Meet the 144 tiles

Three suits to build sets from, honour tiles that score extra, and bonus tiles you set aside. Every playing tile comes four times.

Suit tiles
108
Suit tiles
3 suits, 1 to 9, four of each
Winds
16
Winds
4 winds, four of each
Dragons
12
Dragons
3 dragons, four of each
Flowers & seasons
8
Flowers & seasons
One of each

Characters

The red 萬 marks the suit. The Chinese numeral above it is the number.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9

Dots

Count the circles. The 1 is a single large coin.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9

Bamboo

Count the sticks. The 1 is drawn as a bird instead of a stick.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9

Winds

Every player has a seat wind, and every round has a round wind. A pung of either one scores 1 Fan.

  • East
  • South
  • 西West
  • North

Dragons 三元

Red 中, green 發 and white 白. The white dragon is the blank tile with a blue frame. Any dragon pung scores 1 Fan.

  • Red
  • Green
  • White

Flowers and seasons

Bonus tiles are never part of your hand. Lay each one face up beside you and draw a replacement from the end of the wall. The number in the corner matches a seat: 1 East, 2 South, 3 West, 4 North. Holding your own number scores 1 Fan.

  • 1Plum
    East
  • 2Orchid
    South
  • 3Chrysanthemum
    West
  • 4Bamboo
    North
  • 1Spring
    East
  • 2Summer
    South
  • 3Autumn
    West
  • 4Winter
    North

Words for kinds of tile

These names come up again and again in the scoring hands.

Simples

Suit tiles numbered 2 to 8. They sit in the middle of runs.

Terminals

The 1s and 9s of each suit. Several limit hands are built from them.

Honours

Winds and dragons. They only make pungs, kongs and pairs, never runs.