile into any box arbitrarily.

4. Preview and Confirm

Selecting an alternate grouping opens Preview. The Expected Results area shows the affected groupings in the proposed arrangement.

The preview focuses on affected groupings. It is not a complete redisplay of every unchanged box in your hand.

Tap Confirm to apply the previewed arrangement. MJC returns to the hand display with the updated structure.

Confirming RT does not consume a draw or discard. Continue with the action shown in the hand instruction.

5. Back, Cancel, and No Alternatives

Back
From Preview, returns to the alternate-grouping step. From that step, returns to tile selection. Use it to explore another choice before confirming.

Cancel
Closes the RT process without applying the proposed arrangement.

No viable alternate groupings available
This notice means MJC found no supported destination for the tile you selected. Tap OK to close the notice.

If you want to explore another tile, reopen RT and make a different selection. Finding no alternative for one tile does not mean every tile in that hidden meld has the same result.

Use RT to investigate structure deliberately: inspect the starting grouping, inspect the alternative, then confirm only when you want the displayed result.

MJC’s coaching helps you understand the structure of your recorded hand and the reasons behind a suggested choice. You decide which action to take in your actual game.

1. Read a Discard Recommendation

In Coaching View, MJC can display a discard recommendation when your hand is ready for a discard. This includes the Dealer’s first discard from the Starting Hand Display.

Read the tile name carefully, including its suit where applicable. The recommendation does not discard the tile for you. Select the tile and complete the normal discard confirmation when you decide to use it.

Tap Hide if you want to consider your own choice first. Tap Show Recommended Discards to reveal the recommendation again.

Recommendations are not displayed at every step. They are unavailable in Standard View, during acquisition or replacement draws, and after the hand is complete. The current special-hand pursuits also suppress ordinary discard recommendations.

2. Open Insight

Tap Insight beside the hand-display recommendation to open Why This Discard?

The explanation identifies the recommended tile or choices and describes the structural effect of discarding one. Recommended tile names appear in bold.

Insight explains the current recommendation. Revisit it after your hand changes rather than assuming an earlier explanation still applies.

The separate Insight control on the Discard Tile Screen currently displays a coming-soon message. Use the hand-display recommendation’s Insight for the working explanation.

3. Understand the Reasoning

When Reserves are available

MJC compares their contribution to developing the hand. Its explanations use Connectivity, then Centricity, to describe the comparison.

Connectivity concerns nearby same-suit support. Centricity concerns a suited tile’s position toward the middle of the suit. Refer to the Glossary for these terms.

Discarding a Reserve leaves the displayed Developing and Complete Boxes intact. That structural effect is part of the explanation.

When there are no Reserves

MJC must consider a tile from an existing developing grouping. Insight explains which grouping changes and what is preserved.

Depending on the structure, MJC may compare Chow Candidates’ completion opportunities, consider removing a tile from a Chow-Pong Candidate, or weigh preserving an Eye Candidate against other developing options.

Some comparisons also take account of the hand’s progress, using your recorded discards. A recommendation can therefore change as play advances even when familiar grouping types remain in the hand.

Read the current explanation for the actual comparison being made. A useful recommendation describes both what you give up and what you retain.

4. Handle Equal Choices

Sometimes MJC gives equal preference to more than one discard. It may list tile names joined by “or”, or summarize a larger set and direct you to Insight.

Discard only one tile. Equal preference means MJC’s current assessment does not distinguish those choices. It does not mean they will produce identical future hands.

Open Insight to see the named choices and the reason they are tied.

5. Read Meld Recommendations

When an incoming tile offers multiple meld groupings, MJC compares the structure remaining after each choice and marks its recommendations with MJC Recommended. Several choices may be equally recommended. An unmarked grouping remains available for you to select.

The Affected Developing Boxes display below the choices shows the original DBs involved, alongside the highlighted incoming tile. Use this visual context to understand how the tile connects with your hand. Insight then explains the structure each choice would leave behind.

All numbered tiles in this example are Characters. Other boxes in the hand are omitted.

Original Developing Boxes

Double-Sided Wait

Double-Sided Wait

Incoming tile:

Choose:

MJC Recommended
Leaves this Double-Sided Wait:

Choose:

Leaves these two Reserves:

Choose:

MJC Recommended
Leaves this Double-Sided Wait:

In this example, the two recommended choices are tied. Each preserves a Double-Sided Wait. The middle Chow leaves these remaining tiles outside a Developing Box.

Tap Insight to explore what each choice leaves in your hand and why MJC favors its recommendations. When choices are tied, the explanation acknowledges that tie. Tap Hide Insight to collapse the explanation.

MJC bases this comparison on your recorded hand. Keep watching the table and use your own judgment when choosing.

A meld recommendation and a discard recommendation address different decisions. Choosing a meld determines the grouping to record. Choosing a discard determines the tile to release afterward, when a discard is required.

Chapter 6 explains the meld-choice and declaration controls.

6. Read Coaching Alerts

Coaching View may display messages that call attention to the current structure or pursuit.

BOLO for Eyes

“BOLO” means “be on the lookout.” This alert draws attention to the need to develop an Eye.

Protect Your Only Eye

Draws attention to your only Eye Candidate. Consider the effect before using its tiles in another grouping.

Over-Paired

Draws attention to an excess of pairs in the current structure. Review how those pairs support your intended hand and whether a special-hand option is relevant.

Pursuing a Special Hand

Messages such as Pursuing Siete Pares or Pursuing Escalera identify the active pursuit. Names may differ with the ruleset, such as Seven Pairs or Straight.

Kang Deferred

Reminds you that a Kang declaration has been postponed. It does not mean the declaration or its replacement draw has already been completed.

Treat alerts as prompts to inspect your hand. They do not replace the current action instruction, declare a meld, or make a discard.

Accurate coaching depends on an accurate recorded hand. If MJC’s tiles or melds no longer match your actual hand, correct the record before relying on its next recommendation.

Keep recording your actions until the winning tile completes your hand. How that tile entered your hand matters: record a draw from the wall differently from a claimed discard.

1. Recognize Mahjong Watch

Mahjong Watch identifies a hand waiting for a completing tile. For the usual six-box structure, five Complete Boxes leave the final grouping to complete.

When MJC recognizes Mahjong Watch during the acquisition step, the usual four acquisition controls are replaced by Draw and Mahjong.

Being on Mahjong Watch does not mean every incoming tile wins. Continue recording the actual tile. If it does not complete your hand, follow the next instruction and continue play.

2. Record the Winning Tile

Winning by Draw

1. Draw your actual tile from the wall.
2. Tap Draw.
3. Select the number and suit, or the honor tile’s name.
4. Tap the tile image to record it.

