When Does the New NMJL Card Come Out?

The National Mah Jongg League issues a new card every year. The set on your sideboard can last a decade. The card cannot. If your table is still playing last year’s lines in April, you are playing a house variant, not the current American game.

What changes

The families move. Like numbers that were hot last year go quiet. A Flower column appears or disappears. Values shift. That is the point of the League card: the same four people can sit down in September and learn a slightly new puzzle.

What to buy with the card

• One current card per player if you can. Sharing one card slows the Charleston.
• A large-print card if anyone at the table is done squinting at green bams.
• Do not throw the old card away on day one. Keep it a week as a reference while people complain, then file it.

Order the new card when the League releases it — typically in time for the spring season — and put the date on your club chat. The set stays. The recipe book updates.

• How to read this year’s card →
• What American Mahjong is →