--- title: "Mahjong Tiles Explained: Names & Set Checker | Mahjong Lore" description: "Every mahjong tile with its English, Chinese and Japanese names, how many tiles each set needs (136, 144 or 152), and a checker for your own set." url: https://mahjonglore.me/mahjong-tile-guide/ --- Tiles and sets # Mahjong tiles explained, and is your set complete? A mahjong set has **136 tiles at its core**: three suits of 36 (four each of 1 to 9 in characters, circles and bamboo), 16 winds and 12 dragons. Add the four flowers and four seasons and it is **144**, the set used in Hong Kong and Chinese Official play; American sets add eight jokers for **152**. Count your tiles below to see which games your set can play. ## Every tile, with its names Names in English, then the Chinese written on or used for the tile with its Mandarin reading (toneless pinyin), then the Japanese name used in riichi. The pictures are this site's own drawings; your set's artwork will differ, especially on the 1 bamboo, the white dragon and the flowers. ### Characters Chinese wan (萬子), Japanese manzu. A Chinese numeral on top, 萬 (ten thousand) in red below. - **1 characters** 一萬 · wan Japanese: manzu - **2 characters** 二萬 · wan Japanese: manzu - **3 characters** 三萬 · wan Japanese: manzu - **4 characters** 四萬 · wan Japanese: manzu - **5 characters** 五萬 · wan Japanese: manzu - **6 characters** 六萬 · wan Japanese: manzu - **7 characters** 七萬 · wan Japanese: manzu - **8 characters** 八萬 · wan Japanese: manzu - **9 characters** 九萬 · wan Japanese: manzu ### Circles (dots) Chinese tong (筒子), Japanese pinzu. Count the circles: the 1 is one large medallion. - **1 circles** 一筒 · tong Japanese: pinzu - **2 circles** 二筒 · tong Japanese: pinzu - **3 circles** 三筒 · tong Japanese: pinzu - **4 circles** 四筒 · tong Japanese: pinzu - **5 circles** 五筒 · tong Japanese: pinzu - **6 circles** 六筒 · tong Japanese: pinzu - **7 circles** 七筒 · tong Japanese: pinzu - **8 circles** 八筒 · tong Japanese: pinzu - **9 circles** 九筒 · tong Japanese: pinzu ### Bamboo Chinese suo (索子) or tiao (條), Japanese souzu. Count the sticks; the 1 usually shows a bird instead. - **1 bamboo (the bird)** 一索 · suo Japanese: souzu - **2 bamboo** 二索 · suo Japanese: souzu - **3 bamboo** 三索 · suo Japanese: souzu - **4 bamboo** 四索 · suo Japanese: souzu - **5 bamboo** 五索 · suo Japanese: souzu - **6 bamboo** 六索 · suo Japanese: souzu - **7 bamboo** 七索 · suo Japanese: souzu - **8 bamboo** 八索 · suo Japanese: souzu - **9 bamboo** 九索 · suo Japanese: souzu ### Winds Four of each. Seats go East, South, West, North counter-clockwise round the table. - **East wind** 東 · dong Japanese: ton - **South wind** 南 · nan Japanese: nan - **West wind** 西 · xi Japanese: shaa - **North wind** 北 · bei Japanese: pei ### Dragons Four of each. The white dragon is blank in some sets and framed in blue in others. - **Red dragon** 紅中 · hong zhong Japanese: chun - **Green dragon** 發財 · fa cai Japanese: hatsu - **White dragon** 白板 · bai ban Japanese: haku ### Flowers One of each, numbered 1-4 for East, South, West and North. Not used in riichi. - **Plum (1)** 梅 · mei Not used in riichi - **Orchid (2)** 蘭 · lan Not used in riichi - **Chrysanthemum (3)** 菊 · ju Not used in riichi - **Bamboo flower (4)** 竹 · zhu Not used in riichi ### Seasons One of each, numbered 1-4 like the flowers. Not used in riichi. - **Spring (1)** 春 · chun Not used in riichi - **Summer (2)** 夏 · xia Not used in riichi - **Autumn (3)** 秋 · qiu Not used in riichi - **Winter (4)** 冬 · dong Not used in riichi ### Extras Jokers belong to American sets; red fives to Japanese sets. Designs vary by maker. - **Joker** American sets: 8 per set - **Red 5 characters** Counts as a dora where red fives are used - **Red 5 circles** Counts as a dora where red fives are