MJC evaluates the hand after the tile is recorded. If the tile completes the hand, MJC displays the completion message.

Winning on an Opponent’s Discard

1. Identify the discarded tile you are claiming to complete your hand.
2. Tap Mahjong.
3. Select and record that tile through the tile-selection screen.

Use this winning-claim control when completing Mahjong on a discard, rather than recording the tile as a draw from the wall.

3. Read the Completion Message

MJC displays “That’s Mahjong!” when it recognizes a completed hand. In Filipino mode, a win recorded from your own draw displays “Bunot!”

Once the hand is complete, the ordinary acquisition and discard cycle stops. Do not record another discard from the winning hand.

Active special-hand pursuits use their own completion structure. Read the displayed target and resulting completion message rather than applying the ordinary six-box count to every special hand.

MJC’s completion message reflects the hand and ruleset recorded in the app. Keep that record aligned with your actual tiles and your table’s rules.

4. Review and Save

Review the final tiles and melds. Check that the winning tile and its source were recorded correctly.

If the most recent entry was wrong, use Correct Last Entry when available. Correct the record before treating the displayed result as your actual hand outcome.

Tap Save Hand if you want to keep the hand for later review. Open Hand History to locate the saved entry and view its transcript.

Saving is useful for more than wins. You can also save an unfinished recorded hand for review. Chapter 11 explains saved hands, transcripts, details, and sharing.

5. Begin Another Hand

Save anything you want to keep before selecting New Hand. Then follow the app’s prompts to begin the next hand.

On the Tile Selection Screen, check the new hand’s Role, Ruleset, and Display settings. The dealer may have changed, so do not assume the previous role still applies.

Enter the new starting tiles, verify their identities and quantities, then press Play On!

Reviewing a recorded hand lets you revisit your choices after the game. Save a completed hand or an unfinished one, then use its transcript to follow what happened.

1. Save a Hand

Tap Save Hand when you want to keep the current recorded hand. MJC displays a confirmation message after saving.

Save before starting a new hand if you want to retain the current record. You do not need to win before saving an unfinished hand.

2. Find a Saved Hand

1. Tap Hand History. It is also accessible from the Tile Selection Screen.
2. Locate the saved entry using its date, time, status, and ruleset information.
3. Tap View Transcript for the hand you want to review.

Opening a transcript is a review action. It does not load the saved hand into live play or resume an unfinished game.

3. Review the Transcript

The transcript records the hand’s starting information, recorded actions, and resulting hand. Scroll within the transcript to read the full record.

Start with the initial tiles, then follow the actions in order. Watch how incoming tiles changed your candidates, completed melds, and discard choices.

Ask yourself:

• Which draw changed the hand most?
• What did each claim preserve or give up?
• When did the Eye become important?
• Which decision would you like to revisit?

Use Back to History to return to the saved-hand list, or select Replay Hand to explore how your hand structure changed throughout play.

4. Replay a Hand

Replay Hand Viewer lets you revisit a saved hand and see how its structure changed throughout play.

1. Open Hand History.
2. Select a saved hand and tap View Transcript.
3. Tap Replay Hand.
4. Use Previous and Next to move through the recorded steps.

The header identifies the current step and action. The display shows the hand's Reserves, Developing Boxes, and Complete Boxes as they appeared at that step.

Use Back to Transcript to return to the written record, or Close to exit.

Replay is available for hands saved with Replay data. Older saved hands may have transcripts without Replay.

5. Edit Hand Details

From the transcript, tap Edit Details to add context to the saved hand.

• Name or Nickname: identifies the player.
• Seat Wind: optional context for the hand.
• Round Wind: optional round information.
• Notes: your observations or questions.

Tap Save Details to keep your changes, or Cancel to leave without applying them. Editing these details does not rewrite the hand’s recorded tiles or action sequence.

6. Share a Hand

1. Open the saved hand’s transcript.
2. Tap Share.
3. Enter the required name or nickname in the sharing form.
4. Tap Share Hand.
5. Choose a destination from your device’s sharing options, when available.

MJC shares a hand-data file in JSON format. If file sharing is unavailable through the browser, MJC downloads the file so you can share it using your device’s file controls.

The available sharing destinations depend on your device, browser, and installed apps. Review the saved details and notes before sending the file.

Cancel leaves the sharing form without proceeding. Sharing a file does not remove the saved hand from Hand History.

7. Manage Saved Hands

MJC keeps your 80 most recent hands. Keep a shared or downloaded copy of records you want to retain beyond that rolling collection.

Saved hands are stored in the browser on the device where you saved them. They do not automatically appear in another browser or on another device. Clearing the site’s browser data can remove them.

Delete
Removes the selected saved hand. Read the confirmation before completing the deletion.

Clear All
Removes the saved-hand collection after confirmation. Use it only when you intend to clear the full list.

Save regularly, add a useful note, and revisit the decisions that taught you something. Hand History gives those lessons a record you can return to.

If MJC’s recorded hand no longer matches your actual hand, correct the record before continuing play. Choose the tool that matches the kind of mistake.

1. Choose a Correction Tool

A different visual arrangement is not necessarily an entry mistake. Compare tile identities, quantities, and exposed melds with your actual hand. MJC may group the same hidden tiles differently as the structure develops.

2. Revise Your Starting Hand

1. Tap Revise on the Starting Hand Display.
2. Adjust the starting tile quantities on the tile-entry screen.
3. Check your role and required starting total.
4. Tap Play On! when the entry is correct.

Tap a tile to cycle its quantity. Long-press it to clear its count. Use Clear Tiles if you need to enter the starting hand again.

Revision returns you to the Starting Hand Display using your corrected entry. Its completion control is Play On!, rather than Fix Hand’s Accept.

3. Correct the Last Entry

Use Correct Last Entry promptly when you notice a mistake in the most recent recorded action. Its availability depends on whether MJC has a correctable previous action.

1. Tap Correct Last Entry.
2. Read the correction instruction to identify the action being corrected.
3. Locate the previous entry, marked with a red highlight.
4. Select the correct replacement tile.

Draw and claim corrections use the Draw Tile selection layout. Discard corrections use the Discard Tile Screen. Follow the displayed instruction for the action being corrected.

Tapping the replacement tile records the corrected tile directly. A discard correction does not use the ordinary hand-display discard-confirmation dialog.

Cancel leaves the correction and restores the previously recorded hand and history.

4. Begin Fix Hand

Use Fix Hand when a broader correction is needed, such as a missing meld, incorrect exposed status, or a mismatch involving several tiles.

