FAQ 7e. Those Mysterious Special Tiles
That Come in Some Mah-Jongg Sets

If you are looking for information about flowers or jokers, please click the above links. If that's not what you're looking for, then you probably have some tiles that you aren't sure what they are: "mystery tiles." To begin, I recommend laying out all your tiles in "the big square," like this:

Or you can lay them out like this:

Just laying them out, you'll identify "gaps" in your set, and you'll know that some of your mystery tiles have to be tiles that fill your gaps.

If you think you don't have any One Bams, then look for birds with the number 1 on them. Those are your One Bams. If you think you don't have any White Dragons, then look for blank tiles. Four of those are your White Dragons.

Once you have identified and arranged all the suit tiles and 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).

Or your "mystery tiles" might be other special tiles... Sometimes they are just DRAGONS that look different from what you're used to (below). But there are also other kinds of special tiles. For example, Japanese sets come with "red fives" (akago or akapai) such as these:

Red fives are bonus tiles that double the score. Each red five contained in the winning hand counts as a "dora" (worth one fan). See FAQ 25 for info about Japanese riichi-dora majan, and see FAQ 4b if you want to find other websites that describe the Japanese rules.

For the rest of this FAQ, I simply share some questions & answers about "mystery tiles" that were asked and answered on the Maj Exchange Q&A Bulletin Board:

Question about mystery tiles

On Monday, December 5, 2022 at 03:26:38 PM EST, Patricia D wrote:
Question about Mystery tiles
My question is:
I can't find these tiles described. Do they have a name? They're two sets of 1-5, men working. Thanks!
Pat

Hi, Pat! I'm not sure what information you're seeking. What kind of description are you looking for? The tiles depict a palanquin, a rickshaw, a farmer, a scholar, and a wind-driven watercraft (a junk). Is that what kind of description you wanted?
As for a name, we usually just call those "flowers." Did you look in the Mystery Flowers FAQ (FAQ 7E-F)? Because if you just looked in the Mystery Tiles FAQ (FAQ 7E), flowers aren't discussed there. Flowers and jokers are so numerous that the FAQ had to be split into separate categories of "mystery tiles."
Play safe out there. And may the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Author of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs
Donations appreciated
Monday, December 5, 2022
Rochester, New York, USA

Red Dragons and Green Dragons come in lots of different styles:

        

I am often asked what the Chinese writing on mah-jongg tiles means. And I usually don't know! (^_^)

---

Name: Tom Sloper
Date: 25 Nov 2001


Comments

Hello konderla (kabsi), you asked:

>I found in my ancient HOngkong Mah JOngg book that the red dragon is called CHUNG, the green dragon is called FAT and the white dragon is called PO. Can you tell me what that means in english?

I think this might be covered in one of the FAQs, but here goes anyway.


Chung means "center." Some folks say "hung chung" which means "red center." This is why sometimes red dragons are marked with the letter "C." In Cantonese Jyut Ping (a system for writing Cantonese words for use by Westerners), it is written as "Hung4 Zung1."

Chinese can be Anglicized (Romanized) in many different ways, and there are many different Chinese dialects. So you are likely to see the translation of the Green Dragon character written in any of a number of different ways. "Fa choi." "Fart choy." "Chingfa." In Cantonese Jyut Ping, it is written Faat3 Coi4. "Fa choi" means "Get Rich." The character "fa" by itself means only "get" -- the Chinese automatically add "rich" in the mind, so that the connotation of "get" is therefore "get rich." Now you know why green dragons are sometimes marked with the letter "F."
               