used - **Red 5 bamboo** Counts as a dora where red fives are used ## How many tiles are in a mahjong set? Every variant starts from the same 34 kinds of tile, four of each: 136 tiles. That is all Japanese riichi uses (EMA Riichi Rules 2025, 1.3). Most sets sold for Chinese and Hong Kong play add eight one-off tiles, the four flowers and four seasons, making 144: the Chinese Official rules (MCR) use all 144, and the Hong Kong Mahjong Association plays with either 136 or 144 depending on whether flowers are used. American mahjong, played from the National Mah Jongg League card, adds eight jokers to make 152. | Variant | Tiles | Made of | | --- | --- | --- | | Japanese riichi (EMA, WRC) | 136 | 108 suit tiles, 16 winds, 12 dragons. Red fives, if used, replace one normal five per suit. | | Hong Kong (HKMA) | 136 or 144 | The 136, plus 4 flowers and 4 seasons when the table plays with flowers. | | Chinese Official (MCR) | 144 | The 136 plus 8 flowers and seasons, each worth a point. | | American (NMJL card) | 152 | The 144 plus 8 jokers; you also need racks and the current year's card. | ## Reading the tiles **Circles** and **bamboo** are easy: count the circles or sticks. The 1 bamboo is the odd one, usually a bird rather than one stick, and the EMA rulebook notes that its design varies from set to set. **Characters** show a Chinese numeral above the character 萬 (ten thousand), so it helps to learn the numerals once: 一 1, 二 2, 三 3, 四 4, 五 5, 六 6, 七 7, 八 8, 九 9. The 1s and 9s of each suit are called *terminals*; 2 to 8 are *simples*. The **winds** are East 東, South 南, West 西 and North 北. At the table the seats run East, South, West, North counter-clockwise, which is not the order of a compass (EMA 2.1). The **dragons** are red 中, green 發 and white. The white dragon is blank in many sets and framed in blue or black in others; if yours are blank, keep spare blank tiles out of the game so the white dragons stay at four. Winds and dragons together are the *honours*. **Flowers and seasons** are single tiles numbered 1 to 4, and the number matches a seat: 1 is East, 2 South, 3 West and 4 North in the Hong Kong rulebook. The bamboo flower is not the bamboo suit, a point the HKMA rulebook makes explicitly. Riichi leaves flowers, seasons and jokers in the box. **Jokers** belong to American sets. The National Mah Jongg League describes American play as using more tiles, notably the joker, and a card of standard hands that changes every year. That card is the League's copyrighted publication, so this site does not reproduce any of its hands; buy the current card from the League. Older and Asian sets often lack jokers, and blank spares can be stickered as jokers (the League sells joker decals in packs of eight). ## What else is in the box - **Dice.** Riichi needs at least two (EMA 1.4); the Hong Kong rulebook rolls three. - **Point sticks** for riichi: 100, 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 points; players start with 30,000 (EMA 1.4). - **A wind marker** showing the round wind, and in American sets four **racks**. - **Spare tiles**, often blank, kept for replacing a lost tile. **Buying a set online?** Heirloom-looking sets at surprising prices are often advertised on social media by shops you have never heard of. Before paying, look up when the shop's domain was registered with WebTraceCheck's free [DNS & domain lookup](https://webtracecheck.com/dns-lookup), and if you would rather not open an unfamiliar link on your own device, open it in [WebTraceCheck's disposable cloud browser](https://webtracecheck.com/), which is deleted after the session. A domain registered last month is one warning sign to weigh with the others, such as prices far below other shops, no returns address and payment only by bank transfer. It is not proof either way. ## Common mix-ups - **Counting the 1 bamboo as a flower.