First decide what your actual hand is preparing to do:

Select the state that matches the actual point in your game. It determines the tile target and the next action after correction.

Use How to Fix Your Hand on the correction screen if you need a quick reminder while working.

5. Correct the Melds

Review the melds listed in Fix Hand before entering the remaining tiles. Compare each grouping with your actual hand.

• Keep melds that are recorded correctly.
• Set each meld’s Hidden or Exposed status correctly.
• Use Remove for a meld that should not remain in the recorded hand.
• Use Add Meld for a missing grouping.

Removing a meld also removes its tiles from the correction’s recorded melds. Those tiles are not automatically transferred into Free Tiles. If you still hold them, include them in the appropriate corrected grouping or free-tile entry.

Add a Missing Meld

1. Tap Add Meld.
2. Choose Chow, Pong, Kang, or NEWS when available.
3. Select the tiles using the displayed builder controls.
4. Choose Hidden or Exposed.
5. Use the builder’s Add control to add the grouping.

For a Chow, choose the suit and the starting tile of the three-tile sequence. For a Pong or Kang, choose the matching tile. NEWS uses the fixed four Winds and is available only when allowed by the ruleset settings.

6. Correct the Free Tiles

Free Tiles are the tiles you hold outside the melds already listed in Fix Hand. Enter each remaining tile with the correct quantity.

Green entries come from MJC’s last recorded hand and may no longer match your actual hand. Check them rather than assuming they are already correct.

Tap a tile to cycle its count from zero through four. Long-press to clear its count. Work through your actual tiles one group at a time.

Read the tile-count guidance above the Free Tiles section. It accounts for your next-action state and recorded melds, then shows how many Free Tiles are required and any adjustment needed.

Four-tile melds affect the total. Follow the displayed target rather than assuming every corrected hand must contain exactly 16 or 17 physical tiles.

7. Review and Accept

Before accepting, compare the whole correction with your actual hand:

• The next-action state is correct.
• Every meld has the correct tiles.
• Hidden and Exposed statuses are correct.
• All remaining tiles are entered as Free Tiles.
• No physical tile is counted twice.
• The tile total matches the displayed target.

If MJC displays a validation message, resolve the stated issue. Checks include the required count and the limit of four copies of a tile across the recorded hand.

Tap Accept when the correction is valid and matches your actual hand. MJC rebuilds the display from the corrected record.

Tap Cancel if you want to leave Fix Hand without applying the correction.

After accepting, read the hand instruction before resuming. Confirm that MJC is expecting the same next action as your actual game.

Help is available inside MJC through the footer references and explanations beside relevant controls. Use these resources whenever you want to understand a term, an action, or a recommendation.

1. Choose the Right Reference

These references are available through the footer links. The footer also includes Discover MJC, an introduction to what Mahjong Coach is all about, how Six Box Theory™ helps players understand their hands, and how MJC supports learning and improvement.

Within this User Guide, Back to Contents returns to the chapter list. Chapter Sections returns to the current chapter’s clickable section index. Close returns to the underlying app screen.

2. Find Help While Playing

Look for explanation links near the feature you are using:

• Six Box Theory™: opens an explanation of the boxes.
• Pathways Explained: explains pathway markers and figures.
• RT Explained: explains Release Tile.
• Insight: explains the current hand-display discard recommendation.
• How to Fix Your Hand: provides guidance within Fix Hand.

Some links appear only when their associated feature is available. For example, Pathways help appears when Pathways are shown in Coaching View.

If a control is unavailable, your hand may be at a different step of the turn cycle. Check whether MJC is expecting a draw, a discard, or a replacement draw.

3. Report a Problem

Open Feedback in the footer, or email mjcfeedbackteam@gmail.com .

Describe what you expected and what happened instead. Include enough information to help reproduce the problem:

• The MJC version shown in the app.
• Your device and browser.
• The selected ruleset and applicable Honors or NEWS settings.
• Your role and the screen where the problem occurred.
• The tiles, melds, and action involved, including whether a tile was drawn or claimed.
• The steps immediately before the unexpected result.

Attach a screenshot when it helps show the issue. If possible, capture the hand instruction, relevant tiles, and the unexpected result.

A saved hand can provide additional context. Use Save Hand, then open its transcript in Hand History and use Share to prepare the hand file. Include it with your report when relevant.

If you need to correct the hand to continue playing, note or capture the problem first when practical, then use the appropriate correction control.

4. Share a Suggestion

Feedback also welcomes questions, unclear explanations, confusing controls, and feature suggestions.

Describe the situation you were trying to handle and what would have helped. For a User Guide suggestion, name the chapter and section so the passage is easy to locate.

Specific examples help improve both MJC and its guide. Share what helped you learn as well as what needs clarification.

Use this chapter for quick reminders. For illustrations and full procedures, open the corresponding chapter from the main Table of Contents.

1. Start a Hand

Tile-entry tap: cycles the quantity from zero through four, then back to zero.

Long-press: clears that tile’s quantity.

Clear Tiles: clears the entered tiles. Undo Clear appears temporarily afterward.

Check tile identities and quantities, not just the total. See Chapter 2 for the full setup procedure.

2. Record an Action

Draw
Record a tile taken from the wall. Select its number and suit, or its honor name, then tap the tile image.

Chow / Pong / Kang
Record the corresponding claim using an opponent’s discarded tile. Resolve any grouping or declaration choices offered.

Discard
Select a tile in the hand display, check the confirmation, then tap Discard.

Replacement Draw
After the applicable declaration, record the required replacement through Draw before continuing.

Mahjong
Use the Mahjong Watch control to record an opponent’s discard claimed to complete your hand. A winning tile from the wall is recorded through Draw.

Follow the current instruction. See Chapters 5, 6, and 10 for the turn cycle, melds, and completing a hand.

3. Read the Display

TSS: Tile Selection Screen.
SHD: Starting Hand Display.
CHD: Current Hand Display.

Standard View: presents tile groups and, in Current Hand, separates Loose Tiles, Hidden Melds, and Exposed Melds.

Coaching View: presents Reserves, Developing Boxes, and Completed Boxes.

Boxes Complete: completed boxes toward the current structural target.

Tiles In Hand: tiles outside Complete Boxes, rather than the whole hand’s physical tile total.

Indices: identifying numbers and letters added to tile images.
Labels: full or shortened box-type names.

Pathways: development opportunities for supported Developing Boxes. Green markers indicate a different numbered tile of the same suit; orange markers indicate a matching tile. EA appears above the marker.d

Insight: explains the current hand-display discard recommendation. If several tiles are recommended, discard only one.

