When Can You Call a Tile in American Mahjong?

You can call (claim) the tile a player just discarded if it completes a group of three or more — a pung, kong, or quint — that fits the hand you're building. When you call, you must immediately expose that group face-up on your rack.

The rules of calling

• You can only call the most recent discard, and only before the next player racks their drawn tile
• You must expose the completed group — calling reveals part of your hand
• You can't call for a pair or a single — only groups of three or more
• The one exception: you can call any discard to complete your hand and declare Mahjong, even for a pair
• You can't call if your hand is meant to be concealed (a C hand on the card) — except the one tile that completes it for Mahjong

Calling jumps the turn order

When you call out of turn, play resumes to your right — players between the discarder and you lose their turn. So a call can be powerful, but it also commits you: an exposed group can't be taken back, and it locks you toward a specific hand.