Not at all. The very heart of the Scramble is flexibility. You propose matches that work for your schedule — daytime, evenings, or weekends. You never have to accept a match that doesn’t work for you.

Absolutely not. You choose where and when you play. You never have to accept a match that requires more driving than you’re comfortable with — and you can always propose matches in locations convenient to you.

Not at all. You can just accept matches. The player who proposes the match brings the tiles. You can also borrow a set from a friend or rent one if you’d like to propose a match.

At the moment, the Scramble is in-person play only, so we’re not able to allow virtual or remote matches just yet (though that’s something we may explore in the future).

There is no required minimum number of matches to participate in the Scramble — you’re welcome to play as much or as little as your schedule allows. However, if you’d like to be eligible for the Highest Average Leaderboard, you must complete at least 5 matches during the season. An average truly reflects performance over multiple games, so a minimum of 5 Scramble match scores is required to qualify for that leaderboard.

Not at all. Many of us don’t keep score in casual play either. We provide clear scoring guidelines you can reference after each game, and everyone at the table can help. In past seasons, many players learned scoring for the first time and did just fine.

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Don’t worry. Playing without blanks simply requires a slightly different strategy, but it’s very doable and quite common.

When creating a match during the Spring Scramble, the proposer will see a drop-down menu allowing them to select either the NMJL 2025 or NMJL 2026 card. All four players in that match will play using whichever card is selected. Beginning May 1st, the drop-down option will be removed, and all matches will automatically be played using the 2026 NMJL card.

This is simply to help guide matchmaking so players connect with others at a similar comfort level. Each player will have a small “B” (Beginner) or “A” (Advanced) next to their name in the portal. If someone feels “in between,” that’s completely normal — we recommend choosing the level that feels most comfortable, or leaning Beginner for a more relaxed pace. Profiles can be updated during the season. 

We typically open the Scramble portal a few days before the season officially begins. This allows players to propose and schedule matches in advance, so games are ready to be played on the very first day of the Scramble season. However, no matches may be played before the official season start date. Any matches played early will not count toward the season.

There’s no required lead time. You can propose a match days in advance or even same-day — whatever works best for you.

Yes! Many players do. Just be sure to log each round separately so scores are recorded correctly:

1. Propose and play the first round

2. Enter/upload scores

3. Propose and play the second round

All matches must include four registered Scramble players. Matches cannot be played with three players, and non-registered players cannot substitute. 

A match is never automatically canceled by the system. A match is only considered officially “on” once four players have accepted, at which point the system sends a confirmation email to all four players.​ If a proposed match still has fewer than four players, it simply remains unconfirmed. If no confirmation email goes out, the match is not officially scheduled.​ There’s no hard cutoff for registration or acceptance — it’s really just about getting that fourth player to finalize the match​.

No. Scores only count when you are playing with three other registered Scramble players in a properly scheduled match.

All scores are submitted directly in the Scramble portal. The Rules PDF includes step-by-step instructions with photos to walk you through the process.

For the Spring Scramble, we’ll be introducing point deductions to add an extra layer of strategy and accountability to gameplay.​ If a player discards a tile that allows another player to declare Mahjong, the discarding player will receive a point deduction. The amount of the penalty will be determined by the number of exposures in the winning hand.​ The winning player will still receive the full point value of their hand, including any additional bonus points awarded.​ We’ll be sharing more detailed guidelines and examples soon so everyone feels confident heading into the season.