RT: explores eligible alternate groupings involving a hidden Complete Box. Preview before confirming. RT does not discard the released tile.

See Chapters 3, 7, 8, and 9 for display, Pathways, RT, and coaching details.

4. Recognize the Groupings

CB — Complete Box
A completed structural grouping.

DB — Developing Box
A grouping working toward completion.

Reserves
Tiles outside the displayed Developing and Complete Boxes.

DSW — Double-Sided Wait
Example: 4 · 5 needs 3 or 6 of the same suit.

MW — Middle Wait
Example: 4 · 6 needs 5 of the same suit.

EW — Edge Wait
1 · 2 needs 3, or 8 · 9 needs 7, of the same suit.

EC — Eye Candidate
A matching pair being held as the Eye.

EPC — Eye-Pong Candidate
A matching pair with Eye or Pong potential.

CPC — Chow-Pong Candidate
Three or four suited tiles with Chow and Pong possibilities.

PKC — Pong-Kang Candidate
A four-tile Developing Box that can be declared as Kang or NEWS.

HE — Half Eye
A single tile held as a possible half of the Eye.

See Chapter 4 for illustrated grouping examples.

5. Correct or Save a Hand

Revise
Correct your starting entry from the Starting Hand Display. Finish with Play On!

Correct Last Entry
Correct the most recent recorded action when available.

Fix Hand
Match the current recorded hand to your actual melds, Free Tiles, and next-action state. Review the tile target, then Accept.

Save Hand
Keep a completed or unfinished recorded hand for review.

Hand History
Find saved hands, view transcripts, edit details, and share hand files. MJC keeps the 80 most recent saved hands in the browser on that device.

New Hand
Begin another hand. Save the current record first if you want to keep it.

See Chapter 11 for saved hands and Chapter 12 for corrections.

6. Find More Help

Quick Start: Quick Start instructions.
User Guide: illustrated controls and procedures.
Glossary: terminology definitions.

Chapter Sections: return to this chapter’s index.
Back to Contents: return to the main chapter list.
Close: return to the underlying app screen.

For questions, problem reports, or suggestions, use Feedback in the footer or email mjcfeedbackteam@gmail.com . See Chapter 13 for what to include.

Learn. Understand. Improve.
Play On! 🀄

Table of Contents

1. Before We Begin
2. Get Comfortable at the Table
3. See Your Hand Differently
4. Give Your Tiles Their Places
5. Let’s Play a Turn
6. Think Through Your Discard
7. Have Fun. Play On!

There’s a lot to MJC, so before we begin, let me tell you what Mahjong Coach (MJC) is and what it can do for you. MJC is a teaching app designed to introduce beginning and intermediate Mahjong players to Six Box Theory™ (6BT), a method for understanding Mahjong hand structure. By helping you recognize that structure, MJC can help you improve your tile efficiency and make better discard decisions.

Using MJC begins with entering the tiles in your starting hand. As you play, you'll continue entering the tiles you draw, discard, or acquire.

From there, MJC does the organizing— arranging your hand into Complete Boxes, Developing Boxes, and Reserves, revealing its structure, and helping you recognize opportunities.

You make the decisions; MJC helps you understand them.

MJC currently supports Filipino and Taiwanese 16-tile Mahjong. An adaptation for Chinese 13-tile Mahjong is coming soon.

Six Box Theory™ began with 16-tile Mahjong. A regular winning hand contains 17 tiles: five melds and a pair—six boxes. Each Kang adds one extra tile to that total. That’s where the name comes from. The Chinese 13-tile adaptation will use four melds and a pair—five boxes, applying the same approach to understanding your hand.

How much of Mahjong is luck? How much is skill?

According to our highly scientific PFA method, precisely 68.74% of winning at Mahjong is luck. That leaves 31.26% for skill!

Disclaimer: PFA stands for "Plucked From Air." We made those numbers up!

But seriously, here's something we believe:

Luck is the tiles you get. Skill is what you do with them.

Give Yourself Time

And developing that skill takes time—and practice.

You’re learning to see your hand through the lens of 6BT while also getting used to recording your tiles in MJC. That’s a lot to take in at once! Give yourself room to practice. You don’t have to understand everything in your first hand.

I recommend starting with relaxed practice games, ideally with others who are learning Mahjong or getting familiar with MJC too. Give yourselves permission to pause, look at your hands, and talk through a decision. MJC isn’t designed for tournament play or the pace of experienced players racing through a hand.

There’s no prize here for being the fastest person to discard a tile.

MJC Only Knows What You Tell It

I get it. Entering your starting tiles, then recording every draw, claim, and discard can feel like a hassle at first. But that’s how MJC knows what’s in your hand. It can only work with what you tell it.

If you draw a 5 Bam but record a 5 Dot, MJC will faithfully help you understand a hand you don’t actually have. So keep its record in step with your real tiles. If you make an entry mistake, use the correction tools. That’s what they’re there for.

With practice, recording becomes more familiar, and so does recognizing your hand’s structure. Give yourself time to get comfortable with both.

Keep Watching the Table

This is something I’ll remind you of throughout: keep watching the table.

MJC knows your recorded hand—what you have and what you need. But only you can see what’s happening around you. What are the other players discarding? What are they claiming? Which melds have they exposed?

Those things matter. Let MJC help you understand your hand, but remember to look up from the screen. There’s a whole game happening out there.

Better Decisions, One Hand at a Time

MJC can’t guarantee you’ll win every hand. Luck has plenty to say about Mahjong. You can make a thoughtful decision and still not win.

What MJC can do is help you see your hand more clearly and understand the choices in front of you. As you become familiar with 6BT, the goal is for you to start recognizing those possibilities yourself.

So take your time. Ask questions. Try things. Every hand is an opportunity to learn.

First, though, let me share a couple of tips that will make getting settled at the table a whole lot easier.

A little preparation before you begin can make using MJC much easier once the game gets going. Here are a few things worth doing before entering your first tile.

Make the Screen Feel Familiar

You may already have a preferred way to arrange your tiles. Maybe you put Chars first, then Bams, then Dots. Maybe you're still finding an arrangement that works for you. Either way, let MJC follow your lead.

Before entering your starting tiles, set MJC’s Display order to match the way you normally arrange the suits and honors on your rack.

MJC remembers your Display preferences, so you won't need to set them again each time you start a new hand.

This makes it easier to find the corresponding group on the screen while you’re looking at your physical tiles. Your eyes have enough to do during a Mahjong game. Let’s give them one less thing to hunt for.

You’ll thank me for this later. You’re welcome.

If you need the steps for changing Display, they’re in User Guide, Chapter 1: Screens and Controls.

