American Mahjong · 6 hands
Winds & Dragons Hands in American Mahjong: How They Work, Scoring and Odds
In American mahjong, the Winds & Dragons category is built mostly from honor tiles: the four winds (North, East, West, South) and the three dragons (Green, Red and Soap). Only one line uses suit tiles at all. Our House Card has six Winds & Dragons hands, worth 25 to 30 points.
| Card value | 25 |
|---|---|
| No jokers (doubles the value) | ×2 = 50 |
| Won on a discard: discarder pays double | 100 + 50 + 50 = 200 |
| Self-drawn: everyone pays double | 100 × 3 = 300 |
On this page
What counts as a Winds & Dragons hand
- Winds and dragons make up the hand, with flowers on one line and a pair of like numbers on another
- Winds have no suit. A dragon takes the suit of its color on the card: Green with bams, Red with craks, Soap with dots (see reading the card)
- Two dragon groups in different colors must be different dragons
- All six lines are
X, so you may call discards to expose pungs and kongs - Jokers can fill any group of three or more, never a single or a pair
Every Winds & Dragons hand on our card
- All four winds — kongs of North and South, pungs of East and West.
- East, West and two dragons — kongs of East and West, pungs of two different dragons.
- Flowers, North, South and a dragon — a pung of flowers, two wind kongs and a dragon pung.
- Four wind pungs and a dragon pair — the pair must be real tiles.
- NEWS and all three dragons — the winds as singles, two dragon kongs and a pair of the third dragon.
- North, South and like numbers — kongs of North and South with pungs of one number in two suits.
How jokers work in Winds & Dragons hands
Honor tiles disappear fast — there are only four of each — so jokers are especially useful here. Every wind and dragon pung or kong can take them:
| Card value | 25 |
|---|---|
| No jokers (doubles the value) | Uses jokers — no bonus |
| Won on a discard: discarder pays double | 50 + 25 + 25 = 100 |
| Self-drawn: everyone pays double | 50 × 3 = 150 |
The NEWS singles and every pair need real tiles:
| Card value | 30 |
|---|---|
| No jokers (doubles the value) | Uses jokers — no bonus |
| Won on a discard: discarder pays double | 60 + 30 + 30 = 120 |
| Self-drawn: everyone pays double | 60 × 3 = 180 |
How Winds & Dragons hands are scored
Each hand pays its card value, and a hand built with no jokers at all is worth double. On a discard, the player who discarded pays twice the value and the other two pay once; on a self-drawn win, all three pay twice. The tables are worked out by the game's own scoring code.
| Card value | 30 |
|---|---|
| No jokers (doubles the value) | ×2 = 60 |
| Won on a discard: discarder pays double | 120 + 60 + 60 = 240 |
| Self-drawn: everyone pays double | 120 × 3 = 360 |
Winds & Dragons odds
How close your deal is
With 28 wind and dragon tiles in a 152-tile set, a deal rarely holds many. Before the Charleston, a 13-tile deal is within 7 tiles of the nearest Winds & Dragons hand 2.6% of the time; after the Charleston, within 6 tiles is 7.5%.
| Winds & Dragons | At the deal | After the Charleston |
|---|---|---|
| 5 or fewer away | 0.04% | 3.1% |
| 6 or fewer away | 0.38% | 7.5% |
| 7 or fewer away | 2.6% | 17% |
| 8 or fewer away | 12% | 32% |
| 9 or fewer away | 36% | 53% |
Source: 20,000 random 13-tile deals (jokers and flowers included), before the Charleston.
Source: 1,500 games of computer-vs-computer play on this site (normal level, Charleston included). Each computer has its own slight taste for categories.
How often Winds & Dragons wins
When the computers play normally, Winds & Dragons hands were 9.5% of all wins, collecting 147 points on average. 38% of those wins were self-drawn and 6.0% used no jokers.
| Category | Share of wins |
|---|---|
| Like Numbers | 40% |
| Consecutive Run | 31% |
| Winds & Dragons | 9.5% |
| 2468 | 6.5% |
| 369 | 4.0% |
| 2026 | 3.4% |
| 13579 | 3.1% |
| Addition | 0.72% |
| Quints | 0.57% |
| Singles & Pairs | 0.57% |
Source: 1,500 games of computer-vs-computer play on this site (normal level, Charleston included). Each computer has its own slight taste for categories.
