Question: What are the reasons a player’s hand could be declared dead?

Answer:  Following are reasons a player’s hand can be declared dead:

• A player makes an incorrect exposure
• A player exposes tiles and it is obvious that based on the exposures there is no viable hand on the card.
• A player exposes tiles and it is obvious that a single tile or pair is needed and based on what has been discarded or has been exposed, the hand cannot be completed.
• A player exposes tiles for a concealed hand.
• A player has too few tiles (example discarding before picking a wall tile) or too many tiles in or on their rack.
• A player picks out of turn.
• A player discards before they pick.
• A player picks up a misnamed tile causing an erroneous exposure.
• A player picks and racks from the wrong wall that has been pushed out.
• A player picks from the wrong end.
• A player does a Joker exchange before picking their tile from the wall or completing a call and expose.
• A player declares Mah Jongg in error
• A player discards before picking a tile from the wall.
• A player pushes out their wall before the previous wall is exhausted causing another player to pick from the wrong wall. Both the player who picks from the wrong wall and the player who pushed out the wrong wall have dead hands.

Source:  Mah Jongg Made Easy 2024 Edition, pages 19, 20 & 21.