Po means "white" or "blank." Some tiles come marked with a letter "B" or "P." Why "B" or "P"? In Mandarin Chinese, most people these days call the white dragon tile "bai" or "bai-ban" (sounds like "buy" or "buy bonds," er, I mean, "buy bon"), meaning "white" or "white board." In Cantonese, the white dragon is usually called "bok" or "bok bon" (as in "bok choy" which means "white vegetable"). In Cantonese Jyut Ping, "bok bon" is written as "Baak6 Baan2." In some parts of China, what we Westerners think of as "B" can be pronounced "B" or "P" depending on the word and the local dialect. Originally, white dragon tiles were all blank. More on this below. The fifth tile at the right (thanks Chris W) is marked 白 - the Chinese character for "white." It looks somewhat similar to the Chinese character for "hundred," 百, but they are different characters, "hundred" having an extra stroke. In fact, the Unicode for 白 is 白 and for 百 is 百.

---

The Chinese character that is most frequently used on the Green Dragon (see image below) was the subject of a discussion at the mahjong newsgroup in June of 2001.



In a footnote at FAQ 7b I state:

"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 call these tiles by."

On 19 Jun 2001 Kevin Gowen commented on the mahjong newsgroup:

>>I was reading the FAQs today when I noticed the [above] in the
>>"Tom's Footnotes" section of FAQ 7b.
>>
>>This character has the meaning of "to shoot out" or "send forth". For
>>example, combining this character with the character meaning "sound"
>>gives the word "fayin" in Mandarin ("hatsuon" in Japanese), meaning
>>pronouce/pronounciation. I've never seen the meaning of "fortune"
>>attributed to this character.

My response:

I make no pretense of being able to read Chinese myself. My two main sources for this interpretation of the character are mah-jongg authors David Li and Cofa Tsui. See FAQ 6, the "Rosetta Stone."

As for the Japanese meaning of the character, I have anecdotal learning from my mah-jongg playing. It appears that this character is the one that's used in the term "ippatsu," which I've been told can be interpreted as "one hit" or "one shot." (When you declare reach, if you manage to win within one turn around the table, you have "hit it" in your "one shot" at doing so.) So that would seem to be consistent with the meaning "to shoot out."

But I've interrupted Kevin, who also wrote:

>>It is interesting to note that the version of "fa"(pinyin)/"hatsu"
>>(Japanese) used on the green dragon tile is the classical version,
>>still used where classical Chinese is written; Japan and mainland
>>China have simplified this character in unique ways.

Alan Kwan, a trilingual (English, Cantonese, Japanese) mah-jongg scholar in Hong Kong, added his remarks on June 19, 2001:

>It gets that meaning when joined with the character for "wealth" to
>make the compound which means "get rich". The compound with the
>character for "arrival/reach" also has a similar meaning.
>
>Chinese is a very complicated language; each character may have a
>large number of different meanings, including both literal ones and
>implicit, subtle ones. In the case of mahjong, we're lucky if the
>correct character is still known; it would be hard to determine which
>shade of meaning a character is supposed to take on in this context.
>I myself don't have any take on this one.

So the question "What does the Chinese writing on mah-jongg tiles mean?" can be a complicated one!



Above: "red dragon" (left) and "green dragon" (right). I put those in quotes because the Chinese do not call these tiles dragons (as one can see in FAQ 6, the Mahjong Rosetta Stone FAQ).
Note that the characters are (L to R): "leung" (pronounced "loong"), meaning Dragon, Emperor, an emblem for China -- and "feng" (pronounced "fung"), meaning Phoenix, Empress, Prosperity. The leung and feng dragon tiles were sometimes used in earlier sets, up through the 1920's.

---

Q: "What is the deal with these blank tiles?"

A: If your set has blank tiles, the blanks are either white dragons, or the blanks are extra tiles which you can use as replacements or jokers. Some sets' white dragons have a black rectangular design, or a black-outline picture of a dragon (as pictured above; scroll up). If the set does not have such tiles, and it has blanks, then four of the blanks are your white dragons.



If your set has extra blank tiles, it is a good idea to swap the spares with the white dragons every now and then, and use them in play. If you don't, and you eventually must use a spare, you don't want it to look too obviously new and unused.

Originally, white dragons were blank tiles. That was fine when tiles were made with bone on one side and bamboo on the other, but it caused a problem when tiles were made of plastic (without a differently colored back). People were always turning the tile over to see what was on the other side (revealing to others that the tile was a white dragon). So a rectangular design was added. [Added Nov. 24, 2004] American players thought the blank tile looked like a bar of soap, so they call this tile "soap" to this day.

