Mahjong tiles are tiles of Chinese origin that are used to play many games, most notably Mahjong and Mahjong Solitaire. Although they are most commonly tiles, they may also refer to playing cards with similar contents as well.

Mahjong tiles

Construction

Mahjong tiles have been constructed from various materials throughout the years. Traditionally, Mahjong tiles were constructed from ivory or bone, often backed with bamboo. Bone, and to a lesser extent, ivory tiles are still available but most modern sets are constructed from various plastics such as bakelite, celluloid, and more recently nylon. Regardless of the material used to construct the tiles, the symbols on them are almost always engraved or pressed into the material. It is said that some expert players can determine the face value of their tiles without actually looking at them by feeling these engravings with their fingers.

Contents

A set of Mahjong tiles will usually differ from place to place. It usually has at least 136 tiles, most commonly 144, although sets originating from America or Japan will have more.

Mahjong tiles can be organized into several categories:

Suited Tiles

The majority of Mahjong tiles are of a rank and a suit. There are three money-based suits of tiles (銅索萬), with ranks ranging from one to nine. There are four tiles of each rank and suit combination, thus there are 36 tiles in a suit, and 108 suited tiles in total. To refer to a suited tile, the rank is named, followed by the suit.

銅子 - the circle suit, named as each tile consists of a number of circles. Each circle is said to represent copper (tong) coins with a square hole in the middle.

The circle suit (筒子, pinyin tong zi (barrel); also 饼, pinyin bing (flatbread); Japanese 筒子 romaji pinzu) is represented by a series of circles. The 1 Circle is generally a large circle of multiple colors, while the rest of the circle tiles consist of smaller circles, each circle being of one color. The 2 Circle consists of a green and a blue circle, the 3 consisting of one blue, one green, and one red circle arranged diagonally (the order the circles appear in, as well as the orientation, differs between sets). The 4 Circle has two blue circles and two green circles, arranged in a rectangle with circles of like color in opposite corners. The 5 Circle is similar to the 4 Circle, with another circle (its color depending on the set) in the middle. The 6 Circle consists of two green circles at the top and four red circles in the bottom (with a space between the green and red circles). The 7 Circle is similar to the 6 Circle, but has 3 green circles arranged diagonally from top-left to bottom-right. The 8 Circle has eight blue circles arranged in a 2x4 rectangle. The 9 Circle has three each of blue, red, and green circles, with each color occupying a row. There is some space between each row, and the middle row is always of the red circles (the blue and green, of course, depends on the orientation of the tile).

Because of the large size of the circle in the 1 Circle, it is commonly nicknamed da bing (大餅 pinyin da bing lit. big pancake). The 8 Circle is known in some Japanese circles as tofu or daisharin.

索子 - the bamboo suit, named as each tile (except the 1 Bamboo) consists of a number of bamboo sticks. Each stick is said to represent a string (suo) that holds a hundred coins.

The bamboo suit (索子, pinyin suo zi (woven thread); also 条, pinyin tiao (strip); Japanese romaji sozu), with the exception of the 1 Bamboo, which is represented by a bird, is represented by outlines of sticks. The 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 Bamboo are represented entirely out of green sticks, while the middle stick in the 5 Bamboo, the top stick of the seven bamboo, and the sticks along the center column of the 9 Bamboo are red. Some sets may also have the sticks along the bottom row or center column of the 7 Bamboo in blue. The 8 Bamboo has its sticks forming an M-shape and its mirror image.

The 1 Bamboo, as it is often shaped as a bird, is often referred as the sparrow (麻雀 - ma qiao).

萬子 - the character suit, named as each tile represents ten thousand (wan) coins, or one hundred strings of one hundred coins.

The character suit (萬字/万字, pinyin wan zi, Japanese romaji manzu) is represented by Chinese characters. Although some sets use simplified Chinese characters, many use traditional Chinese characters as they are more complex and considered more aesthetically pleasing. The rank of the tile is represented at the top, in blue, with Chinese numerals, while the character below (萬 wan - meaning myriad) is in red. Some sets may also have a black Arabic numeral in a top corner, for the benefit of players who are not familiar with Chinese numerals.

