Mahjong Tiles: Names, Suits and Meanings

The first time you open a mahjong set it can look like a box of beautiful puzzles: circles, sticks, Chinese characters, flowers and a bird. The good news is that there are only a handful of tile types, and every style of mahjong uses the same building blocks. This guide walks through every tile, explains what the pictures mean and shows how the number of tiles changes between Hong Kong, Japanese and American mahjong. By the end you will be able to name every tile on the table.

How many tiles are in a mahjong set?

A full Chinese-style set has 144 tiles. They break down like this:

• 108 suit tiles: three suits numbered one to nine, with four copies of each tile.
• 16 wind tiles: east, south, west and north, four of each.
• 12 dragon tiles: red, green and white, four of each.
• 8 bonus tiles: four flowers and four seasons, one of each.

Different styles use different parts of the set. Hong Kong mahjong usually plays with all 144 tiles. Japanese riichi mahjong removes the flowers and plays with 136, often with a few red fives. American mahjong uses 152 tiles: the 136 suit and honor tiles, eight flowers and eight jokers. Mahjong solitaire, the single-player matching game, normally lays out all 144 tiles.

The three suits

The suits are the heart of the game. Because each suit runs from one to nine, you can build runs (three in a row, such as 3-4-5 of one suit) as well as sets of identical tiles. Every style of mahjong is built from these 108 tiles.

Dots (circles)

Dots show one to nine circles. English players also call them circles or coins, because the design is said to come from old Chinese coins with a square hole in the middle. They are the easiest suit for beginners: just count the circles. American players often call this suit dots, and it is paired with the white dragon.

Bamboo (bams)

Bamboo tiles show green and red sticks, which are often said to be strings of coins. The two of bamboo has two sticks, the three has three, and so on up to nine. The odd one out is the one of bamboo, which is almost always drawn as a bird, usually a sparrow or a peacock. Beginners often think it is a special tile; it is simply the one of the suit. In American mahjong this suit is called bams and is paired with the green dragon.

Characters (cracks)

Character tiles show a Chinese numeral on top and the character 萬 (wan, ten thousand) underneath. The numerals are worth learning, because they are the hardest tiles to read at first:

The trick: one, two and three are simply one, two and three lines. Four is a box, eight looks like a roof, and ten thousand sits underneath every one of them. American players call this suit cracks or craks, and it is paired with the red dragon.

Honor tiles: winds and dragons

Winds and dragons are called honor tiles. They have no numbers, so they can never be part of a run. They can only form pairs and sets of identical tiles, which makes them harder to use but often worth more points.

The four winds

The winds show the Chinese characters for the four directions: 東 east, 南 south, 西 west and 北 north. Most sets also print the letters E, S, W and N in a corner. In Chinese and Japanese mahjong the winds matter for scoring: each player has a seat wind, and the game has a round wind, so a set of your own wind or the round wind is worth extra.

The three dragons

• Red dragon: the character 中 (zhong), meaning centre. It is the red tile in most sets.
• Green dragon: the character 發 (fa), meaning prosperity or getting rich.
• White dragon: usually a blank tile, sometimes with a blue frame. Some sets print a P or a stylised border.

In Hong Kong mahjong any set of dragons earns one faan (a scoring unit). In American mahjong the dragons are tied to the suits (red with cracks, green with bams, white with dots), and the white dragon, nicknamed the soap, also counts as a zero in hands built around the year, such as 2026.

Bonus tiles: flowers and seasons

A Chinese set includes eight bonus tiles, each with a small number from one to four:

• Flowers: plum blossom, orchid, chrysanthemum and bamboo.
• Seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.

In Hong Kong mahjong you do not keep these tiles in your hand. When you draw one, you place it face up beside you and draw a replacement. Having the flower or season that matches your seat earns a bonus. In American mahjong the eight flowers are ordinary tiles that appear in many winning hands; they are interchangeable, so any flower counts as a flower.

Jokers in American mahjong

American sets add eight jokers. A joker can stand in for any tile in a group of three or more identical tiles: a pung (three), kong (four) or quint (five). Jokers can never be used in a pair or as a single tile, and nobody can claim a discarded joker. That single rule shapes most American strategy, so it is worth reading our full guide on jokers once you know the tiles.

Tile names in different countries

You will hear several names for the same tile depending on who taught you:

The tiles themselves are identical, so once you know one set of names you can sit down at any table and follow along.

Tips for recognising tiles quickly

1. Use the corners. Most modern sets print a small number or letter in the corner. Every tile on Mahjong Station does the same, so you can learn by matching numbers first and pictures later.
2. Learn the three shapes of the numerals. One, two and three are lines; the rest come with practice.
3. Remember the bird. The bird is always the one of bamboo.
4. Group your hand by suit. Keep dots together, bamboo together and characters together, honors on one side. It makes runs and pairs jump out at you.
5. Play a matching game. Tile-matching puzzles are a relaxed way to learn the pictures without any rules to remember.

Practise recognising tiles

The quickest way to learn the tiles is to use them. Our free Pet Mahjong boards are a Mahjong Connect game: you match identical tiles, and after a few rounds every tile will look familiar. When you are ready for the real four-player game, the Mahjong Coach sits you at a table with three computer opponents and shows, tile by tile, which discard keeps your hand moving and why.