These are the books which I have and have found useful. The list is by no means exhaustive. You can find a more comprehensive list on the Mahjong FAQ website.

Amazon.co.uk Please note that some of the Amazon links may have expired, given that their stock fluctuates and prices change. Information was correct at the time this page was uploaded to the server.

Mahjong Museum

Illustrated Book of the Mahjong Museum

Toshifumi Suzuki, Ryo Asami, et al

Mahjong Museum (1999)
ISBN: 4-8124-0473-8

Price: ¥3000

A kind gift from the Mahjong Museum, which was marvellous since I was of the opinion that this book was out-of-print and therefore unavailable.

As the name suggests this is the illustrated book of the Mahjong Museum in Japan. It charts, in full-colour pictures, the history of Mah Jong from Matiao playing cards of the 19th century through to the modern automatic playing tables of today. Page after page shows beautiful sets, antique, modern, innovative, themed, bone, metal and wooden.

A beautiful book, in Japanese and English. Get a copy if you can.

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Mahjong Museum

A Guide to Mahjong Museum

Author(s) unknown

Mahjong Museum (2002)
No ISBN number

Price: ¥800 (?)

This beautiful, full-colour booklet was another gift from the organisers of the 2002 World Championship in Mahjong, along with a complementary copy of the Championship brochure.

This seems, in some ways, to be a slimmed-down version of the Illustrated Book of the Mahjong Museum (see above). It contains many of the same photographs and images, though not as many.

The brochure is written entirely in Japanese (unlike the book) with only page headings in English.

The back pages contain a merchandising catalogue (mahjong clocks, watches, mugs and t-shirts, etc.) and a 'World History of Mahjong' which is, unfortunately, only in Japanese.

A great souvenier none-the-less.

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The Pocket Guide to Mah Jong - containing the Standard Laws

Chiang Lee (?)

Thomas de la Rue & Co. Ltd, London (1924)
Paperback - 14 pages

Price: 6d (sixpence)

This was our family's original Mah Jong rule book, a 14 page booklet which dictates the use of cards rather than tiles since "their use involves the building of walls and consequent loss of time".

I assume the booklet to have been written by Chiang Lee since there is an advert on the back cover for another de la Rue book (priced 5/-, that is five shillings) by Lee entitled "Mah Jong and How to Play it containing the Standard Scoring Laws. This booklet is listed in Millington under Anonymous and Pseudonymous.

This booklet has been reproduced on both this site and the International Mah Jong Newspaper site.

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Mah Jongg

Gibson Games

H.P. Gibson & Sons, Ltd., London
Paperback - 30 pages

This is the rule booklet which came with Gareth's first Mah Jong set. While it is basic, and rather wordy it does cover the basic Chinese rules rather well. The scoring method is accumulative (rather than payment). There are even brief notes on limit hands, penalties and tactics which is rare for such a basic booklet.

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Learn to Play Mah Jongg

Marcia Hammer

Caves Book Co, China (1979)
Hardback - 145 pages

RRP: $9.99

I bought this book on eBay UK for £3.50. While it appears to have been printed in China, it covers American rules including the 'Charleston'. The author is very fond of alliteration in chapter titles: bim-bam-boom; the challenging charleston; ploy of play; timely tips; etc. The book is illustrated throughout with a mixture of crude hand-drawings and blurred photographs.

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Know The Game :
Mah-Jong

Gwyn Headley and Yvonne Seeley

A & C Black (Publishers) Ltd. (1996)
ISBN: 0713637420
Paperback - 48 pages

List Price: £3.99
Amazon Price: Limited availability

This book is now in its second edition (see below).

This book is "produced in collaboration with the British Mah-Jong Association" which was founded by the author prior to writing the book to give it some extra credibility. As with all the KTG range this is a very easy to understand book with excellent pictures. It includes 'calling hands', 'goulash' (replacing the 2 Bamboos with wild cards, and a section on limit hands.

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Know The Game :
Mah-Jong (2nd edition)

Gwyn Headley and Yvonne Seeley

A & C Black (Publishers) Ltd. (2002)
ISBN: 0713660090
Paperback - 48 pages

List Price: £4.99
Amazon Price: £3.99 BUY NOW
You Save: £1.00 (20%)

This book is now in its second edition. I have just ordered it from Amazon and will comment on it once it arrives.

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Kohnen

Mah-Jongg : Basic Rules & Strategies

Dieter Kohnen

Sterling, New York (1998)
ISBN: 0806907525
Paperback - 64 pages

List Price: £5.67
Amazon Price: £5.11 BUY NOW
You Save: £0.56 (9%)

I was a little disappointed with this book - not least for its plethora of spelling mistakes ('dargon' for 'dragon' for example). The rules are recognisably Chinese, though his paragraph on the history of the game has something to be desired, claiming that the game originates 4,000 years ago only becoming popular amongst the Chinese masses in the 1910s?! The scoring system is quite unique - certainly a variation of basic 'vanilla' Chinese scoring, and favours the payment method of settling scores. The book claims to cover basic strategies - and basic they are, commenting on four games rather than revealing underlying principles. For something with more meat I would recommend Millington's book, or even Whitney.

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The Book of Mahjong: an Illustrated Guide

Amy Lo

Tuttle Publishing, Singapore (2001)
ISBN: 0-8048-3302-8
Paperback - 114 pages

List Price: £11.99
Amazon Price: Special Order

A wonderful and welcome addition to the Mah Jong bibliography as Lo's book is the only to cover the Cantonese and Shanghai variations, as well as the 12-Tile Game and the 16-Tile or Taiwanese Game. The book is beautifully produced and typeset with colour photographs throughout.

