What is American Mah Jongg?

American Mah Jongg, is a variant of the Chinese tile game mahjong, and is an exciting game of skill, strategy and luck. The American version of the game includes the use of a card listing the valid Mah Jongg hands, racks to hold players' tiles, and jokers.
The game is preceded by The Charleston, a set of passes allowing players the opportunity to swap tiles. The game is played with four people (though variations exist for 2 and 3-person play), with the object of the game to be the first player to match their 14 tiles to a hand on the published card (eg, the National Mah Jongg League's Standard Hands and Rules card, published annually in March). During the game, tiles are picked and discarded as the player works their way toward a particular hand on the card. The game has similarities to the card game gin rummy.