The Tiles
144 tiles. Yes, really. Before you panic: it's three suits running 1 to 9, seven honour tiles, and eight bonus ones. That's the whole set — you just met all five things you'll ever need to know about it.
The three suits
Each suit runs 1 to 9, four copies of each number. 36 tiles per suit, 108 in total. Here's every tile in each suit, in order — this is what's actually on the table:
These are the actual Mahjong Tile characters (Unicode), so they'll look slightly different from your physical set's artwork — but the count of pips and the pattern are exactly right. Real tiles are painted, carved or printed; the shapes above are the standard reference.
| Suit | Also called | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Circles | Dots, Wheels | Count the circles. The easiest suit — start here. |
| Bamboo | Sticks, Bams | Count the sticks. But the 1 Bamboo is drawn as a bird on almost every set. |
| Characters | Craks, Wan | The Chinese numeral on top, with the same symbol 萬 below on all 36. |
The honour tiles
No numbers. They can never form a chow — only pairs, pungs or kongs.
| Group | Tiles | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Winds | East, South, West, North — four of each | 16 |
| Dragons | Red, Green, White — four of each | 12 |
Flowers and Seasons
Eight bonus tiles. If you draw one, place it face-up in front of you and draw a replacement from the wall. That's the whole rule.