---

Name: Tom Sloper
Date: 03 Sep 2002

Comments

Hello Chuck Longstreth in Duluth, MN (kxj), you emailed me:
>Hi Tom - I have a question about the type of characters used on the
>Wans.
>Is the type of character used to indicate the '10,000' a sign of the
>age of the set?
>(i.e. the more simple vs. the more elaborate)
No. It cannot be used as a definitive guide.

Most early (1920s) sets used the simpler-style crak character. But not all.

Most modern (1970s to date) sets use the more elaborate-style crak character. But not all.

>Or is it just a matter of how fussy the engraver wanted to be?
For some engravers, perhaps. I'm sure there also other factors behind the choice of which kind of crak to use.
Tom

---

What is the story behind the one bird bam?

>From: Rae T
>Sent: Monday, June 18, 2018 1:15 PM
>Subject: Mah Jong
>What is the story behind the one bird bam?

Hi, Rae!
Interesting question. I don't think there is a story, per se. The Chinese probably have legends or folklore about sparrows. If that's what you're looking for, I listed some books on Chinese lore at the bottom of FAQ 7E-F, the "Mystery Flowers" FAQ. All I can offer you is a theory as to how it came to be that there's a bird on the 1B tile...

The suits of mah-jongg (dots, bams, craks) are actually derived from the suits of madiao cards (coins, strings of coins, and myriads of coinstrings). When Chen Yumen took the idea of those suits and had them carved on bone dominoes, the carver represented strings of coins in a way that looked like bamboo sticks. For the #1 tile, the carver had to represent a single string of coins but wanted to give it some unique treatment -- kind of the same as the way the ace of spades in a deck of Western playing cards (which are also descended from the suits of madiao cards, by the way) is drawn larger and more elaborately than the others. As I described in FAQ 11-E, an early mah-jongg set from 1873 shows a stylized string of coins for the 1B. It's not a bird. Or is it?

Then by 1890 a set was made that shows a very birdlike string of coins for the 1B.

That's all I can come up with as to how or why the 1B usually shows a bird. By the way, did I mention that the Chinese name for the game (when J.P. Babcock asked, around 1918-ish), 麻雀, means "sparrow." The game was named for the sound made by players shuffling the tiles between hands - from a distance, shuffled bone-and-bamboo tiles make a tinkly sound not too dissimilar from the sound made by sparrows. But I don't think that is connected with the bird on the 1B tile.
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
トム·スローパー
湯姆 斯洛珀
Creator of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Los Angeles, California, USA
June 18, 2018 6:25 PM

These tiles are used in Malaysian mah-jongg. From left to right: White Dragon, Fly (joker), Face (flower tiles).
For more about how these tiles are used in Malaysian mah-jongg, click here.

It has tiles I haven't seen before, part 3

>On Sunday, October 20, 2019, 12:50:20 PM PDT, heaton.ray wrote:
>Kendall's upside down tiles...
>Hi Tom,
>I couldn't see Kendall's "upside down tiles" described elsewhere on your site...they are rather amusing, so I thought I'd "chip in"!
>One pair of tiles has the two characters 哈哈, "Ha Ha" and can mean "joke" but this is also simply onomatopoeic for laughter.
>The other pair (one of which is the correct orientation of course) has the two characters 嘻嘻, "Xi Xi" pronounced a bit like "She She" in English (or "He He" in Japanese!).
>Putting them together, it's 嘻嘻哈哈, "Xi Xi Ha Ha", and means "Laughing and Joking".
>I presume then that the tiles will be capture tiles like the cat and mouse or rooster and centipede, rather than jokers.
>Regards,
>Ray

Great, Ray! Thanks! I'll add this to the mystery tiles FAQ. A new type of Malaysian tile, apparently.
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Author of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
October 20, 2019
Los Angeles, California, USA

What's the meaning of the red paint on the high odd bams?

