- Keep a Pair. It's harder to make a pair if you have only one tile than it is to make a Pong if you have a pair. So if you have a pair, don't be too quick to claim a matching tile to form a Pong.
- Have Patience. When first learning to play, it's typical to grab every opportunity to meld a Pong or Chow. In the early stages of a game, you should instead keep in mind that there are a lot of good tiles available for drawing from the Wall - and by not melding your tiles, you don't clue everyone as to what you're doing, and you stand a chance to get a Concealed Hand.
- Be Flexible. As you build your hand, be ready to abandon your earlier thinking about how to build it as you see what kind of tiles others are discarding. If you are playing Western Mah-Jongg with restrictions on winning hands, don't be too quick to form your only Chow; there will be other chances.
- Don't Let Someone Else Win. As much as you want to go out yourself, sometimes it's wiser to keep anybody else from winning. Especially, you don't want to "feed" a high-scoring hand. If a player has melded three sets of all one suit, that's especially dangerous (you might feed a Pure or Clean hand, and have to pay a high price); thus the player announces the danger when making a third meld in one suit.
- Watch the discards and watch the number of tiles in the Wall (at the lower right corner of the screen). As it approaches zero (fourteen in the Chinese game), the tension increases - and it's more important to be careful what you discard when there are fewer tiles remaining to be drawn. If the number of tiles in the Wall is getting low, don't discard any tiles which you do not see in the discard area.
- You can vary the challenge by how you allocate the difficulty setting of your A.I. opponents. When playing offline against A.I. opponents, A.I.#3 will always be the player to your left (the player whose discards can be used for Chows), A.I.#2 will always be the player across from you, and A.I.#1 will always be the player to your right. You might try setting A.I.#3 to Easy (so that player will be somewhat friendly in discarding tiles that you might be able to use), A.I.#2 to Hard, and A.I.#1 to Medium difficulty. You can experiment with other combinations too.

I am new to the game of Mah-Jongg. Is there a tutorial for learning how to play?
There are many ways that players new to the game of Mah-Jongg can learn how to play.

- The manual: it provides step-by-step information on starting a game, options, and strategies.
- This Help file: it contains updated step-by-step instructions and information.
- The Status/Hint Box: once you are in the game, the Status box under the Action bar will display useful information on what actions have taken place in the game and what you need to do. If you click on the box, you will get more helpful hints and information on what you need to do.
- The Action Bar: the buttons will light up when you can take an action, so keep your eye on it.
- Suggest A Move: you can either select this in the Help menu or by typing Ctrl-M. The computer will suggest an action for you (it may not ultimately help you win, but it will certainly keep you going╔).
- Context-sensitive information: right-clicking (Macintosh users: Ctrl-clicking) on the tiles (anywhere on the table) will tell you the name of the tile and offer some courses of action.
- "The sink-or-swim" method: just start a game and click on anything. You'll find out how the game moves by watching other players' actions, watching the Action bar and what buttons light up, and by reading the messages in the Status/Hint box.

- First, look to see if it's your turn, by looking at your name at the bottom of the screen on the left. (If your name is highlighted in yellow, it's your turn). If it's not your turn, wait for your turn.
- If it's your turn, then you need to draw and discard a tile. Drawing happens automatically if the player to your left discards a tile that you cannot claim. Look at the Action bar to see which buttons are lit up (the Discard button should be lit and you should have 14 tiles, one of which is highlighted). To discard, click on a tile to select it, and then click on the Discard button or click on the tile again. After discarding a tile, you have three seconds to change your mind. Click on the discarded tile while it's flashing to take it back.

- Click on the Status/Hint box for additional instructions or more information.
- First, look at your hand and see what tiles you have in each suit, and which tiles you cannot use to make a Chow, Pong, or Kong (see the explanation of suits, terms, and examples in the manual). Discard a tile that is least useful (that seems to be "by itself") and that you have the least chances of doing something with. For example, if you have a 3 Dot in your hand, and there are three 3 Dot tiles already discarded or in someone's exposed melds, then you will have less chances of making a Pong with your 3 Dot (unless you have Jokers) and you will not have a chance of making a Pair with it. Discard it.
- If still not sure, click on Suggest a Move in the Help menu. The computer will suggest a tile that you can discard, based on what it "thinks" is a reasonable strategy.
- When playing against A.I. opponents, you can change your mind after discarding. There is a three-second delay during which you can click on the tile and take it back. To bypass the three-second delay, press Pass.

If you're playing offline (only against A.I. players), that means you can use the tile that has just been discarded. Check what other buttons are lit in the Action bar, and see what action is available. If you don't want to claim that tile, then just click Pass to let the computer know that you're not interested in claiming that tile (see the manual for more information on Claiming Discards) and to let the other players take their turns.

If you're playing online (against other human players), then you need to press the Pass button every time a player discards a tile, to signal that you are not thinking about claiming that tile and to keep the play going. If you don't do that quickly enough, other players will hit the Urge button to tell you to hurry. If you take too long, the computer will take over for you.

- First of all, see if it's your turn (the player whose name is highlighted).
- If it's not your turn, check to see if these buttons on your Action bar are lit: Pong/Triple, Kong/Quad, or Win. If any of them are lit, then check your hand to see where you can use that tile (see this Help file for explanations of terms and rules), then click on the button to claim the tile.
- If it's your turn (if your name is highlighted in yellow), then check to see if these buttons on your Action bar are lit: Chow/Sequence, Pong/Triple, Kong/Quad, and Win. If any of them are lit, then check your hand to see where you can use that tile and click on that button to claim the tile.
- If it's not your turn and none of the above-mentioned buttons are lit, then you cannot claim that discarded tile (see this Help file for more information, or check the manual).

It is a good idea to read the manual or these Rules & Strategies prior to starting to play, to see what constitutes a winning hand, and what options apply. If you have already done this, follow the steps below:

- Check if the Win button is lit up on the Action bar. (But be careful: If you're playing the Chinese Rules and you have selected the False Declaration Penalty option, the Win button will always be lit, regardless.)
- If the Win button is lit and False Declaration Penalty option is OFF, then click on Win and "your" voice will declare a win, and the score box will appear.
- If the Win button is not lit and you think you have a Special Hand, then check the Special Hands section to see if your Special Hand is recognized by the game. If it's not on the list, then the game does not support that hand.
- If the Win button is not lit, then check the tiles in your hand to see if the hand scores the required minimum. If below the required minimum, then you can't win (see the manual or Rules & Strategy for more information).

- Read the manual or Rules & Strategy for a description of the basic game, and the various options offered by each rule. The Chinese game is easier to learn; this game is the basic game from which most other ways of playing evolved. The Western game is a little more complicated. If you want to play using actual tiles on an actual table, against three other people, then you should probably select the game that most closely resembles the rules used by those people.
- If you still don't know what to choose, just click OK in the Mah-Jongg Game Set-up box and a game will start, according to the default settings. By playing that game a little and by trying different options, you will learn about the differences in rules. The default setting is the Chinese game.
- If you start playing a game offline and you change your mind about the settings you picked, go to the Games menu, select Mah-Jongg, and the Mah-Jongg Game Set-up dialog box will appear. You can select new options and start a new game.