A mahjong set looks intimidating the first time you open the box — a hundred-plus little tiles covered in symbols and characters. The good news: there are really only a few kinds of tile, and once you know them, the whole game gets a lot friendlier. Here's every tile, with pictures.
A standard set has three number suits running 1–9, a small group of honor tiles, and some bonus tiles. There are four copies of each ordinary tile.
Bamboo (sticks — the 1 is a bird)
Characters (the 萬 "ten-thousand" suit)
Honors — winds & dragons
East · South · West · NorthRed · Green · White dragon
Honors are special: they can't form runs, only pairs or triplets. The four winds matter because your seat wind and the round wind can score extra; the three dragons are prized in almost every style.
Bonus tiles: flowers, seasons, jokers and soap
Flowers and seasons are decorative bonus tiles. In Hong Kong they earn a little extra; in American mahjong any flower is interchangeable and used in many card hands. American adds two more you won't see elsewhere: eight wild Jokers, and the Soap — the white dragon, nicknamed for its soap-bar frame.
iHow many tiles total? A classic Chinese set is 144 (136 plus 8 flowers); Japanese Riichi typically plays with 136 (no flowers). American sets add jokers on top.
Where to go next
That's the whole alphabet of mahjong. Ready to put it together? Learn a full game in our beginner's guide, look up any word in the glossary, or just play a free hand and meet the tiles in action.
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