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Can you call for a chow in American Mahjong?

No. American Mahjong has no chow: during play you may never call a discard to make a run and lay it down. The one exception is Mahjong itself. If a discard is the fourteenth tile, the one that completes your hand, you may call it even when it finishes a run.

Answered by Prim. Last reviewed 2026-10-21.

What a chow is, and why it stays at the door

A chow is a run of three tiles in a row in one suit, a 4, 5 and 6 Bam for instance. In other games of mahjong a player may claim a discard to finish one and set it out on the table. Players who learned one of those games first tend to reach for the habit. Our table does not honor it.

In American Mahjong a discard is called for one purpose during play: to complete a pung, kong, quint or sextet, a set of identical tiles, which is then exposed face up on top of your rack. A run is made of different tiles, so it is not a set at all. It is a string of singles, and singles are never called.

Runs are still very much on the card

None of this means runs are unwelcome. The card is full of them. The Consecutive Run section of the 2026 card has eight lines, and plenty of other lines hold a string of numbers, a year such as 2026, or NEWS. Every one of those groups is built the quiet way: tiles you draw from the wall or receive in the Charleston, kept in your own hand.

The same reasoning keeps Jokers out of them. A Joker may stand in only for a tile in a pung, kong, quint or sextet. A run, a year and NEWS are singles and pairs, so each tile in them must be the real thing.

The one exception: the tile that wins

When a discard is the very last tile your hand needs, you may call it for Mahjong, whatever group it completes. If you hold 4 and 6 Bam and the 5 Bam is the fourteenth tile, call it, set out your whole hand on top of the rack, and let the table check it against the card.

The same exception lets a concealed hand win on a discard, and lets a single or a pair take the winning tile. Mahjong is the only call that may finish any group at all. Before that moment, the tile you want for your run must come to you by your own draw.

If you call one by mistake

Calling a discard for a run that does not win is an exposure that cannot be made. Caught before the tile is racked, the call may be withdrawn and the tile goes back to the discards. Laid out on your rack, it is an incorrect exposure, and once another player calls it, the hand is dead. Habits from other tables are best checked at the door.

New to the words? Chow · Call · Consecutive Run · Mah Jongg