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FAQ 7b. What is a Complete Set of Tiles?
So... you are the happy owner of a mah-jongg set, and you are wondering what it all is, and whether it's all there. The first thing you should do is take everything out of the mah-jongg case. Arrange the tiles by suit and number.
Count all the pieces. The easy way to count so many pieces is to organize everything in fours (it's recommended that your organizational method be similar to that used in the pictures at FAQ 7a). Then you don't have to count each piece -- you can count the groups of four (and multiply by four).
Use FAQ 7a to figure out what type of set you have.
Use Sandi's tutorial (below) on this FAQ (#7b) to make sure all the tiles are present.
Use FAQ 7c to determine what the tiles are made of.
Use FAQ 7d to figure out what all the bits & pieces are.
Use FAQ 7e to identify any weird tiles. If you have identified all the suit tiles (including the One Bam, which usually represents a bird), the winds and the dragons (and there don't seem to be any of those basic tiles missing), then your other mystery tiles are probably either flowers or jokers (or you may have both).
If you find that you're missing some tiles, see our
Tiles For Sale bulletin board and our
Tiles Wanted bulletin board (click the links in the nav frame at left). The Tiles Wanted bulletin board also has useful links in the instructions at top - sites where you can go for replacement tiles.
A "Chinese" or
"International" set must have a minimum of 144 tiles, matching in size
shape and
color front, side and back. A "National" or "American" set must have a
minimum of
152 tiles -- the usual 144,
PLUS either:
1) 8 jokers,
Of course these 8 extra tiles must match all the others, again in size shape and color,
front side and back.
2) 8 extra flowers that can be made into jokers, or
3) 8 extra matching
tiles of any kind, or blanks that can be made into jokers.
The basic set has:
Four each of each of the three suits:
Dots or Circles
[which look like dots] - [4] each of numbers 1 to 9;
Cracks [or
craks or characters or wans] [which have a little red character at the bottom of each
which is the same on all numbers [which refers to the number 10,000 - referring to 10,000
warriors] , and has blue marks at the top [which are the numbers of the tiles] - [4] each
of these, again 1 to 9.
Bams [or
bamboos] which look like little green bamboo sticks [except for the 1 Bam which is some
kind of a bird/peacock/eagle looking bird with the #1 on it,] all the rest have
bamboo sticks on them, - [4] each of these, again 1 to 9.
Four each of the Four Wind
Tiles
:
[4] Easts
[4] Wests
[4] Norths
[4] Souths
There are usually not pictures on these tiles, just the Chinese figure for E W N & S - and if the set has numbers and letter on it they will be marked N E W & S. [By the way, some Chinese sets have NO Western NUMBERS OR LETTERS ON THEM!]
Four each of the Three
Dragons:
[4] Red Dragons [which might be a red dragon picture or a cross/sword like drawing in red
[4] Green Dragons [which might be a Green dragon picture or a bunch of little criss-crossed little green lines in the center of the tile
[4] White dragons [which might look like a little bar of soap, essentially a blank tile with a rectangle of blue, some kind of border of blue [that looks like a frame] or the border might actually be made out of two or four blue long, linear dragons, kind of chasing each other, going after each others tails] OR it can be just 4 blank tiles.
Flowers: There should be a
total of at least 8 flowers.
In a really nice set, there are two sets of Flowers 1-4. In that kind of set, the
numbers of the flowers will usually be in two different colors. Like 1-4 in red, and
1-4 in blue - of course the colors could be green, gold, or anything. The flowers in
one set, that is having one color on the numbers are usually a sequence of Seasons,
seasonal flowers, people with different occupations, Chinese drawings, and are often quite
pretty.
In other sets, there are still 8 matching flowers, but the numbers may not be in two sets of 1-4 ... [National sets don't care about the numbers on the flowers, just that there are 8 that match the rest of the set in size shape and color, front back and side.
Chinese Sets
Often the Chinese sets have an
additional 4 blank tiles that match, and that are in addition to the 4 blanks that MIGHT
BE THE WHITE DRAGONS, for a total of 148 tiles.
The Chinese sets are often in square boxes, with drawers, and can be made of Ivory/bamboo
[but you better be able to guarantee it], bone/bamboo, just plain bamboo, even JADE
[I've never SEEN One but I have a friend who learned to play on a Jade Set!]
Sometimes they are in a wood box with a sliding top and no drawers. Chinese sets
often have little Ivory/Bone sticks with dots on them .. this is the money ... they may
also have dice, betting wheels, little boxes with dice, little Ivory/Bone round cases 1/2
to 1" with 4 little disks inside with the characters for the 4 winds.
People can also play "Chinese" mahjongg from Bakelite/catalin or plastic sets,
that are usually in suitcase type cases, with/ or with racks and moneys [coins usually];
National Sets
The National sets need all the
144 tiles that the Chinese sets have [with less emphasis on what type of flowers they are,
but still the necessity that they match the set] - PLUS either [8] Jokers, or [8] extra
flowers to be used as jokers or [8] extra blank tiles to be used as jokers .. so a MINIMUM
OF 152 matching tiles.
They may be made of plastic [the newer sets] and least valuable TODAY :), Bakelite/Catalin
which are a little older, usually NOT just Bamboo or Wood, but if these sets have enough
tiles to make the flowers and jokers, why not.
The best way is to turn over all the tiles, and see if they all match, size, shape and
color ... backs, sides and fronts.
After that, turn them all face up and line them up as described above. Note if the
tiles look like they are from the same set. Identical tiles should look the same,
flowers will vary in pictures. Then you'll know what you have. Also you can
note the quality ... do the tiles seem worn, chipped, cracked, no paint missing/some paint
faint/lots of paint worn off.
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Bamboos ("Bams")--36 |
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Dots or
Circles--36 |
Winds, Dragons, Flowers |
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Tom's Footnotes
Copyright 2001, 2002 Tom Sloper. All rights reserved.
Overview of different types of sets beyond the 2 types described by Sandi:
See FAQ 7a for pictorial info on different types of mah-jongg sets.
See FAQ 11 for an interesting side note on the origins of the three mah-jongg suits, from the older Chinese card game of Matiao.
The red character on the red dragon tile is chung, meaning center. The Chinese name for China is Central Nation -- this character is part of the country's name! In the East, players do not call this tile dragon; that is a Western practice. See FAQ 11 for an interesting side note on this tile, which may originally have been the fifth wind tile!
The Chinese writing on the green dragon is pronounced faht and means fortune. The Chinese do not call this tile a "dragon"--only we Westerners call them that. See FAQ 6 for more on the variety of names people use in reference to the dragon tiles (and other tiles in the game).
The Chinese call this tile bahk-ban which means white tile. Originally, these tiles were always blank. See FAQ 7e for more on the white dragons.
Flowers come in bewildering varieties and are used in many different ways. Tom Sloper has written a column in the AMJA Newsletter about flower tiles.
Jokers usually (but not always) have the English word "Joker" written on them. Rabbit tiles as pictured here are actually not that common. Chinese jokers say "100 Uses" on them (in Chinese); some rulebooks included with sets erroneously say that these tiles are White Dragons. Tom Sloper has written a column for the next AMJA Newsletter about joker tiles. See FAQ 7e for some special joker tiles.
The particular type of peacock shown here indicates that this set was made in Shanghai, in the 1920s (or possibly as late as the 1930s). Other types of One Bams give clues as to where a particular set was made.
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