Real Tiles First, MJC Second

Get your actual tiles settled before you start entering them. Set up your rack, replace any flowers if that’s part of your rules, and arrange your starting tiles in your usual order.

Then enter them into MJC.

Why that order? Because it’s easier to record a hand that has stopped changing. If you’re still exchanging flowers or moving tiles around, it’s easy to lose your place and enter something twice—or miss it altogether.

I’d work through the rack one group at a time. Enter the Chars, for example, then move on to the next suit. Check the quantities as you go. Two copies of a tile on your rack should mean two copies in MJC. Simple enough, but worth checking.

Before you press Play On!, take one last look. Does the recorded hand match the one sitting in front of you? A matching total is a good start, but the right tiles matter too.

Give Yourself a Clear View

Put your phone or tablet somewhere you can see and reach comfortably, without blocking your view of the table. You’ll be shifting your attention between your tiles, MJC, and the other players. Make that as easy on yourself as you can.

And let your practice partners know you’re learning to use MJC. A little patience around the table goes a long way. You may even find yourselves discussing a grouping or discard together. That’s a useful part of practice.

Once your starting hand is recorded, we’ll look at how arranging your physical tiles into groupings can complement what MJC shows you. For now, just get the starting record right.

Ready? Let’s Put It into Practice

Your tiles are settled, MJC’s Display order feels familiar, and your starting hand is entered. Press Play On! when you’re ready.

Take a look at your hand. What do you see?

You've entered your starting hand. Now let's look at those same tiles in a different way.

MJC is here to teach you Six Box Theory™—to help you understand it and use it to play better. A big part of that is helping you see what’s already there.

The Hand You Recognize

You probably arrange your tiles by suit and number. It keeps things tidy and makes individual tiles easy to find. Something like this:

Switch to Standard View on your Starting Hand Display, and you’ll see your starting tiles grouped by suit and number, much like your rack.

There’s nothing wrong with that arrangement. But finding a tile and understanding what that tile is doing for your hand are two different things.

Same Tiles, Different Arrangement

Now switch back to Coaching View. Same tiles, different arrangement!

Six Box Theory™ gives you a method for organizing and understanding your hand. MJC helps you visualize that structure by automatically arranging your tiles into boxes.

Complete Boxes (CB) contain completed melds that need no additional tiles.

Developing Boxes (DB) contain groups of tiles working toward becoming Complete Boxes.

Tiles that don't currently fit into either type of box are placed in Reserves (R).

Here’s how we can look at those same 16 tiles from a 6BT perspective:

Notice what happened. We haven’t drawn anything. We haven’t discarded anything. We’ve simply made the groupings easier to see.

Two Chows are already complete. The other boxes give us something to work on. And that White Dragon is sitting in Reserves for now.

That’s the structure we’re trying to recognize. MJC makes it visible so you can practice seeing it yourself.

Box Power, Baby!

Here’s the power of organizing your tiles into boxes: you can see what each grouping needs, instead of searching through your entire hand after every draw.

Box Power Buys You Time

Mahjong players often rearrange their tiles, searching for combinations that work together. We call it dancing the tiles.

MJC does that dancing for you on screen! By organizing your hand into boxes, it frees you to spend less time searching for groupings and more time watching the table, recognizing opportunities, and thinking about your next move.

Box Power doesn't give you more time on the clock. It gives you more time to think.

Look at those 7 and 8 Bam. They’re together in a Double-Sided Wait, so you know what you’re watching for: 6 or 9 Bam. Your 2 and 4 Dot need a 3 Dot. Each box gives you something specific to look for.

Meet Your Target Tiles

Each Developing Box has specific tiles that can help it advance or become complete. We call these Target Tiles (TT).

Explore Your Pathways

Now turn Pathways On in Coaching View. For supported Developing Boxes, MJC shows the tiles that can advance the grouping and the tile opportunities it calculates from your recorded hand. The possibilities become easier to see and compare.

As your hand changes, your boxes may change too. Keep looking at what each grouping needs—and keep watching the table. A useful tile on the screen still has to reach your hand!

Why Six Boxes?

To win a regular 16-tile Mahjong hand, you need six Complete Boxes: five melds and one Eye. Hence the name—Six Box Theory™!

Think of those as the six groupings you’re working toward. Some may already be complete. Others are only partway there.

A Developing Box might contain two tiles waiting for a third to make a Chow. It might contain a pair that could become a Pong. Or it might hold the pair you’re considering for your Eye.

Special hands use different structures, but we’ll keep our attention on the regular six-box hand here. One thing at a time.

Every Tile Has a Role

Then there are the tiles that don’t fit into the displayed boxes yet. MJC places them in Reserves, for now.

“For now” is worth remembering. A Reserve may find a partner as the game progresses and help develop your hand. Or it may become a useful discard choice.

The key is that every tile has a role. Some help you complete a grouping. Others may be better discarded to preserve the groupings you’re building.

So when you look at your hand, try asking more than “What tiles do I have?” Ask, “What are these tiles doing for my hand?”

Which groupings are complete? Which are developing? What does each one need? And which tiles are still waiting for a job?

Now let’s give those groupings their own places on your physical rack, too.

MJC has organized your recorded tiles into boxes. Now let’s make that structure easier to recognize in the tiles sitting in front of you.

Once you’ve entered your starting tiles and opened Coaching View, I recommend arranging your physical hand to complement what you see. Do this as soon as it’s practical. There’s no need to rearrange everything in a panic while someone is waiting for your discard.

Bring the Structure onto Your Rack

Arrange the tiles on your physical rack to match the groupings shown in MJC. This helps you recognize your hand’s structure at the table and use it to guide your decisions.

Here’s the arrangement I recommend:

• On the left: keep completed hidden melds on your rack. Exposed melds stay on the table, visible as required by your rules.
• In the middle: arrange your Developing Boxes.
• On the right: keep your Reserves.

Notice I said complement the display. Your rack doesn’t have to copy MJC’s screen from top to bottom. We’re giving each part of the physical hand a place that’s easy to recognize.

If you have enough room, leave a small space between groupings. Even a little separation can help you see three tiles as a Chow rather than as three more tiles in a long row.

Give the Middle Your Attention

Your Complete Boxes already have their jobs. Keep completed hidden melds together on the left of your rack, where you can check them without continually sorting through them. Exposed melds remain on the table.

Most of your attention can go to the middle of the rack. That’s where the Developing Boxes are—the groupings you’re still working on.

A 4 Bam · 5 Bam grouping is easier to think about when those tiles sit together. You can look at it and ask, “Am I looking for 3 Bam or 6 Bam?”