么九 - the terminal tiles are the ones and nines of each suit.

The ones and nines of each suit (么九, pinyin yao jiu) are collectively referred to as the terminal tiles.

Honor Tiles

Honor Tiles are tiles that do not have a rank or suit. They are divided into two categories, Wind tiles (風牌/风牌, pinyin feng pai, Japanese romaji kazepai) and Dragon tiles (三元牌, pinyin san yuan pai, Japanese romaji sangenpai). There are four types of Wind tiles and three types of Dragon tiles, with four of each type of honor tile. Thus, there are 16 Wind tiles and 12 Dragon tiles for 28 honor tiles.

風牌 - the wind tiles: East, South, West, and North

Each type of Wind tile corresponds to a point along the compass, written in blue traditional Chinese characters (even for sets where the Chracter tiles are written in simplified Chinese).

三元牌 - the dragon tiles: red, green, and white. The term dragon tile is a western convention introduced by Joseph Park Babcock in his 1920 book introducing Mahjong to America.

The three types of Dragon tiles are:

• Red (紅中/红中, pinyin hong zhong, Japanese 中 romaji chun) - a tile with a red traditional Chinese character (中). Some sets may also have a black letter C in a corner of the tile, denoting the first letter of the Wade-Giles romanization of 中 (chung).
• Green (青發/青发, pinyin qing fa, Japanese 発 romaji hatsu) - a tile with a green traditional Chinese character (發), even for sets where the Character tiles are written in simplified Chinese. Because of its meaning (發財/发财, pinyin fa cai loosely means "to strike it rich"), a giant Green Dragon tile serves as a good luck charm in many Chinese households. Some sets may also have a black letter F in a corner of the tile, denoting the first letter of the Wade-Giles romanization of 發 (fa), despite the fact that many believe that the F is taken from a form of Cantonese romanization (fat).
• White (白板, pinyin bai ban, Japanese 白 romaji haku) - a tile which can be without any markings, although most modern sets employ tiles with a blue border to distinguish them from replacement tiles. Some sets may also have a black letter P in the center of the tile, denoting the first letter of the Wade-Giles romanization of 白 (pai).

Flower Tiles

花牌 - flower tiles are typically optional components to a set of mahjong tiles, often contain artwork on their tiles.

Some sets may also use Flower Tiles (花牌 pinyin hua pai, Japanese hanapai), which are further subdivided into groups. Each group contains four unique tiles, which are numbered from 1 to 4 or otherwise distinctly labeled. The contents of these tiles is generally an artistic work in many colors, which vary from set to set. The average set, if it contains flower tiles, will have two groups of flower tiles, differentiating in the color and/or style of the labels. Common Chinese sets will have one set of flowers in blue Arabic numerals while the other set of flowers in red Chinese numerals, numbered one to four.

In mahjong solitaire, the two groups are often called Flower Tiles (not to be confused with the blanket term for all groups of flower tiles) and Season Tiles (季牌 jì pai, Japanese 季節牌 kisetsupai).

The four tiles in the Flower Tile group are:

• plum 梅
• orchid 蘭
• chrysanthemum 菊
• bamboo 竹

The four tiles in the Season Tile group are:

• Spring 春
• Summer 夏
• Autumn 秋
• Winter 冬

Singapore sets will provide for three groups of flowers: the Red and Black sets, and the Animal set. Other sets may provide more groups of flower tiles.

Joker Tiles

Unique to American sets are eight Joker tiles, tiles that simply say "Joker" in a diagonal pattern on them.

Games Using Mahjong Tiles

Although Mahjong is what the tiles are designed for, Mahjong tiles are also used in a variety of tile-matching games, such as Mahjong Solitaire or Sichuan Solitaire. A Blackjack-type game called Ten and a Half is also played with Mahjong tiles.