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The Complete Book of Mah-Jongg : The rules, strategy and philosophy of the Classical Chinese game

A.D.Millington

Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1998)
ISBN: 0297813404
Paperback - 200 pages

UK List Price: £8.99
Amazon Price: £7.19 BUY NOW
You save: £1.80 (20%)

Regarded by many to be the authoritative guide to the game according to the classical Chinese (vanilla) rules. It covers in depth the rules, symbolism, philosophy and history of the game, as well as an exploration into variant and rival forms of the game. The book concludes with four appendices covering both Chinese and English terms, a summary of the scoring rules and a bibliography.

I have found this book to be most useful, however my only criticism is that it is very wordy and it could have benefitted from more graphical illustrations than it currently offers.

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Teach Yourself : Mahjong

David Pritchard

Hodder & Stoughton (2001)
ISBN: 0-340-80293-6
Paperback - 147 pages

UK List Price: £7.99
Amazon Price: £6.39 BUY NOW
You save: £1.60 (20%)

This is a new addition to both the Teach Yourself range and the Mah Jong bibliography. Pritchard has produced a very good all-round book on Mah Jong. It primarily covers the Chinese game albeit with a British slant in that he includes the Goulash, but he also briefly looks at popular variations, notably the Japanese and various American (with contact details for appropriate bodies). There are also chapters on strategy, history and kards. His section on the three-handed game suggests a triangular wall, which is a first for me.

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Rep

Het Groot Mahjong Boek

Jelte Rep

Tirion Uitgevers B.V. (2002)
ISBN: 90 4390 396 5
Paperback - 192 pages

This book, written entirely in Dutch, was a gift from Jelte's brother Martin Rep (of the International Mah Jong Newspaper) when he visited me in June 2003.

It would be fabulous if someone could translate this book and publish it in English, as it beautifully typeset and laid out. The book opens with a tour of the Mah Jong tiles and accessories, ending with a look at whether your set is ivory or bone ('ivoor or been'). Next up, we look at the basics ('basis') of the game.

Then the book takes an international tour around the major versions of Mah Jong: Oud China, Amerika, Maj (NMJL), Nederland, Groot-Brittannië, Frankrijk, Duitsland, Italië, Traditionaneel Japans, Riichi, Azië, Hongkong, Taiwan, Korea, WK mahjong.

The book closes with a chapter on playing with three, four or five players, and playing with cards instead of tiles.

This is a beautiful book. It's just a shame I can't read it!

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Mah Jong, Anyone? : A Manual of Modern Play

Kitty Strauser and Lucille Evans

Tuttle Publishing (1999)
ISBN: 0804803900
Hardback - 64 pages

UK List Price: £9.95
Amazon Price: £8.46 BUY NOW
You save: £1.49 (14%)

I bought this book for one reason: it features rules on how to use the optional tiles used in Malaysian / Singaporean Mah Jong, namely the rat, cat, man, pot of gold, fisherman, fish, cockeral and worm, which are omitted from most other manuals on the game.

The rest of the book is clear, albeit basic and the illustrations can be quite annoying.

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The Mah Jong Player's Companion

Patricia A. Thompson & Betty Maloney

Simon & Schuster Books (2001)
ISBN: 0864178913
Paperback - 64 pages

Amazon Price: £5.99 BUY NOW

This book is simply a collection of special (limit) hands, each illustrated in colour. Hands are arranged in sections, e.g. chows - no honours; pairs; honours; knitting; etc. with a comprehensive index and synopsis.

The book has no information about the rules of Mah Jong though there is a page about strategy, and a useful guide at the back on how to organise your own Mah Jong tournament.

Improve Your Mah Jong

Patricia A. Thompson & Betty Maloney

Kangaroo Press (1991)
ISBN: 0684872056
Paperback - 64 pages

This book is supposed to be for those who are already familiar with the basics of the game. It covers the Chinese and Western variations of the game, has a directory of special hands and a word or two is said about etiquette, club organisation and tips on how to teach Mah Jong to others.

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Untitled

Standard Rules for the Chinese Domino Game of Mah Jong

No reference

Paperback - 26 pages

This guide came with Jane's Mah Jong set. It is a very basic introduction to the game. While it comments on the use of dice, counters and Mingg and wind discs it nowhere mentions the extra tiles (cat, rat, man and pot of gold) which came with the set. Terms used are 'chow', 'poong' (sic) and 'kong'. Scoring is standard, though terribly laid out.

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Whitney

Mah Jong Handbook : How to Play, Score, and Win the Modern Game

Eleanor Noss Whitney

Tuttle Publishing (1996 / 2001)

Hardback: ISBN: 0804803927
Amazon Price: £11.95 BUY NOW

Paperback: ISBN: 0804832781
UK List Price: £9.47
Amazon Price: £8.53 BUY NOW
Save: £0.94 (9%)

This was the second book I read on Mah Jong and it still remains amongst my favourites. It claims to be an authority on both Modern Japanese and Modern American play, but as I understand it bears little resemblance to either.

The book is nicely laid out with plenty of illustrations of example hands. The inside and back covers offer a doubles scoring chart and summary score sheet respectively.

Where I feel the book excels is its chapters on both offensive and defensive strategy.

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Mah jong in the UK

The FAQ #07 UK list of where to buy Mah Jong sets and accessories in the UK also lists books.

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