Lesson 1 of 5Next: How to read the card
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Learn seven kinds of tile and you can name every one of the 152 in an American mahjong set: three suits, winds, dragons, flowers and jokers.
| Kind | What | Tiles |
|---|---|---|
| Dots | 1 to 9, four of each | 36 |
| Bams | 1 to 9, four of each | 36 |
| Craks | 1 to 9, four of each | 36 |
| Winds | North, East, West, South, four of each | 16 |
| Dragons | Red, Green, White (Soap), four of each | 12 |
| Flowers | eight | 8 |
| Jokers | eight | 8 |
| Total | 152 |
The three suits: Dots, Bams and Craks
Each suit runs from 1 to 9, and there are four copies of every tile. That's 36 tiles per suit and 108 in all.
Dots (also called circles) show that many round dots.
Bams (bamboos) show that many sticks of bamboo. On most American sets the 1 Bam is drawn as a bird instead, so don't go looking for a single stick.
Craks (characters) show a number with a Chinese character underneath. On most American sets, every suit tile also carries a small Western number in a corner.
Winds and dragons
The winds are North, East, West and South, four of each. Most sets mark them with a big letter as well as the Chinese character.
The dragons come in three colors, four of each: Red, Green and White. The White dragon is called Soap.
Each dragon belongs with a suit on the card: Red goes with Craks, Green with Bams, and Soap with Dots. And Soap does a second job: on the card, it counts as zero. That's how a year like 2026 can be spelled with tiles. Used as a zero, it doesn't belong to any suit.
How many flowers and jokers? Eight of each
There are eight flowers. Their drawings vary from set to set (seasons, plants, people), but in the American game every flower is the same as every other one. A pair of flowers is any two flowers.
There are eight jokers, the wild tiles of the American game. Where they can and can't go is the first rule to learn: the joker rules.
My set has more than 152 tiles
Many sets sold today come with 160 tiles or more: a couple of spare jokers and some blank tiles. The blanks and spare jokers are replacements for lost tiles; a few tables also use them in house rules. For a game played to the National Mah Jongg League rules, take out the blanks and keep eight jokers, and you're back to 152.
American and Chinese tiles: the difference
A Chinese mahjong set has no jokers and usually 144 tiles, without the Western numbers in the corners. You can't play the American game with it unless you add jokers. If you're buying a set for American mahjong, look for "American" in the name and check that it includes eight jokers.
The short version
152 tiles: 108 Dots, Bams and Craks, 16 winds, 12 dragons, 8 flowers, 8 jokers. Next, learn how these tiles turn into hands: how to read the mahjong card.
