American Mahjong Multiplayer Online: Set Up a Private Table Before Your Group Needs One
When someone in your regular American Mah Jongg group can't get to the table in person, Friends at Mahjong lets the rest of the group move the game online — a private table and an invite link let you play American Mah Jongg remotely, on a table that keeps the look you've set up for it.
American Mahjong Multiplayer Online
If your group is still available but someone can't be there in person, Friends at Mahjong's private tables let you play somewhere other than someone's dining room — and the mat, tiles and rack you've chosen come with you, so it still feels like your table.
Getting everyone to the table
One person opens a private table and sends the rest of the group a link. Each friend you invite needs a free account to join — signing in takes a code sent to their email, with no password to set up. Once they're signed in, they can use one of their free games to sit down at your table.
Who needs what
Membership determines what each person at the table can do, and it's worth being precise about it so nobody buys more than they need:
- A Social membership lets someone join a private table they've been invited to, and chat with the group while they play.
- A Premium membership is what's needed to open and host a private table in the first place — it adds the ability to invite the group, and gives Premium members voice chat alongside text chat.
In practice, that means only the person hosting needs Premium. Everyone else can join on an account plus a free game while free games last. Once an invited friend's free games run out, they'll need a membership of their own to keep joining — an account by itself isn't enough at that point. Current pricing for both tiers is on the membership page.
Moving a disrupted game online
Friends at Mahjong offers American Mah Jongg, with the option to use your own card. There's nothing to install: the host opens a browser table, sends the link, and the group plays remotely.
Set this up before you need it
The account and sign-in step takes each friend a couple of minutes, but it's one less thing to sort out on a night the group is already waiting to start. It's worth having the host open a table and send the invite link once as a trial run, and asking each friend to create their free account ahead of time — so that the next time someone can't make it in person, the rest of the group can move online without anyone scrambling to set up an account on the spot.
Open a private table at friendsatmahjong.com and see whether it fits the way your group plays. Friends at Mahjong is an independent teaching and gaming resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the National Mah Jongg League.