Play Western Mahjong Game with Coach (BMJA Rules)

Play British and Western parlour mahjong (BMJA rules) against the computer, with a built-in coach. Built for u3a groups and UK clubs. 14-day refund.

Finally, a digital mahjong game that plays your version

If you play Western parlour mahjong, the family of the game played by u3a groups, BMJA-leaning clubs, and other Western circles, you've probably noticed something. Every mahjong app on every store plays a different game. American NMJL. Japanese Riichi. Chinese variants. Solitaire-style tile-matchers that aren't really mahjong at all. None of them plays your version.

This one does. Sit down against three AI opponents, play a hand the way your group plays it, score it the way your group scores it. 43 named special hands, proper fishing announcements, tier-based bonuses, the East-keeps-deal and goulash refinements for full games. The catalogue and the scoring follow the Western tradition as your group plays it.

And if you want help, there's a Coach

Open the Coach any time. It reads your hand and tells you, plainly, what you're closest to: Seven Twins, Imperial Jade, Nine Gates, Wriggly Snake, dozens more. How many tiles away each path is. What to discard and why. The shapes you could pivot to if the wall isn't kind.

At the end of the hand, you get a recap. "You committed to Characters by turn 22 but didn't reach fishing in time." "Margot fished from turn 14 and held it together." Most mahjong software shows you scores. This one tells you what happened.

You don't have to use the Coach. Plenty of players won't. It's there when you want it.

Built for our group, shared with yours

Built for the North Oxford Mahjong Group as a learning tool between meetups. We use it ourselves when we want a hand without rounding up four people.

What's in v2.0

43 named special hands. All of them: Three Great Scholars, Four Great Blessings, Imperial Jade, Nine Gates, Buried Treasure, Purity, Heavenly Twins, Wriggly Snake, Dragonfly, the chow-family hands (Crazy Chows, Robin, Chow Chow, Three Philosophers, Knitting, Triple Knitting), and the rest.

A Coach that thinks in paths, not single moves. Ranks every hand your tiles could become, shows you example shapes, says which are close and which are long shots.

A Hand Reference panel at the foot of the table showing your closest reachable special hand, always visible.

Fishing announcements with proper tier-based bonuses paid at draw, the way your group plays.

Single-hand mode (10-15 minutes once you know the game) or a full T&M game (4 rounds, 16+ hands, rotating winds, East keeps the deal, the goulash refinement, the lot).

A View Discards panel that does the tile-counting your brain refuses to.

Drag to reorder, sort by suit or number, rename any player.

A single hosted web page. Loads in any modern browser on phone, tablet, or computer. No installer, no account. Add it to your home screen for quick access.

Is this really your version?

Probably yes if you've been taught by a u3a group, a BMJA-leaning UK club, or a similar Western parlour circle. There isn't one canonical Western rule set: every group plays slightly differently, and the in-app rules panel says so honestly. The catalogue here covers the common ground (bonus tiles, pungs and kongs, doubles for own wind, fishing announcements, a catalogue of named special hands) and names the variations.

If you play American NMJL or Japanese Riichi, this is the wrong app for you. The hand catalogue won't match the card you know. Other apps cover those rule sets well; this one doesn't try to.

There are good AI-coached tools for Riichi, Sichuan, Hong Kong, and American mahjong. As far as we can tell, this is the first one for the Western parlour tradition.

What it isn't

Not online multiplayer. Not a tournament-rules implementation. Not a save-and-resume game yet, so a full T&M needs 2 to 4 hours in one sitting (single hands are fine for a cup of tea). A teaching tool first and a game second. We are upfront about all of this so you can decide before you click buy.

Compatibility

Plays on desktop and mobile. Tested on Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge on desktop, and on iPhone Safari and Android Chrome.

Refunds available within 14 days of purchase, no questions asked.

About this release

Western Mahjong with Coach, v2.0. Built for and tested by the North Oxford Mahjong Group.

We intend to donate a portion of any sales income from this app to UK charities supporting mental health and tackling loneliness in older adults.

Yours to play and share with friends and fellow players. Please don't redistribute commercially.

Sold by North Oxford Mahjong (sole trader), based in Oxford, United Kingdom. Questions or support: northoxfordmahjong@icloud.com.