Mahjong Blanks: Playing with the controversial tiles

Most American mahjong sets include blank tiles. These tiles were designed to be extras if a tile were ever lost.

In Nashville, a Dallas teacher had started teaching all her students with blanks. As a native Chicago gal myself, this was blasphemy. No self respecting mahjong player that follows the NMJL would ever play with blanks!

As the guest at the mahjong table, I had to follow house rules. Yep… that meant I had to play with blanks.

Dallas table rules can include mahjong blanks

OMG the mahjong blanks mess up my walls

My first time playing with these controversial tiles was painful. First, the walls aren’t even. Adding blanks means that instead of having 38 tiles on each wall, we had uneven numbers. I have played with anywhere from two to four blanks during the game. Having uneven walls drove me bananas. The beautiful uniformity of this game was part of the reason I started playing in the first place!

Mahjong blanks can be played out of turn

The second thing I had to do was realize that blank exchanges are not formal exchanges like jokers. Blanks are sneaky. You can exchange a blank when it isn’t your turn. Say what? Yes, you can exchange your blank for a dead tile at any time. In fact, part of the excitement of the blanks is that nobody remembers what tile was there before the blank. And did Peggy just exchange a joker while we were watching Nicole make an exposure?

The perfectionist in me started to get hives. But again, not my table, not my rules.

I have to admit... it was easier and fun

Did I just laugh?

Okay, so uniformity and etiquette are both out the window with mahjong blanks. The perfectionist in me started to get hives. But again, not my table, not my rules.

To my surprise, I noticed I was laughing a lot with these blanks. Maybe the other players could see the stress in my face, and they were having fun at my expense. I realized that skill and defense had lost power to sneaky moves and luck. And to be honest… I didn’t hate it.

I had been taught that a blank was a zombie tile. You could bring any “dead” tile back with one lucky blank swap. In the South? Oh, these blank tiles “resurrect tiles just like Jesus.” It’s Easter every day at some of these Nashville mahjong tables, y’all.

Blanks do make the game easier

When I play mahjong with friends, I want the game to be fun and I want to laugh. Who wants a wall game in a friendly game? Nobody. We aren’t trying to build the pot or play tough defense. When you play with blanks there is more luck than strategy and it is easier to win and games are shorter. I’ll play with the bots or at the library for a more serious game.

The playing field is even when playing with mahjong blanks. A new player? She has more chances to win. A chatty player? She doesn’t really have to pay attention and play defense. A tipsy tournament player? Suddenly she has lost her edge and she didn’t even see which tile you resurrected!

Do I recommend playing with mahjong blanks?

Mahjong blanks are as controversial as the 2025 NMJL misprinted card. Love them or hate them, they are around to stay.

Keep an open mind. You just may find yourself playing at a table playing with mahjong blanks… and who knows if you will be resurrecting that flower!