American mahjong
What is a dead hand in American mahjong?
What makes a hand dead, what a dead hand can't do, and how to check a hand at a real table.
Last updated
The short answer
A dead hand sits out until the next deal, but still owes at the end. It can't call a discard, declare mahjong or swap for a joker.
What makes a hand dead
The wrong number of tiles.
A laid-down group that no hand on the card can hold, together with the player's other exposures.
An incorrect mahjong declaration can make a hand dead or incur payment penalties. What was exposed and what happened next determine the outcome. A verbal declaration retracted before exposing tiles can be corrected without penalty.
Practice this in JONGG
At a real table, enter a hand or its exposures to check it against the supported card edition.