Keep an Eye Candidate together there too, while it is still part of your developing structure. You want to recognize that pair before casually using one of its tiles somewhere else.

Over on the right, your Reserves have their own space. They’re easy to find when you consider a discard, but they’re still available to help the hand develop. Remember: Reserve means “outside the displayed boxes for now,” not “throw this away.”

Leave Room for Change

These places are useful, but the groupings aren’t permanent. A draw may give a Reserve a partner. A Developing Box may become a Complete Box. Or a different arrangement may become worth considering.

As your hand changes, adjust your rack when practical. Keep completed hidden melds together, keep developing tiles easy to see, and move remaining Reserves back toward the right.

Moving hidden tiles around on your rack does not expose them. A hidden Chow stays hidden even when you’ve neatly grouped its three tiles together. Expose tiles only when the actual game calls for it.

And don’t feel you have to copy every new screen arrangement immediately. The point is to understand your hand, not to spend the whole game rearranging it.

Give the groupings their places, take a look at what each needs, and keep watching the table.

All right. Your hand is settled. Let’s play a turn.

Your starting hand is recorded, your tiles have their places, and the game is moving. Now we want recording in MJC to become a comfortable part of your turn.

If you’re the Dealer, you begin with your first discard. We’ll think through discards in the next chapter. For now, let’s imagine you’re preparing to draw.

Before You Reach for the Wall

It’s your turn, and no one has discarded a tile you’re going to claim for a Chow, Pong, or Kang. You’re about to draw.

Here’s a habit I recommend: tap Draw in MJC before you take your tile from the wall.

That opens the tile-selection screen so it’s ready when you see what you’ve drawn. You haven’t recorded a tile yet. You’ve simply got MJC ready for the next step.

Then draw your actual tile, identify it, and record it. One less tap to think about while you’re holding a new tile and deciding what to do with it.

You can open the Draw Tile screen while waiting for your turn. When your turn comes, draw from the wall and record the tile in MJC.

Record It While It’s Clear

Let’s say you draw 5 Bam. Record 5 Bam as soon as practical, while there’s no doubt about which tile just arrived.

I’d do that before mixing it into the rest of the rack. It’s surprisingly easy to admire a useful tile, move a few groupings around, and then wonder which tile you were supposed to enter.

Once you record it, MJC updates the hand. If a grouping choice or declaration appears, resolve that first. When a discard recommendation is available, you can then read it and its Insight.

Recording promptly gives you more of your turn to consider the updated hand and recommendation. MJC can’t consider the new tile until you tell it what you drew.

The green highlight helps you locate the last-drawn tile. Look at where it landed and what changed around it. Did a box complete? Did a Reserve gain a partner? Did a new possibility appear?

Was the tile you just acquired one of your Target Tiles? If so, look at how it helped advance or complete a Developing Box.

Make Your Claim First

Now suppose an opponent discards a tile you want to claim. Make your claim at the table first.

Don’t let the opportunity pass while you’re busy telling your phone about it. The other players need to hear from you first.

Then, as you lay out the exposed meld, tap Chow, Pong, or Kang in MJC to match your claim. Record the claimed tile as soon as practical.

If MJC offers more than one grouping, check the tiles and select the meld you actually intend to play. Your physical meld and MJC’s recorded meld should agree.

For a Chow or Pong, that gets MJC ready to help you consider your discard. A Kang has another step first: the replacement draw.

Give Replacement Draws Their Turn

A declared Kang, NEWS, or Sagasa can require a replacement draw under the applicable rules. Follow MJC’s instruction and record the replacement tile.

Don’t rush straight to a discard just because you’ve finished laying out the meld. That replacement tile may change the hand again. It might even complete Mahjong.

If another choice or declaration appears, resolve it and follow the next instruction. Get the full sequence recorded before considering the ordinary discard step.

The User Guide has the detailed procedures in Chapters 5 and 6. Here, the habit to remember is: finish recording the acquisition before deciding from the updated hand.

Find Your Rhythm

At first, it may feel like you’re managing two hands: the one on the rack and the one on the screen. That’s understandable. You’re building a new habit.

Keep the sequence simple. Identify the action, identify the tile, record it, then look at what changed.

If you notice a wrong entry, correct it before continuing. Trying to remember an unrecorded correction while the game moves on makes the next decision harder than it needs to be.

And keep watching the table. Recording should help you follow your hand while you stay involved in the game. If you need a moment during a practice hand, take it. Give yourself time to develop a comfortable rhythm.

All right. The incoming tile is recorded, any choices are resolved, and MJC is asking for a discard.

Now let’s think about which tile should go.

You’ve recorded the incoming tile. Any meld choices or declarations are resolved, and it’s time to discard.

This is where I’d like you to do a little thinking alongside MJC. A recommendation is useful. Understanding the reason behind it is what you can carry into your next hand.

First, What Changed?

Before reaching for a discard, look at the updated structure. What did that incoming tile do for your hand?

Perhaps it completed a Chow. Perhaps it gave a Reserve a partner. Perhaps it created two possibilities, and now you have to choose what you want to preserve.

Start with the boxes. Which are complete? Which are still developing? Do you have an Eye Candidate? What does each developing grouping need?

Pathways can help you examine the supported groupings. Look at their Target Tiles—the tiles that can advance or complete a Developing Box—and the opportunities to acquire them. You don’t have to calculate everything in your head. That’s part of what MJC is helping you visualize.

If a label or marker is unfamiliar, the Glossary and User Guide are there for you. This is a practice hand. You’re allowed to look things up.

What Can You Let Go?

Now look at your Reserves. Is there a tile you can release while keeping your developing groupings intact?

Remember what we said earlier: every tile has a role. Sometimes that role is helping complete a grouping. Sometimes it's being a tile you can discard while preserving something useful.

Don’t assume every Reserve is equally useful. One may have nearby same-suit support; another may be isolated. MJC considers those differences when comparing its discard choices.

And what if there are no Reserves? Then a Developing Box may have to change. Consider how discarding a tile from that box affects your hand’s structure.

Ask MJC Why

Read the Recommended Discard, then open Insight. Think of it as asking, “All right, MJC. Why that tile?”

Look for what the explanation says will remain intact, which grouping changes, and what possibilities the hand retains.

When you feel comfortable, try Hide and consider your own choice before revealing the recommendation. Then compare your reasoning with MJC’s.

If you chose the same tile, can you explain why? If you chose a different one, what were you trying to preserve? You can learn something from either conversation.

Sometimes MJC gives equal preference to several tiles. That means you have alternatives, not several discards to make. Choose one. Open Insight to see the choices and reasoning.

