Mahjong is a game played with tiles. The tiles used in American Mahjong / Mah Jongg differ from those used for Chinese Mahjong. For more about the differences between Chinese Mahjong and American Mah Jongg, check out this post!
In American Mahjong, there are typically 152 tiles. Our sets include 8 blank tiles for a total of 160 tiles. The National Mah Jongg League does not consider blanks part of Mah Jongg, but we love the flexibility playing with blanks gives; you'll learn more about using blanks below.
THE SUITS
There are three suits in Mahjong: Bam, Dot, and Crak.
- Bam is short for Bamboo and is typically depicted as sections of bamboo. The 1 Bam is always accompanied by a bird and is called Bird Bam. In some fun house rules, when the Bird Bam is discarded, all players will clink glasses, cheers, and drink a toast to the Bird Bam--this is the fun way we got our name!
- Dot is typically represented as dots or discs.
- Crak or Crack is short for "character;" on older-style sets of tiles this is represented by the Chinese character for 10,000.
Within each suit, are numbers 1-9 and a corresponding dragon.
- The Green Dragon goes with the Bam suit.
- The Red Dragon goes with the Crak suit.
- The White Dragon goes with the Dot suit. The White Dragon looks different than the other Dragons--it is shaped like a rectangle--and is often called the Soap because of its shape. The Soap can also be used as a zero in some hands on the NMJL Card.
There are 4 of each of these tiles in a set.
WINDS
There are four directions of wind, North, East, West, and South. The Winds are often represented as NEWS on the NMJL Card. Winds do not have a suit and will always be shown in navy blue on the NMJL Card.
There are four tiles of each wind direction in the tile set.
FLOWERS
There are 8 Flower tiles in a set. The Flowers do not have a suit and aree shown as F's on your NMJL Card.
JOKERS
Jokers can be used as any tile in a group of three or more tiles. Jokers may NOT be used in a single or a pair in Mahjong.
If a player uses a Joker in an exposed section of their hand, that Joker can be exchanged for the tile it represents by any player, including the one who exposed it. To exchange a Joker, start your turn by drawing and racking a tile, then ask the player with the exposed Joker to swap for the correct tile, rack your new Joker then finish your turn by discarding. If you have the exposed Joker and draw the correct tile, swap it out and rerack your Joker.
One rule that we are often asked about: Can I call for a Live discarded tile to swap for a Joker? The answer is technically no from the National Mah Jongg League, however, many groups do allow this as part of their "House Rules."
BLANKS
Blanks are not technically considered part of American Mah Jongg, according to the National Mah Jongg League, however, we love the flexibility of playing with blanks, so our house rules include Blanks.
A Blank tile can be swapped for any Dead discarded tile. A Dead tile is one that has been discarded on an earlier turn. Perhaps it is a tile that you knew you needed but didn't have enough of that section of your hand needed to call and expose it--you can use a blank to recover that Dead tile later. Or what if you've realized you cannot mahj with the hand you were playing and need to pivot? You can use a Blank tile to recover a Dead tile you need for your new hand.
One thing to keep in mind, a Dead Joker cannot be recovered with a Blank tile, however, you can use a Blank to recover a Dead tile that can be swapped for a player's exposed Joker.