Mahjong Tiles - All to Know

Mahjong is a game that many players in Zambia enjoy spinning online, and it's quite unique. What makes it so engaging? The simple answer is the Mahjong tiles themselves, which add a fascinating layer to the gameplay. The thrill of matching these tiles is what keeps many Zambian players coming back for more.

Many players might still be a bit fuzzy on the details of Mahjong tiles. That's where this ultimate guide comes in handy for our Zambian audience. We're here to clear up any confusion, covering everything there is to know about Mahjong tiles. Let's jump right in!

How Many Tiles in Mahjong?

The number of tiles used in Mahjong games can differ a bit depending on the specific rules or region. While some sets, often found in the US or parts of Asia, might include extra "flower" or "joker" tiles, most standard sets typically contain at least 136 tiles, commonly around 144 in total. You might also find some blank tiles included to swap out any that get damaged or go missing, ensuring your game sessions in Zambia stay uninterrupted.

Classifying Mahjong Tiles

Mahjong tiles can be broadly sorted into six main categories: Suited Tiles, Red Tiles, Honor Tiles, Flower Tiles, Animal Tiles, and Joker Tiles. Understanding these groups is key to mastering the game.

Suited Tiles

Often called "number tiles," suited tiles come with both a specific suit and a numerical rank, usually from one to nine. There are three main suits, all related to wealth or currency. Each rank within each suit has four identical tiles, resulting in 108 suited tiles in total (36 per suit). When referring to a suited tile, you'll usually mention its rank followed by its suit. Tiles numbered one and nine are sometimes called "terminal tiles." Suited tiles are fundamental for forming melds.

• Circles: This suit uses circular symbols, representing coins, historically known as "Cash."
• Bamboo: Most bamboo tiles depict outlines of bamboo sticks, with the exception of the "1 Bamboo," which is often illustrated as a bird, like a peacock or sparrow in some Asian variations.
• Characters: This suit is represented by Chinese characters.

Red Tiles

Red tiles are a distinctive feature primarily found in Japanese Mahjong sets. These appear as red versions of standard tiles and don't usually have four identical copies. Introduced later, Red 5 tiles for various suits became popular, followed by red 1s and 9s, though they're less common than the Red 5s. Red 3s and 7s also appear in some sets. Interestingly, a rare red-white dragon tile can sometimes act as a wild card if specific conditions are met.

• Players can choose to exclude these tiles.
• When a red tile is played, one of its regular, non-red counterparts is removed from the game.
• These tiles can contribute to a higher score if combined strategically.
• Because flower tiles aren't heavily used in typical Japanese Mahjong, sets often omit the "Four Gentlemen" flower tiles to make room for these red tiles.

Honor Tiles

Honor tiles, similar to suited tiles, are used to form melds. However, they don't have a rank or suit. They are typically divided into two main subgroups:

Winds

There are four Wind tiles, representing directions:

• East
• West
• North
• South

Dragons

There are three types of Dragon Tiles:

• Red: The traditional Chinese character for center or middle is written on a red tile. In sets intended for English speakers, the initial letter of the Wade-Giles may alternatively be represented by a black letter C in a tile corner. These tiles were absent from one of the earlier sets. Red Dragon, a classic Chinese character, may be seen on several tiles.
• Green: Even in sets where the Character tiles are printed in simplified Chinese, green is a tile with a traditional Chinese green character. Other sets, most notably American, substitute a green dragon for the character or an F in black in the tile's corner to indicate the initial letter of the translation. In the first sets, this tile wasn't present. The classic Chinese character Green Dragon may be seen on several tiles.
• White: Although most contemporary sets use tiles with a blue border like White Dragon to differentiate them from replacement tiles, white is a tile that can be without any marks, like White Dragon. A black letter B could also be included in the tile's center in English sets. These unmarked Japanese tiles are sometimes referred to as "tofu" in some Japanese mahjong groups.

Flower Tiles

In mahjong melds, Flower tiles are not utilized. These are put aside after being drawn, and the player then gets to draw again, but from a dead wall. These tiles frequently include stylized images of flowers in a variety of shades. Yet, there are also additional, non-floral motifs that differ from set to set.

Quarters

If a set has flower tiles, it often has two quartets of them, each with a different label's color and design. In ordinary Chinese sets, one quartet will have blue Arabic numbers, and the other group will have red Chinese numerals. Each quartet has four separate tiles that are each numbered from 1 to 4 or clearly labelled.

• Seats are assigned to numbers such as 1 = East, 2 = South, 3 = West, and 4 = North.
• If the number on the flowers equals the seat number, the winner's score is doubled.
• However, there are advantages to gathering a whole quartet, and in certain versions, gathering all the flowers results in a win right away.
• Several games do not include them or view them as optional, since they provide points for purely random events.

Animal Tiles

The player's seat is immediately matched by the animal tile, which is unnumbered flowers. These tiles are typically found in pairs and feature classic Chinese stories as their topics. If two tiles in a pair or all of the animals are gathered, payment is made right away. Thai and Malaysian sets for four players include four pairs of animal tiles, compared to two pairs in Singaporean sets.

Some of them are the following:

• Cat and Mouse
• Rooster and Centipede
• Caishen and Sycee
• Jiang Ziya and Fish
• Liu Haichan and Jin Chan
• Dragon and Flaming pearl

Joker Tiles

Subject to regional limitations, joker tiles can be used to substitute any suited or honor tile while assembling a hand. Certain variations of Southeast Asian and Chinese mahjong, particularly Shanghainese mahjong, occasionally include four jokers. Also, there are eight jokers in American Mahjong.

Common Unique Jokers:

• Circle joker
• Character joker
• Universal joker
• Red jokers
• Suit joker
• Dragon joker
• Wind joker
• Flower joker
• Honor joker

Rank Restricted Jokers:

• Terminal Joker: Replaces one or nine of any suit.
• 147 Joker: Replaces one, four, or seven of any suit.
• 258 Joker: Replaces two, five, or eight of any suit.
• 369 Joker: Replaces three, six, or nine of any suit.

Conclusion

Remembering everything can be a little confusing, but players can just start with the Mahjong Tiles meaning and then move forward. After reading, the players will be able to somewhat understand Mahjong Tiles as they will only be able to understand it fully when they are playing the actual game at top online casinos.

There are six different types of Mahjong Tiles, and all of them are interesting to know about. They have sub-categories, too, so it’s better to learn about them slowly.