On Monday, February 24, 2020, 06:31:20 AM PST, D N wrote:
question
Hi Tom.
Do you know what the significance, or meaning is behind having the 5 - 7 -9 bam tiles having red painted on them?? I cannot find any explanation on this. I've included a photo showing tiles from 3 different sets I have, all showing the same.
As always, thanks for your help!
Debbie N.

Sorry, Debbie. That standard was established before I was born, so I wasn't present at the meeting where it was decided. (Just kidding: I sincerely doubt there was a meeting.) All I have are some uneducated guesses:
Maybe it's to make it easier to look at the tile and quickly see that there are 5 (or 7 or 9) bamboo sticks on the tile. Western indices (Arabic numerals and Roman letters) were added only when J.P. Babcock started importing sets 100 years ago - Chinese players just looked at the number of bam sticks - there were no indices on sets made for domestic use in China.
Maybe it's so the tiles aren't boringly monochromatic.
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Author of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
February 24, 2020
Los Angeles, California, USA

P.S. (same day) - The red sticks in the 9B make it clear that you're not looking at a 6B. - Tom

In December 2012 there was a bulletin board discussion about another tile from that part of the world: reader Stefan L. sent this picture of a tile in a set he purchased in Singapore.

Stefan added, "In addition to the normal Chinese tiles there are also animal tiles, fly tiles, face tiles and blanks. But there are also four more tiles thrown in. They have the characters 聽用 (simplified 听用)." The post prompted an exchange with noted mah-jongg scholar Michael Stanwick.

>From: Michael Stanwick
>Sent: Sunday, December 9, 2012 10:34 AM
>In my article in The Playing-card Volume 37, Number 1, I document the use of this tile as it appears in the 1941 edition of the book titled "Maque de jingyan yu jiqiao" (Maque's Experiences and Skills) by Liu Yishu. According to Liu " we have "Multipurpose" tile ting yong, engraving two characters "ting yong" on a blank tile, means this tile can act as any of the 'Cash', 'Strings', 'Myriads', 'Directions', or 'Center', 'Fortune', 'Blank'.
>In case your reader has not read my articles on the game set of maque, these tiles are, respectively, in common parlance, 'Circles' or 'Dots', 'Bamboos', 'Cracks or 'Characters', North, South, East, West and 'Red Dragon', 'Green Dragon' and 'White Dragon'.
>... soon you will be able to read all my articles, plus view research books and papers plus view Chinese money suited playing cards and many types of MJ sets on my web site.
>For the time being however, the presence of these eight jokers is in accord with a type of MJ called Changsha's Wang Ma Que or Changsha's Kings MJ. It has eight wang tiles that are what we call Innner Flowers and these Inner Flowers function as substitutes for the particular target groups, be it the Suits or the Directions or the 'Dragons' or combinations of these.
>There is a variant of this game in Vietnam which sports similar tiles for similar functions to these tiles in Wang Maque. This was reported to me by Thierry Depaulis and he suggested that this type of Wang game is a southern variant. If this is the case then perhaps we are dealing with another version of the tile set used to play a version of this southern variant?
>For further information I would urge your reader to obtain a copy of my article from Playing-card journal from the i-p-c-s.org website.
>Best Regards
>Michael

Michael,
I look forward to seeing your website. I'm guessing from what you're saying that the Fly tile and the Ting Yong tile may be different types of jokers, akin to the different joker types in Vietnamese mah-jongg.

