Meet the 144 mahjong tiles
Three suits to build sets from, honour tiles that score extra, and bonus tiles you set aside. Every playing tile comes four times.
Tap a tile to turn it over and see its Chinese name, or drag across it to spin it.
- 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 萬
The red 萬 marks the suit. The Chinese numeral above it is the number.
- 1 一
- 2 二
- 3 三
- 4 四
- 5 五
- 6 六
- 7 七
- 8 八
- 9 九
Dots 筒
Count the circles. The 1 is a single large coin.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
Bamboo 索
Count the sticks. The 1 is drawn as a bird instead of a stick.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
Winds 風
Every player has a seat wind, and every round has a round wind. A pong of either one scores 1 Fan.
- East
- South
- 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 pong 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.
- Plum
East - Orchid
South - Chrysanthemum
West - Bamboo
North - Spring
East - Summer
South - Autumn
West - Winter
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 pongs, kongs and pairs, never runs.
Name the tile
The Characters and the winds are the tiles beginners mix up most, because their faces are Chinese writing. Name each one as it turns up.
Characters
Winds