** The bird is part of the bamboo suit; flowers carry a plant and a number. - **Mixing two sets.** More than 36 tiles in a suit means tiles from another set have crept in. Check backs and sizes: odd tiles can be recognised face down. - **Treating red fives as extra tiles.** They replace normal fives, so a suit with red fives still has 36 tiles. Ready to play? Start with [how to play mahjong](https://mahjonglore.me/how-to-play-mahjong/). For a riichi game the [score calculator](https://mahjonglore.me/) does the counting, and for a Hong Kong game the [faan calculator](https://mahjonglore.me/hong-kong-mahjong-scoring/). If the same games night has a chess board out, [Chess Meadow](https://chessmeadow.me/) has tools for that too. ## Questions about mahjong tiles **How many tiles are in a mahjong set?** 136 at the core: 108 suit tiles, 16 winds and 12 dragons. Most Chinese and Hong Kong sets have 144 with the 4 flowers and 4 seasons, and American sets have 152 with 8 jokers. **How many tiles do you need for Japanese riichi mahjong?** 136: four of each of the 34 kinds. Flowers, seasons and jokers are not used. Many Japanese sets include red fives, which replace one normal five in each suit. **What are the flowers and seasons for?** They are bonus tiles. When drawn they are set aside and replaced, and they can score: one point each in the Chinese Official rules, and faan for your own seat's flower and other flower patterns in Hong Kong games that use them. **How many jokers are in an American mahjong set?** Eight, which with eight flowers is the standard for sets played with the National Mah Jongg League card, giving 152 tiles. **Can I play American mahjong with a Chinese set?** Only if you add jokers: stickers on eight spare tiles are the usual fix. You also need the current year's card from the National Mah Jongg League, and racks are strongly recommended. ## Sources 1. European Mahjong Association, [Riichi Rules for Japanese Mahjong, 2025 edition](https://mahjong.dk/hubfs/Mahjong%20documents/Riichi/Riichi_Rulebook_2025_v1.1.pdf) (August 2025), 1 The tiles (1.1-1.4) and 2.1 Seat wind. Copy hosted by Mahjong Danmark; [the EMA's original file, archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20251223001014/http://mahjong-europe.org/portal/images/docs/Riichi-rules-2025-EN.pdf). 2. World Mahjong Organization, [Mahjong Competition Rules](https://web.archive.org/web/20201111214136/http://mahjong-europe.org/portal/images/docs/mcr_EN.pdf) (English edition, © 2006, as published by the EMA), 3.5.1 The mahjong tiles. 3. Hong Kong Mahjong Association, [Hong Kong Mahjong (Classical Mahjong)](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a66AhGRZE6IJmA_nd-C7gIQfSJ7sXo_2-c4XgVnMpTQ/edit) (latest version 17 May 2023), Mahjong Tiles; and [香港麻雀總例](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TgdYpE_5Qiht_lBco3BqN_ijZJDRWugwzRzv946raq0/edit) (© 2025), 門風花 (flower numbers by seat) and dice. 4. National Mah Jongg League, [The Game](https://www.nationalmahjonggleague.org/game.aspx) (jokers, the annual card) and [store](https://www.nationalmahjonggleague.org/store.aspx) (joker decals in packs of 8). 5. Tom Sloper, Sloperama mah-jongg FAQ [7T, tile stickers](https://sloperama.com/mjfaq/mjfaq7t.html) (the NMJL's "8F/8J" standard of 8 flowers and 8 jokers) and [7S](https://sloperama.com/mjfaq/mjfaq7s.html) (152-tile American sets). The League's own website does not list a set's contents. 6. Wikipedia, [Mahjong tiles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahjong_tiles), for the Mandarin and Japanese readings of the winds and dragons, which the rulebooks above do not give. Checked on 5 November 2026.