2025 Card Overview

The 2025 NMJL Card is divided into nine sections and displays 71 distinct hands. While the card shows 71 hands visually, the number of actual winning hand possibilities is far greater.

Excluding the use of Jokers, the 2025 card represents 1,002 different winning hand combinations. When Joker substitutions are included, the number of possible winning hands increases significantly.

This page provides a 2025-specific overview of how the card is structured, what rules apply, and how to interpret selected hands on the card.

Understanding the Number of Hands

Although the card visually lists 71 hands, many hands allow for:

Multiple suit combinations
Alternate number groupings
Different arrangements of identical tiles

This is why the true number of winning hands is much higher than what is printed.

The NMJL card uses visual grouping to represent patterns efficiently, rather than listing every possible variation.

Rules That Apply Every Year

Certain rules apply to the NMJL card every year, including 2025.

Jokers and Singles

A Joker cannot be used to represent a Single tile.

This includes visually grouped singles such as:

2025
NEWS
2468
369
123

Even when single tiles are shown grouped together for visual appeal, they are still singles and must always be natural tiles.

Jokers and Pairs

A Joker cannot be used in a Pair.

This includes visual groupings such as:

112345
336699

Pairs must always be made using natural tiles.

Suitless Tiles

Flowers are suitless.
Winds are suitless.
White Dragons (Soap) are suitless when used as a zero.

Suitless tiles do not count toward the number of suits used in a hand.

Card Colors

The three colors printed on the NMJL card — blue, green, and red — indicate how many suits are used, not which specific suits must be used.

The card does not dictate whether a grouping must be Bams, Craks, or Dots unless explicitly stated.

2025 Section: Selected Hand Examples

The 2025 section highlights patterns using the digits of the year and includes a mix of singles, flowers, dragons, and pungs.

Below are examples that illustrate how these hands are interpreted.

2025 — Line 1

FFFF 2025 222 222

(Any 3 Suits, Like Pungs 2s or 5s in Opposite Suits)

FFFF — four Flowers (suitless)
2025 — four Single tiles shown together for visual appeal
- Jokers are never allowed to represent these singles
222 222 — two like pungs

Because the pungs are “like,” players have two options:

FFFF 2025 222 222
FFFF 2025 555 555

2025 — Line 2

222 0000 222 5555

(Any 2 Suits)

0000 — a Kong of White Dragons (Soap)
When White Dragons are used as zeroes, they are suitless
The remaining groupings determine the suit count

2025 — Line 3

2025 222 555 DDDD

(Any 3 Suits)

2025 — four Single tiles (no Jokers allowed)
DDDD — a Kong of Dragons
The Dragon grouping must belong to a suit not already used in the other groupings

Remember the suit–dragon relationships:

Bams → Green Dragon
Craks → Red Dragon
Dots → White Dragon

2025 — Line 4

FF 222 000 222 555

(Any 3 Suits)

FF — a Pair of Flowers
- Flowers are suitless
- Jokers are never allowed in a Pair
000 — a Pung of White Dragons (Soap)
- When used as zeroes, White Dragons are suitless

Why These Details Matter

The NMJL card relies on visual grouping and shared rules to represent many hands efficiently. Understanding how to interpret singles, suitless tiles, colors, and dragon relationships is essential to reading the card correctly.

This is especially important in year-based sections like 2025, where numbers, flowers, and dragons appear together.