The best place to play mahjong online

We spend our days cataloguing mahjong engines. When people ask us where to actually sit down and play, our answer is the same every time: Mahjong Live.

It's free, it runs in the browser, and it covers more of the world's mahjong than any other site we use. Here's why it's our pick, and who it suits best.

One site, many tables

Most online mahjong sites pick one rule set and stop. Riichi players have Tenhou and Mahjong Soul; most other styles have very little. Mahjong Live puts several of the major styles under one roof, each with its own rules page:

• Taiwanese: the 16-tile game, played as a match with a rotating dealer.
• Japanese Riichi: yaku, riichi and a full East–South match.
• Hong Kong Parlour: the classic Cantonese style.
• Indian mahjong: the style played across India, with a beginner version.
• Passport 965: the card-based Passport family.
• American (NMJL): listed as coming soon.

If you play with people who grew up on different rules, that matters. You can switch styles without switching sites, accounts or friends lists.

Three ways to find a game

Mahjong Live splits play into three modes, and each one does its job:

• Play with friends. Open a private table and send the link. No lobby, no strangers.
• Challenge strangers. Sit down at a new table with a new opponent whenever you want a game.
• Challenge the AI. Practise against bots at your own pace, at any hour, with no one waiting on your discard.

It teaches you, then tests you

This is where Mahjong Live pulls ahead of sites built only for experienced players.

• Learn has a beginner's guide, a tile guide and practice drills, such as when to claim a discard.
• Live lessons let you book a teacher online. Every teacher is rated and has won at least 30 hands in each style they teach.
• Analyze replays a finished Indian mahjong game turn by turn, showing every hand, discard and claim from all four seats.
• Tournaments run scheduled brackets and a Daily Arena ladder when you want to see how you stack up.

Most players learn mahjong from family and never see a hand played well from all four seats. A replay that shows the whole table fixes that faster than anything else we know.

Free tools, no account needed

Even if you play in person, the tools page is worth a bookmark. It has score calculators for Riichi, Taiwanese and Goulash. No sign-up needed.

Who should play somewhere else

If you only play Japanese Riichi and want to chase rank against the strongest human and bot players, Tenhou's ranked rooms remain the benchmark. Most of the engines on our index measure themselves there. For everyone else, and especially for anyone who plays more than one style or is still learning, start with Mahjong Live.