How it works
- In Mahjong House, open Online Play → Play with Friends → Create a Room. You're the host.
- Choose the house rules, the length of the match, the pace and which club regulars take any empty seats. You can change them in the lobby until you press Start.
- Tap Invite to share the link (it looks like https://play.mahjonghouse.app/r/MJ7K2Q) on WhatsApp, iMessage, LINE or anywhere else, or read out the 6-character room code. Friends sitting with you can scan the QR code on your screen.
- Friends tap the link. With the app installed it opens the room in the app; without it, the link opens the game in their browser and drops them into your room.
- When everyone's seated, press Start. When the match ends, Play Again keeps the same table together.
Joining by code works too: Play with Friends → Join a Room, then type the code your friend sent.
Your table, your house rules
Every table plays a little differently. The host sets the room's rules (the same house-rule options as solo practice), and everyone in the room sees them before the game starts and on the results.
| Setting | Choices |
|---|---|
| Minimum and maximum faan | Win from 0, 1 or 3 faan; cap at 10 or 13 faan |
| Who pays for a discard win | Discarder pays all (全銃), half responsibility (半銃), or the discarder pays double alone |
| Payout table | Half-spicy (半辣上) or spicy (辣辣上) |
| Flowers | Faan for no flowers and for a full set, and whether flowers break a concealed hand |
| Winners | One winner per discard, or several (一炮多響) |
| All chows (平糊) | Needs a two-sided wait, or any wait |
| Length | 4, 8 or 16 hands, or Four Rounds (a full game, East to North) |
| Pace | Normal (7 s to discard, 5 s to claim), Relaxed (20 s / 10 s) or Long (45 s / 20 s) |
| Empty seats | Up to three club regulars of your choice, at Relaxed, Standard or Sharp |
Not sure what 全銃 or 半辣上 means? The scoring guide shows how each payout works, and the rules guide lists the common house rules.
Friends without the app join from a browser
The invite link opens play.mahjonghouse.app, the browser version of Mahjong House, straight into your room. There's no download, no account and nothing to buy: a friend can be at the table within seconds.
- On a computer: Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari (Chrome or Edge 119, Firefox 120, Safari 18.2 or newer).
- On a phone: the link page offers to join in the browser first, with the App Store and Google Play beside it for anyone who'd rather have the app. Turn the phone sideways to play.
- With the app: the same link opens the room in Mahjong House on iPhone, iPad or Android.
Browser, iPhone, iPad and Android players all sit at the same table.
Short of a fourth?
Any seat a friend doesn't take is played by one of the club's twelve regulars, each with a style of their own: Auntie Mei pongs everything, Albert Chan folds at the first sign of danger. Pick up to three and the level they play at, or keep a seat for a bot on purpose.
If someone steps away mid-match, the game doesn't stall: when a player keeps running out of time, a stand-in plays their turns until they're back. If the host leaves, the next player becomes the host.
On the big screen
Mahjong House is on Google TV and Android TV too: the whole game plays with the TV remote or a game controller, with tiles sized for the sofa, and that includes Play with Friends. Type the room code on the TV and take your seat at the same table as friends on their phones and in their browsers.
Good for
- Family games across time zones: grandparents in Hong Kong, cousins in California, one table.
- Lunar New Year and holidays, when the usual four can't all be in one room.
- Teaching someone new: choose the Long pace and let the club regulars fill in while they learn. Send them How to play first.
- Your regular game night, with your own table's rules instead of somebody else's.