A recommendation won’t be available in every situation. Ordinary discard recommendations are not shown during the current special-hand pursuits. Keep reading the hand structure and following the current action instruction.

Look Up Before You Decide

Here comes that reminder: keep watching the table.

MJC knows your recorded hand. It doesn’t record every opponent’s ordinary discard or exposed meld in this workflow. Those observations come from you.

What have other players been discarding? What have they claimed? What melds can you see? Has someone’s play given you a reason to reconsider the tile you were about to release?

MJC’s structural recommendation is not a promise that a tile is safe to discard. A tile that contributes little to your hand might still be useful to someone else.

And seeing an exposed meld doesn’t reveal everything in that player’s hidden hand. Observe, think, and make the best decision you can with the information available.

This is where your judgment and MJC’s help come together. Let the app help you understand your hand while you stay aware of the game around it.

Make Your Choice

Once you’ve decided, select the tile in MJC and check the discard confirmation carefully. Make sure the tile you record is the tile you actually release at the table.

Then settle your rack when practical and return your attention to the game. You don’t need to keep debating the same choice while the next player is taking a turn.

If the decision was interesting, save the hand for later. A transcript gives you something concrete to discuss when there’s more time.

And if the hand doesn’t turn out the way you hoped, that doesn’t automatically make the discard a bad one. Remember, luck gets a turn too.

What matters for learning is being able to say, “Here’s what I saw, here’s what I was trying to keep, and here’s why I made that choice.”

That’s a lot more useful than “I tapped the tile MJC told me to.”

We’ve covered quite a bit: getting settled, seeing your hand in boxes, recording your turns, and thinking through a discard.

You don’t have to remember every word before you play. Start with a practice hand. Let the experience give these ideas somewhere to land.

Save the Hands That Make You Think

Some hands will leave you with questions. Could I have chosen another Chow? When did I lose my Eye? Why did MJC recommend that tile?

That’s what Save Hand is for.

Keep a hand that made you think, then revisit its transcript when you have time. Add a note about the decision you want to examine while it’s still fresh in your mind.

You don’t have to save only your wins. Sometimes you can learn more from a hand you didn’t win than from one you did.

Talk through the hand with a practice partner. Share it when that helps the discussion. Another person may notice a possibility you overlooked, and you may notice something they missed.

The User Guide’s Chapter 11 explains saving, transcripts, replaying hands, notes, and sharing.

Give Yourself Credit for Learning

Winning feels good. I’m certainly not going to argue with that. But it isn’t the only sign that you’re improving.

Maybe you recognized a Double-Sided Wait without checking the label. Maybe you noticed that your only pair needed protecting. Maybe you could explain your discard instead of just hoping it was right.

Those are things you’re learning. Give yourself credit for them.

You can make a thoughtful decision and still not win. You can also win a hand without fully understanding why it worked. The useful question afterward is, “What did I learn?”

As 6BT becomes more familiar, you may start noticing the boxes in your physical hand before looking at the screen. That’s the understanding we’re practicing.

A Few Things to Take to the Table

• Give yourself time. You’re learning a way of seeing your hand and getting comfortable with an app.
• Keep the record accurate. MJC only knows what you tell it.
• Give your groupings room. Arrange your rack so you can recognize what’s complete, what’s developing, and what’s in Reserves.
• Ask why. Use Insight to understand a recommendation.
• Keep watching the table. Your hand is part of a larger game.
• Keep a useful hand. Save something you’d like to revisit, win or lose.

And if a question comes up, use the User Guide or Glossary. If something still isn’t clear, let us know through Feedback. Your questions help us understand where another explanation or example would help.

Have Fun. Play On!

I hope MJC helps you feel more comfortable looking at your hand, recognizing its possibilities, and making your own decisions.

Play some relaxed hands. Talk through a choice. Try again when something doesn’t work out. Enjoy those moments when a grouping finally makes sense.

Most of all, have fun as you’re learning and improving.

Play On! 🀄

Special thanks to my friends in JEZEMS, a close circle of friends whose camaraderie and games introduced me to the wonderful world of Filipino Mahjong and helped inspire the creation of Six Box Theory™ and the Mahjong Coach app.

“Cha na lang!”

Table of Contents

1. Welcome to Our Table
2. Let’s Get Set Up
3. Getting Your Tiles Ready

Appendix

View Seat Rotations

If you’ve joined us for Mahjong, you’ve probably heard “Cha na lang!” before the tiles have even settled. Welcome to JEZEMS.

This guide shows you how we set up our table and get a hand underway. We play Filipino 16-tile Mahjong with our own table conventions. Other groups may do things differently, so if you’ve played elsewhere, a few details might be new to you.

And if you’re just learning, that’s fine too. Ask questions. We’ve all had to learn where to sit, how many tiles to take, and what to do when a flower turns up.

We’ll walk through it together, with pictures along the way. First, let’s get the table ready.

Before we start admiring our tiles, let’s get the table ready. Everyone has a part in this—and a little attention now makes everything that follows easier.

1. What Goes on the Table?

You’ll need a table, four chairs, and a mat in the middle. Our mat has Wind markings already. Yours doesn’t have to; we’ll explain how to handle that when we choose seats.

No chips, counters, or separate dealer marker are needed at our table. We play for enjoyment and camaraderie.

The pushers and separate seating tiles are part of how we play at JEZEMS. They’re useful, but you don’t need those particular accessories to play Mahjong.

Our extra-large tiles measure approximately 1 5/12 inches tall × 1 1/8 inches wide × 7/8 inch thick (3.6 × 2.8 × 2.2 cm). Their size helps explain the dimensions of our pushers.

2. Meet the Pushers

Ours are plain wooden bars, 1½ inches square and approximately 21½ inches long. We bought square wooden stock and cut it to the length we wanted. That leaves room at both ends of an 18-stack wall for our fingers to grip the pusher when moving the tiles. Nothing fancy—and very useful.

First, the pushers help us build and move the walls. Later, we bring them back in front of us to support our hands. The tiles rest on the table, leaning upright with their backs against the wood and faces toward us.

3. Wash, Stack, and Build

Take a seat for now. We’ll establish the official seats after building the Great Wall.

Put all 144 tiles face down on the mat and mix them thoroughly. That’s the wash. Each player has a pusher on the mat, ready to serve as a backstop.

Build your wall against your pusher: 18 stacks, two tiles high. Keep the tiles face down, with their bottom edges against the wood. That gives each player a wall of 36 tiles.

One wall: 18 stacks, two tiles high

Once all four walls are ready, use the pushers to move them forward into a square in the middle. There it is: the Great Wall. Four walls, 36 tiles each—144 altogether.

