Introduction
There are 3 types of tiles in Japanese style Mahjong. It is important to know what each tile represents especially if you are playing real mahjong since you want to quickly arrange your tiles. That being said, most of the time, the number or letter that represents the tile is written on the top left or right of the tile, so even if you don’t remember it, you can still play without problems!
Suits
Similar to playing cards, mahjong tiles have suits. There are 3 suits in mahjong: Characters(Manzu), Bamboos(Souzu), and Circles(Pinzu). Each of them has the numbers 1–9.
Winds(Honors)
These tiles are not assigned any number, but four directions. In mahjong, the positions where players are sitting determine their directions, and if they collect three identical wind tiles that match their direction, they get an extra point(yaku). Winds are also known as Honors tiles.
Dragons(Honors)
Similar to Winds, Dragons tiles are not assigned numbers, but names of dragons. Whenever the player collects three identical dragon tiles, they get an extra point(yaku). Dragons are also known as Honors tiles.
That’s it! You just learned every single tile in Japanese mahjong! It may seem like a lot, but remember, you don’t have to remember everything. If you want to play online mahjong, I suggest you go check out “Mahjong Soul. It is completely free to play and you’ll be able to play mahjong with your friends, or someone you don’t know! There is an easy tutorial for you to understand the basic idea of mahjong so I highly recommend playing this game if you are a beginner.
Lastly, if you want to make friends by playing mahjong, please join our discord server!
Thank you for reading!
Written by Zenon N