Is it worth forcing Winds & Dragons?
We had the player whose deal was closest to Winds & Dragons play nothing but these hands — Charleston, discards, calls and wins — while the other three played normally, and compared the result with the same kind of deal played normally.
| At the deal | Hands | Made it | Someone else won | Wall game | Avg. result forcing it | Avg. result playing normally |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 or fewer away | 33 | 48% | 36% | 15% | +55 | +51 |
| 7 | 137 | 27% | 68% | 5.1% | +7 | +30 |
| 8 | 466 | 23% | 68% | 9.2% | −1 | +22 |
| 9+ away | 864 | 16% | 73% | 12% | −12 | −4 |
Source: 1,500 games of computer play on this site. In each, the player whose deal was closest to Winds & Dragons played only Winds & Dragons hands; the other three played normally. Money is the card value as paid in the game.
Winds & Dragons is the only category where forcing came out ahead from a close deal — but only on a sample too small to trust, and forcing lost in every larger group.
- From a deal within 6 tiles, forcing Winds & Dragons worked 48% of the time for an average of +55, against +51 playing normally. Only a few dozen deals started that close (see the Hands column), so that edge could easily be luck.
- From within 7 tiles, it worked 31% of the time (+17 against +35); from within 8 tiles, 25% (+4 against +25), with someone else winning first 67% of the time.
- A deal full of honors is unusual, and normal play already uses it: Winds & Dragons was the third most common win. Forcing it mostly throws away the suit tiles that could have gone into a Like Numbers or run hand.
Tips for Winds & Dragons hands
- Honors are what many players pass. Winds and dragons are popular Charleston passes, so they often come to you.
- Call early. Honor pungs are easy to call, and most of these lines are
X. - Two jokers can make the hand. With four of each honor and three or four big groups, a pair of jokers is often the difference.
- Watch the dead tiles. Once two Norths are out, any line with a kong of North needs jokers.
When to switch: a hand full of Soaps and 2s may be closer to 2026; a pair of jokers and a near-kong of North can grow into the North quint in Quints. Play a few hands of free American mahjong online — the helper shows your closest hands as you go.
Other mahjong styles
The first line — four wind groups and nothing else — is the American cousin of Big Four Winds, one of the top-scoring hands in Chinese Official and Hong Kong mahjong (see the Chinese Official fan table and the Hong Kong fan table). Its all-pungs shape is peng peng he in Chinese Official mahjong and toitoi in Japanese riichi.
FAQ
What is a Winds and Dragons hand in mahjong?
A Winds and Dragons hand is a line on the American mahjong card built mostly from honor tiles: the four winds and the three dragons. Our card has six of them.
Which dragon goes with which suit?
Green goes with bams, Red with craks and the white dragon (Soap) with dots. A dragon printed in a suit's color must be that suit's dragon.
Can you use jokers in a Winds and Dragons hand?
Yes, in any pung or kong of winds or dragons. The NEWS singles and every pair must be real tiles.
How many points is a Winds and Dragons hand worth?
On our House Card, Winds and Dragons hands are worth 25 to 30 points, doubled if you use no jokers.
Is this the official NMJL card?
No. The National Mah Jongg League publishes a new copyrighted card every year. This site uses its own original card with the same kinds of categories, so the exact lines differ.
Related categories
Like Numbers 5 hands
One number, any number, across all three suits — every hand on our card, joker rules, scoring and odds.
Quints 4 hands
Five of a kind, which only jokers make possible — every hand on our card, joker rules, scoring and odds.
2026 5 hands
Hands that spell the year with 2s, 6s and Soap as the zero — every hand on our card, joker rules, scoring and odds.
Try it at the table
American Mahjong — Play American Mah Jongg free in your browser against three computer players. The Charleston, jokers, joker exchanges and a full card of hands, with a helper that shows your closest hands. No sign-up.