>From: Michael Stanwick
>Sent: Monday, December 10, 2012 4:37 AM
>Subject: mystery tile part 5
>Hello Tom. Yes. It may be that the different types of jokers are Inner Flowers that are used as substitutes for the tile groups that are used to form melds for scoring purposes. Because they are Inner Flowers they are concealed in the player's hand, as opposed to Outer Flowers that are exposed upon acquisition.
>So one group of jokers, say for example the face tiles, might serve as substitutes for the Suit tiles, whereas the fly tiles, for example, might serve as substitutes for the Directions and Dragons and the ting yongs might serve as a substitutes for the three Suits, Directions and Dragons.
>This is one probable explanation based on the similar set of Changsha Wang ma Que and the Vietnamese tile set.
>Regards
>Michael

>Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005 15:48:15 -0500
>From: Adam
>Subject: Special Unknown TIles
>I recently purchased a mahjong set with 168 acrylic tiles. 24 of the tiles were blank (though 4 seemed to have been digitally printed with images of flowers) Of the remaining 144 tiles there are a complete 136 suits and honors, but no season or flower tiles. However, there are eight tiles in their place. I have attached a JPG of these tiles. There are four tiles matching each of the two tiles in the image. 4 tiles with the Chinese character "Ruler" in orange, and four with a four-point star pattern with a rhinestone (!) embedded in the center.

>I have other info: The plastic trays are stamped with the Nintendo logo, so I assume they are the manufacturer (though I can find no information on the web regarding this)
>Any helpful ideas an how these tiles might be used?
>Cheers,
>Adam
>PS - through examination I have found
>The set uses only two inks: Black and red, and the tiles all seem to have been created from molds rather than stamped as they are completely identical without variance in detail between identical tiles. Except for: The 4 white dragons (simple black double border), the Rulers, and the Stars, Which all seem to have been engraved by hand, which leads me to believe that this set was customized with these tiles as well as the digital flower tiles (which would explain the use of the orange ink which is out of place). There were some cheap stickers on the blank tiles, so am assuming this set was customized to play NMJL games, but that still doesn't explain these 8 tiles. Is there anything more info you can offer? It's more of a curiosity than anything, since I collect out of the ordinary sets. Thanks!

Hello Adam,
Very interesting out-of-the-ordinary set you have there! Nintendo sets are not common here in the U.S. I have one, but mine is a normal Japanese set. Nintendo, of course, used to make all sorts of game supplies before they got into video games in the 1980s.

You didn't mention if your set has Western indices on it or not. I assume not, since as far as I know Nintendo made stuff for sale within Japan only. Which makes it odd that it would have been adapted for play by NMJL players, since Americans can rarely read the Chinese characters on the craks and winds.

You also didn't say if your set includes the original paper materials that usually came with the set. The writing on the orange tile says "white king" (or white "ruler" as you say). Presumably, it could be used as a joker. And the star tile too, I suppose. The real mystery is why the set has so many blanks. There's no mystery why the set has only 4 manufactured flowers (see FAQ 7a). And a minor mystery is what the heck you mean when you say the 4 other flower tiles are "digitally printed" - I guess you mean somebody put home computer-printed stickers on them.

I'm going to add your picture to FAQ 7e. Maybe somebody will know more and will write me.
Tom Sloper (湯姆スローパー)
Los Angeles, CA (USA)
September 30, Year of the Rooster

Explaining one mystery

>From: Raymond L
>Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2016 2:24 PM
>Subject: Explanation of Adam's special unknown tiles
>Hi Tom,
>I've been going through your FAQ's and noticed an old mystery from 2005. Allow me to shed some light on the rhinestone star tile first. The set was made by Nintendo so logically it might have been a Japanese mahjong set. Remember Nicholas Cheung's 2012 alert that there are lesser known variants that contained red 3s and 7s? There's also red white dragons! They are called 白ポッチ (shiro potchi) in Japanese. These two websites will provide more information:
>The first is the Japanese wiki for dora.
>https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%89%E3%83%A9_%28%E9%BA%BB%E9%9B%80%29
>The second shows a tile that's almost like Adam's.
>http://arcturus.su/wiki/Dora
>The second tile is a bit more puzzling. 皇 means emperor which is also found in Vietnamese flower tiles. You suggested that it could mean white king (白王) but I consider it unlikely. If it were two words, they would be colored differently to avoid confusion. Searching 皇麻雀牌 after confining it to Japanese led me nowhere (my Japanese is horrendous).
>I've also noticed some errors in the FAQ's which I will help you correct but that's for another day.
>Best regards,
>Ray L.

