Tile guide
Mahjong tiles explained: suits, honours and flowers.
A full set has 144 tiles in 42 different faces, and most of them come in fours. Once you know the three suits and the handful of honour tiles, everything else follows.
Below you will find each tile group, how many copies exist, and the names players use at the table in English, Cantonese and Japanese. Spellings of Cantonese and Japanese words vary between sets and books, so treat them as the usual sounds rather than a single official spelling.
The count
What is in a set
| Group | Faces | Copies of each | Tiles | Used in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suit tiles (Characters, Dots, Bamboo) | 27 (1 to 9 in 3 suits) | 4 | 108 | All three styles |
| Winds (East, South, West, North) | 4 | 4 | 16 | All three styles |
| Dragons (Red, Green, White) | 3 | 4 | 12 | All three styles |
| Flowers (4) and seasons (4) | 8 | 1 | 8 | Hong Kong and Chinese Official only |
| Total | 42 | 144 (136 without flowers) |
Suits
The three suits, 1 to 9
Every suit has the numbers 1 to 9, and there are four copies of each number. The 1 and 9 are called terminals. The 2 to 8 are simples. Chows (runs of three) can only be made inside one suit.
Characters
Wan in Cantonese, manzu in Japanese. Each tile shows a Chinese number over the character for ten thousand.
1 Char2 Char3 Char4 Char5 Char6 Char7 Char8 Char9 Char
Dots
Tung or circles in Cantonese, pinzu in Japanese. The number of circles on the tile is its value.
1 Dot2 Dot3 Dot4 Dot5 Dot6 Dot7 Dot8 Dot9 Dot
Bamboo
Sok in Cantonese, souzu in Japanese. The number of sticks is the value, and the 1 is usually a bird.
1 Bamboo2 Bamboo3 Bamboo4 Bamboo5 Bamboo6 Bamboo7 Bamboo8 Bamboo9 Bamboo
Counting in Cantonese and Japanese
| Number | Cantonese | Japanese |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | yat | ichi |
| 2 | yi | ni |
| 3 | saam | san |
| 4 | sei | shi or yon |
| 5 | ng | go |
| 6 | luk | roku |
| 7 | chat | shichi or nana |
| 8 | baat | hachi |
| 9 | gau | kyuu |
Honours
Winds and dragons
Honour tiles have no numbers, so they cannot make chows. They are only useful as pungs, kongs or pairs. There are four copies of each.
| Tile | Characters | Cantonese | Japanese | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | 東 | dung | ton | Dealer's seat wind; the first prevailing wind |
| South | 南 | naam | nan | Second seat wind |
| West | 西 | sai | shaa | Third seat wind |
| North | 北 | bak | pei | Fourth seat wind |
| Red Dragon | 中 | hung zung | chun | Printed in red |
| Green Dragon | 發 | faat | hatsu | Printed in green |
| White Dragon | 白 | baak baan | haku | Blank or a plain frame |
Wind tiles do double duty. Each player has a seat wind based on where they sit, and each round has a prevailing wind. A pung of your own seat wind or of the prevailing wind scores in every style, and the dragons score as well.
Players often call the 1s, 9s, winds and dragons together the "outside" or "orphan" tiles. There are 13 distinct ones, and collecting one of each plus a pair is the Thirteen Orphans hand.
Bonus tiles
Flowers and seasons
Hong Kong and Chinese Official sets include eight bonus tiles. When you draw one, you show it, set it aside, and take a replacement tile from the end of the wall. They are never part of the 14-tile hand. In Hong Kong they can earn faan, and in Chinese Official each is worth one fan once the hand already reaches the minimum.
| Number | Flower | Season | Matches seat |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plum | Spring | East |
| 2 | Orchid | Summer | South |
| 3 | Chrysanthemum | Autumn | West |
| 4 | Bamboo | Winter | North |
In Hong Kong rules, a flower or season whose number matches your seat (East is 1, South is 2, West is 3, North is 4) usually earns a faan. Riichi players take all eight out of the box before they start.
Riichi extras
Red fives and spare tiles
- Many Riichi sets include three red fives (one 5 Characters, one 5 Dots, one 5 Bamboo) that replace a regular five. Each red five is a dora, worth one extra han. See the Riichi dora section.
- Sets sold for Chinese and Hong Kong play often have a few spare blank tiles. Leave them out of the game.
Ready to use the tiles? The next step is how a hand is played, or head to scoring for Hong Kong, Riichi or Chinese Official.
Quick answers
Common questions
- How many tiles are in a mahjong set?
- 144 in a standard set: three suits of 36 (108 tiles), 16 wind tiles, 12 dragon tiles and 8 flower and season tiles. Riichi leaves out the 8 flowers and seasons and plays with 136.
- What are the three suits called?
- Characters (also called Wan or Man), Dots (Circles, Tong or Pin) and Bamboo (Bams, Sok or Sou). Each runs from 1 to 9 and has four copies of every number.
- What are terminals and simples?
- Terminals are the 1s and 9s of the three suits. Simples are the 2 through 8. Terminals and honours together are sometimes called the outside tiles, and many scoring patterns are built around keeping to simples or to outside tiles.
- Do the flower tiles matter?
- In Hong Kong and Chinese Official mahjong, flower and season tiles are bonus tiles that score points but are never part of a set. Riichi does not use them at all.
- Why are some tiles blank?
- The White Dragon is often a plain tile, or one with only a thin frame printed on it. It is one of the 144 and counts as a normal dragon. Some sets also ship with a few extra blank tiles as spares, and those stay out of the game.
Keep going
More mahjong guides
- Mahjong styles compared
Hong Kong, Riichi and Chinese Official side by side.
- How to play mahjong
A beginner's walk through one hand: the wall, drawing, discarding, claiming and calling a win.
- Hong Kong scoring and faan
The faan list, minimums, a payout table and a calculator for working out what each hand pays.
- Riichi scoring calculator and yaku list
Han, fu, dora, limit hands and a points calculator for any hand.
- Chinese Official (MCR) scoring
The 8-fan minimum, all 81 fan, and how a hand is paid.
- Mahjong solitaire
The one-player tile-matching game: free tiles, pairs and layouts.