Now pull your pusher back in front of you. Its next job is to support the starting tiles you’ll receive.

4. Who Sits Where?

Shuffle the four separate seating Wind tiles face down in the middle. Everyone picks one, in no particular order. No dice roll is needed.

We use one of two seating methods. Agree on which one you’re using before the tiles are revealed.

East is our first dealer. We draw seating tiles only once, at the start of the game. The deal passes after every hand, with no dealer repeats. Four hands make a round; four rounds make a full game. Later seat changes follow our between-round rotation.

5. Two Throws, Two Jobs

East throws all three dice twice. Keep the two totals separate: the first chooses whose wall; the second chooses where to break it.

6. Mark the Flower Wall

In our example, West lifts both tiles from stack 12 and places them on stack 11. That creates a four-tile-high tail marking the Flower Wall.

The Playing Wall supplies the starting hands and ordinary draws. The Flower Wall supplies flower replacements. We’ll follow both ends carefully in the next chapter.

The walls are ready, everyone has a seat, and we know where to begin. Now let’s get those tiles into everyone’s hands.

The Great Wall is built, the seats are settled, and the wall is broken. Now comes the part where a little teamwork makes everything run smoothly.

Eight Tiles at a Time

The dealer always receives the first eight tiles. It doesn’t matter whose wall was broken or who is giving service. Distribution begins with the dealer and continues counterclockwise. In our opening hand, East is the dealer.

Let’s stay with our example: West’s wall was selected, and stack 12 was moved onto stack 11. The Playing Wall begins at stack 13.

West takes four double stacks—eight tiles—from the start of the Playing Wall and passes them to East. The next eight go to South, then West, then North. Repeat that sequence once more, until everyone has 16 tiles.

One delivery: four stacks, eight tiles

A Little Service Goes a Long Way

West won’t necessarily distribute every delivery. As the start of the Playing Wall moves in front of another player, that player continues handing out the tiles. We call this giving service.

It’s easy to get absorbed in arranging your own tiles. We’ve all done it. Just keep an eye on the wall, too. If the next tiles are in front of you, someone may be waiting for your help.

Once everyone has 16 tiles, the player closest to the new start of the Playing Wall uses their pusher to move it forward and angle its starting end toward the middle of the mat. Make it easy for everyone to reach.

Flowers to the Left

As your deliveries arrive, pull out any flowers and place them face up on the table, in front of and to the left of your pusher. Remember, we call all eight flower and season tiles “flowers.”

Call out how many you have: “Two flowers!” That lets the dealer know you’ll need two replacement tiles.

Your side of the table

The Dealer Handles the Exchanges

East manages the initial flower exchange, starting with their own flowers and then proceeding counter-clockwise around the table.

Replacement tiles come from the Flower Wall, starting at its raised tail. Take the top tile first, then work down through that stack before moving to the next stack.

The first four replacement tiles

After those four tiles, take the top tile from the next double stack. When only its bottom tile remains, move that tile onto the following double stack. That makes a raised tail of three tiles. The tail doesn’t have to stay four tiles high.

If your replacement is another flower, put it with your other flowers and say so. It needs replacing, too.

The dealer waits while you check your replacements. Once you have playing tiles in place of all your flowers, the dealer moves on to the next player who needs an exchange.

One More Tile for the Dealer

Everyone begins with 16 playing tiles, but East needs 17 to make the first discard.

The easiest time for East to take that extra tile is after the flower exchanges are complete. East takes the top tile from the start of the Playing Wall and announces it: “I’m taking my 17th tile.”

East can also take it during the flower exchange, as long as everyone knows. It’s a separate step from taking flower replacements.

If East’s extra tile is a flower, expose it and replace it from the Flower Wall. Keep replacing any further flowers until East has 17 playing tiles.

Using MJC? Now Enter Your Tiles

Wait until all your flowers have been exchanged before entering your starting tiles into MJC. Get your physical hand settled first, then record it.

Players enter 16 tiles. The dealer enters 17. Check that MJC’s Role matches your seat, and review the tiles against your actual hand.

And give the dealer a little breathing room. East has been handling flower exchanges and is also expected to make the first discard. Entering a starting hand takes a moment, especially when you’re learning.

That’s one reason I recommend friendly practice games while you get comfortable with MJC. We’re here to learn together. A little patience belongs at the table, too.

Ready? Let’s Play

East checks that the flower exchanges are finished and everyone is ready. The hand begins with the dealer’s first discard.

Say every discard aloud. At our JEZEMS table, everyone announces the tile they discard—for example, “7 Bam” or “Red Dragon.” Say it clearly as you place the tile face up in the discard area. This helps everyone follow the game and recognize tiles they may want to claim.

Didn’t catch the announcement, or can’t quite see the tile? It’s always okay to ask, “What was discarded?” Some players rely more on hearing than sight. Repeat the tile’s name clearly when asked. We want everyone to be able to follow along.

From there, we follow our usual draw, claim, and discard cycle. You’ll hear some JEZEMS table terms along the way, including Secret for a hidden Kang and Sagasa when upgrading an exposed Pong with the fourth tile. We also allow NEWS, a grouping containing North, East, West, and South.

Changing Seats Between Rounds

We draw seating tiles only once, at the start of a full game. After that, we follow a set rotation.

After each hand, the deal passes counterclockwise to the next player, with no dealer repeats. After four hands, the round is complete and everyone changes seats.

A full game has four rounds: East, South, West, and North. The player in the East seat starts the dealing for each new round.

You don’t have to play all four rounds. Sometimes we stop after three when we’re ready to call it a night. Play as long as everyone is enjoying it— the remaining round can wait!

View Seat Rotations

You don’t have to remember every detail on your first visit. Ask questions, watch the table, and lend a hand when it’s time to give service.

The tiles are ready. So are we. Cha na lang! Play On!

After First Round After Second Round After Third Round

Use this reference after each round of four hands. Each rotation shows where everyone starts, followed by their new seats. East stays at the bottom of every diagram. A, B, C, and D identify the same four players throughout the game.

First Rotation: East Round → South Round

After the first four hands, change seats as shown. The letters identify players; the physical seat positions stay fixed.

After Rotation
South Round (Round 2)

Second Rotation: South Round → West Round

After the second round, B moves across to West and A moves across to North. D moves from West to South, while C moves from North to East.

After Rotation
West Round (Round 3)

Third Rotation: West Round → North Round

After the third round, C and D swap seats, and B and A swap seats. We’re ready for the fourth and final round.

After Rotation
North Round (Round 4)

Go ahead, make it monthly!