Hi, Ray.
Great information! Thanks. You're referring to this image:

At the sites you cited, I see these images:

Those sites do confirm that these are "red whites" (white dragons acting as score doublers). As for the 皇 emperor tile, I guess the mystery continues.
I look forward to getting further info that I can use to improve the accuracy of my site. Thanks again, Ray!
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
トム·スローパー
湯姆 斯洛珀
Creator of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Los Angeles, California, USA
May 17, 2016

NMJL member tiles

>From: Sherry M
>Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2014 6:51 PM
>Subject: Member tiles
>Tom,
>I have recently been collecting Bakelite tiles that are stamped with National Mahjongg Member tile. The ones that I have found are either red or yellow, have a hole in them for a keychain, and a couple have decoupaged flowers on them. I have asked NMJL about them and originally they replied, “WE HAVE NEVER SOLD THOSE!”. I sent them a photocopy of my tiles and was rewarded with a reply that yes indeed NMJL had sold them but when, why and for how long was unknown. (Wouldn’t you think they would have records SOMEWHERE regarding them?)
>The last tile I bought I asked the seller if she had had any information regarding them. She told me that they were sold with mahj sets through the NMJL and these were attached to the case of the member that had purchased them. She dated them during WWll and the profits were donated for the war effort. I have recently bought a vintage set from the early 30’s and in it were 3 member tiles! Along with the 3 member tiles, there was also 2 blank Bakelite tiles with the exact same decoupaged flower on them.
>So…was wondering if you have ever seen them and if you have any additional information regarding who long they were sold for and where?
>Thank you!
>Best regards,
>Sherry M

Along with the 3 member tiles, there was also 2 blank Bakelite tiles with the exact same decoupaged flower on them.
I explained the deal with those flower tiles in FAQ 19-AI and column 509.

was wondering if you have ever seen them
Just pictures.

and if you have any additional information regarding who long they were sold for and where?
No, sorry. You know more about them than I do.

May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper

Creator of the weekly Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Los Angeles, California, USA
July 23, 2014

NMJL member tiles, part 2

Mah-Jongg Q+A
On Monday, November 14, 2022 at 06:11:09 PM EST, Sherry M wrote:
My mah-jongg question or comment is:
Over the years I have collected several tiles that are stamped with “Member of National Mah Jongg League” on them. Have you ever seen others or know any history of them? I found them in several vintage mahjongg sets from people on the East Coast. I have called and asked the NMJL and was told they hadn’t a clue about them and doubted their validity. Obviously, they were produced because I had at one time 4 different styles.
Any input would be appreciated. Thank you.
Sherry M

Hi, Sherry!
As I said on July 23, 2014, the last time you asked me this, I believe those tiles were indeed given to members by the National Mah Jongg League. Just because the League no longer has complete records from the 1930s and 1940s doesn't mean those tiles were not from the League.
In my 2014 reply, I told you the story of my having worked at companies with shorter histories, and discovering that those companies had lost or tossed old records as time went by. I am guessing that the League doesn't even have at least one of each card they ever printed, and of each yearly bulletin ever issued. Corporate memories fade with the loss of longtime employees.
By the way, I think I might have one of those tiles in my collection now, or maybe a disc similarly marked.
I'm convinced that these tiles were issued by the NMJL, but as I told you in 2014, you know more about them than I do.
One thing to add: in your previous email, you said you had an "early 30's" set that contained 3 member tiles. The League was formed in the late 1930s (1937, to be precise), just FYI.
Play safe out there. And may the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Author of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs
Donations appreciated
Monday, November 14, 2022
Rochester, New York, USA

Mystery tile

>On Wednesday, August 21, 2019, 12:38:35 PM PDT, Debbie B wrote:
>1 Bam
>Hi Tom...quick question...what the heck is this 1 Bam? I've seen a lot of strange ones and most of them are the tail of a Peacock. Thanks if you have the answer which I'm sure you do :)
>Debbie B
>Author

