Someone at the table must call you dead. You may not declare yourself dead. If you feel you are not dead, continue playing, and at the end of the game, the person declaring you dead in error will be penalized 50 points.

1. If your hand does not have the correct number of tiles (13) on the rack, you can be declared dead.

Exception: During the Charleston, if a player has the wrong number of tiles (Correct number of tiles 13 or 14 for East) and the East has not discarded his/her extra (14TH) tile to begin the game, all players throw in their hands, mix the tiles, form the concealed walls and the East begins the drawing of tiles from the concealed walls again. (New rule in 2020).

1. If a concealed hand is played open i.e., You called a tile from the discards on the table and put an exposure on the wall but you are playing a concealed hand and are not permitted to do that, the player is dead.
2. If an exposure is put up incorrectly (you put a joker in a pair, you put up the wrong size exposure and there is no way to switch to a hand that has that size exposure, if you picked a tile other than the last card discarded), the player is dead.
3. If you pick from the wrong wall or from the wrong end of a wall and do not realize your mistake until you discard and end your turn, you are dead.

Exception: If the tile picked from the wrong wall or the wrong end of a wall results in Mah Jongg, then Mah Jongg is honored. If 2 or more players pick from the wrong wall or wrong end of a wall and rack, all players’ hands go dead. (New rule for 2019) If a player picks and discards out of turn and another player needs that tile for Mahjong, the player who picked out of turn gets a “0” and pays the winning points to each of the other players at the table. (New rule in 2020).

1. If you have an unplayable hand (e.g., you need a pair, a single, or an unlike group to complete your hand but all the tiles needed have already been discarded on the table), the player is dead.
2. If you violate the pick-up or joker-in-a-group rule.
3. If a person mislabels a tile that someone else needs for Mah Jongg and that person picks the mislabeled tile thinking it is correctly labeled, the person mislabeling the tile receives a penalty of 4 times the value of the hand that would have been made for a correct Mah Jongg. Normally if you mislabel a tile that is not used for Mah Jongg, you must correctly label the tile so that someone else can call for the correctly labeled tile.
4. If everyone picks from the wrong wall or wrong side of wall, everyone is dead and game ends. If one player picks from the wrong side of the wall and that tile gives the player Mah Jongg, the Mah Jongg counts.
5. If you call a discarded tile and put it in your hand instead of on the wall and discard to end turn, you are dead.
6. If a player picks out of turn, the player’s hand is dead. If a player picks and discards out of turn and another player calls that tile for Mah Jongg, the player who has picked out of turn pays for the entire table. (2021)

A joker can be redeemed from an exposure if the exposure was on the wall before the hand was declared dead. If a player is declared dead as a result of putting down an exposure with jokers in it, the jokers in that dead exposure may not be redeemed. Exception: If a hand was declared dead because the exposures were found to be part of a concealed hand those exposures must be returned to the rack and no jokers are redeemable. (2026)

1. Next in turn to play gets the tile.

Exception 1: A player needing the tile for Mah Jongg gets it over the player needing the tile for just an exposure; however, if both players need it for Mah Jongg, then the player next in turn to play gets the tile.

Exception 2: If one player calls for the tile out of turn and starts to put the tile in an exposure on the wall and then the player next in turn wants to call for the tile, it is too late for the player next in line to get it unless that player needs it for Mah Jongg.

If a player calls for tile and exposes the tiles, and another player needs that tile for Mah Jongg, the player needing it for Mah Jongg gets the tile even if it has been placed on the wall. (New rule in 2022)

When you pick a tile from concealed tiles, immediately rack it or if you do not want it, immediately discard it. If it is not racked, someone may call the last discard, and you have to put the concealed pick back into the concealed wall. Once someone racks, the last discarded tile is dead. Once someone discards, the previous discard is dead. If you pick a tile from concealed tiles and move it away from the wall, even if you have not viewed the tile, you must continue to pick and view it. You may not put it back and call another tile instead.

If a player declares Mah Jongg in error but does not expose the Mah Jongg and all other hands are intact, play resumes with no penalty; however, if a player declares Mah Jongg in error and exposes the hand, that player is dead and if another player then throws in his/her hand, that player is also dead. The game can continue with the two remaining players whose hands are intact. If only one player is left after another player throws in a hand, the game cannot continue. Erring declarer pays double the value of the incorrect hand to the one player whose hand is intact. (New rule in 2022)

If all players have seen a tile from a concealed wall (e.g., a tile flips over) you must put that tile back in its original position and not an arbitrary position in the wall.

A Heavenly hand is declared when East has Mah Jongg before the Charleston begins. It is considered making the Mah Jongg yourself and player collects double from Each Player. The East may not stop the passing during the Charleston if East gets a Mah Jongg amid the Charleston passes. That Mah Jongg does not count. (New rule in 2020)

An Earthly hand is declared when East has Mah Jongg after the Charleston is complete but before the discard to start the game. It is considered self-picked and the player collects double from each player. (New rule in 2020)