How to Play Mah Jongg With Friends Online When You Can't Meet in Person
When your American Mah Jongg group can't get around a table this week, you can still play together: open a private table on Friends at Mahjong and invite friends to it with a link. No one needs to download anything — friends join through their browser, with an account and either a membership or a free game left.
Play Mahjong With Friends: How the Private Table Works
Friends at Mahjong supports private online tables for remote play with friends. You open a table, send the invite link to the people you'd normally play with in person, and they join from their own browser. It supports existing players who want to play remotely with friends.
What a private table includes
Once you're at a private table together, you can communicate through chat, and voice communication is available depending on membership level.
Who Needs What to Play Together
This part matters, because it's easy to assume a private table works the same for everyone at it — it doesn't:
- Joining a private table someone else has opened needs an account, and then either a Social membership or a free game left — an invitation plus a free game is enough to sit down for one session. Remember each player only has a few free games total, not one per session — once those are used, joining needs Social.
- Hosting your own private table — and inviting friends to it — needs a Premium membership.
In practice, that means only the person hosting needs the membership that lets them open a table; everyone else can join with an account and either a membership or a free game remaining. One member can open a table for the whole group. Pricing and what's included at each level can change, so check the current breakdown on the membership page before anyone commits to a plan.
Before anyone commits to a membership, new players (or anyone just trying the idea out) can try a free game to see how the table feels — free-game information is also on the membership page.
Getting Your Group Set Up
- One person opens a private table (this requires the Premium membership, which is specifically for hosting).
- That person sends the invite link to the rest of the group.
- Everyone else joins from the link — with an account and either a membership or a free game left.
- Play the hand, with chat (and voice, depending on membership).
Membership tiers and what each includes can change — see the membership page for the current breakdown rather than treating the names above as fixed.
When your group can't meet in person but is available to play remotely, a private table offers a way to play together.
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.