That is a bamboo shoot. The maker of that set took the "bamboo" concept farther, and showed the 1B as a baby bamboo plant. According to MAJAN HAKUBUTSUKAN DAI ZUROKU (麻雀博物館大図録 - "Illustrated Book of the Mah-Jongg Museum," or "Mah-Jongg Museum Big Picture Book". Edited by the Mah-Jongg Museum (no author name). Publisher: Takeshobo, April 1999. ISBN 4-8124-0473-8), page 89, "This bamboo shoot can occasionally be seen in Europe and America, but it is extremely rare in Japan." (Photo 152 in that book shows a Japanese set with bamboo shoot tiles.) I'll add this to the "Mystery Tiles" FAQ.
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Author of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
August 21, 2019
Los Angeles, California, USA

Extra info for the FAQs

>From: Nicholas Cheung
>Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2012 5:19 PM
>Subject: Extra notes on FAQ 13c and FAQ 7e
>Hi Tom:
>Just want to let you know on a couple of uncommon variants with Japanese
>mahjong...
>For FAQ 13c-
>I'd like to add that one variant of 3-player Japanese mahjong that does
>happen, but very rarely, is not to treat the north winds as "flowers."
>As such, they count as separate 1 han dora each in a winning hand, and if
>the West wind is the dora indicator, each north wind counts as 2 han dora in
>a winning hand - and the "dead wall" will contain 14 tiles as normal instead
>of 18 tiles.
>For FAQ 7e-
>Most Japanese sets come with red fives, but a very small number of Japanese
>sets come with red threes or red sevens instead of red fives. With that
>said, the San Group conglomerate of mahjong parlors is well known for using
>red threes (specifically, two red 3-pin tiles), instead of any red fives.
>Thank you again.
>Nicholas Cheung

Great info, Nicholas. I'll add that right away. Sorry your email fell through the cracks. When I was mentioning red fives in my response to Elizabeth, I realized I hadn't yet acted on your email. Better late than never, I suppose!
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper

Creator of these Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Los Angeles, California, USA
November 23, 2012

Which ones are my winds, dragons, and flowers?

> From: vivian m
> Sent: Friday, April 25, 2014 2:45 PM
> Subject: Can you identify winds and flowers in this set?
>This set has 4 of each of the pictured tiles, plus 8 jokers made with stickers on blanks. My question concerns the bottom row. I infer that 1,2,3 are white, red, and green dragons, respectively. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) I assume the 24 tiles represented by 4-9 are flowers and winds. Can you identify them for me?
>Thanks.
> Vivian M

Hi, Vivian.
I have no idea how the set's creator intended those tiles to be apportioned. Of course you'd want a sequential group of 3 to be the dragons, and yes, the first three do seem most logical - but which should be "red dragon"? Looking at the craks in your set (which, by the way, is weirder than most of the weird sets in my own collection!), it looks like those tiles all have green on them, so the #3 tile (the green dinosaur) might best be the "dragon" that goes with your craks. And the #2 tile (the castle) is architectural, so goes nicely with your bams, leaving the #1 tile (the blue dragon) to go with your dots (yin and yang). As for which are flowers (#4 and #5, OR #s 8 and 9), that is entirely up to you. I recommend you make a reference card each player at your table can use while playing.
Afterthought: your #7 tile is the Big Dipper, which points North - so most likely your #4, 5, 6, and 7 tiles are E, S, W, and N respectively, leaving #s 8 and 9 as your flowers.
And another afterthought: your 8-bams are upside-down in the picture. Notice how all the bams are letters. I, T, K, X, A. Then Hi, ON, BY, WE. I don't think there's any rhyme or reason to those (they don't spell out a sentence that means anything, like "Itkxa hi on by we," which is nonsense) except for the number of lines (pen strokes).
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper

Creator of the weekly Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Los Angeles, California, USA
April 25, 2014

Which ones are my winds, dragons, and flowers, part 2 (continued from April 25, 2014) - and a donation

>From: Dinah B
>Sent: Monday, June 6, 2016 5:46 PM
>Subject: Answer to a question asked in FAQ 7e
>Hi Tom,
>I started Mah Jongg a year and a half ago, and am totally hooked. I love your site, and have poured over almost every word and picture. While reading the FAQ, I came across one that I had found more info on, and thought you would want this info too.
>Thanks for reading.
>Dinah
>*****
>In regard to FAQ 7e. Those Mysterious Special Tiles...
>The last question -
>"Which ones are my winds, dragons, and flowers?
>> From: vivian m
>> Sent: Friday, April 25, 2014 2:45 PM
>> Subject: Can you identify winds and flowers in this set?
>>This set has 4 of each of the pictured tiles, plus 8 jokers made with stickers on blanks. My question concerns the bottom row. I infer that 1,2,3 are white, red, and green dragons, respectively. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) I assume the 24 tiles represented by 4-9 are flowers and winds. Can you identify them for me?
>>Thanks.
>> Vivian M"
>

Hi, Dinah -
Great work, finding that set on the MahjongMuseum! I never saw that there. Now if only I could see the rules for that game so I could see if it's at all mah-jongg-like! And thanks very much for the donation.
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
トム·スローパー
湯姆 斯洛珀
Creator of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Los Angeles, California, USA
6/6/16

What the heck kind of mah-jongg is this?

On Thursday, December 10, 2020, 11:53:30 AM PST, Mary Ann M wrote:
Can you identify this set?
Hi Tom,
This set was shown on a Facebook mah jongg group page. The owner picked it up in a garage sale. Do you have any idea what version of mah jongg it is? No jokers or flowers. Winds not designated in Chinese characters . I am stumped!
Thanks for any insights.
Happy Holidays
Mary Ann M Sent from my iPhone

Play safely and stay healthy. And may the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Author of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
December 10, 2020
Los Angeles, California, USA

Shu Qibo's alternative mah-jongg tiles

On Saturday, September 7, 2024 at 10:03:44 PM EDT, nick g wrote:
Subject: Mahjong Q&A
hi Tom! I love your site. I just picked up this seemingly unique set, i think it's from the 90s and definitely chinese. Instead of honor tiles, there is a fourth red star suit! it's a nice set and the tiles are of very good quality. The insert mentions that the designer wanted to make a game with less of a gambling connotation. If you search his name, you can see that he indeed patented this knockoff of the game and it was written about in a local journal -  https://www.tongxianghuicn.com/article/818477.jhtml?libId=814
anyway, just wanted to contribute to the archive and wondered if you'd seen this before! it's odd to me that he tried to make a new variant but the rest of the tiles are all totally normal. the case is a heavy plastic matching in teal with 1-bam birds on the closures
thanks for your work!
nick g
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Hi, Nick!
I have one of those sets in my collection. It's not the only set in my collection that uses non-traditional tile designs. Mah-jongg has two problems:
1. The tiles are daunting, a "barrier to entry," according to some people*
2. In its homeland, China, mah-jongg has a strong association with the evils and illegality of gambling.
So according to the article, Shu Qibo designed this set to solve both problems.
I followed your link and saw that the page is in Chinese. I used the browser's translation feature:

XiangXiangwen Volume period (): Issue 37
Publishing date: 2010-02-01
Publishing cycle: Annual
Opening: 16 open
Author: Wang Hua
Number of article pages: 2 pages
Number of articles: 1342 words
Browsing times: 65 Times
Downloads: 0 Times
Unfortunately, your organization does not have permission to read the resource, please contact
Disclaimer:
This library contains periodicals in the Taiwan region. In order to provide researchers with original materials, this library preserves the original appearance and has not been deleted. It does not mean that this library agrees with the author's views and terms. Please identify!
New brand new play method New brand new player - Book Politic sports inventor Shu Qibo
Summary:
This is a new sports project that has received state expertise and is supported by state agencies. This is a new device that combines fun, puzzle and game one. This is an athletic device that retains both the traditional state and the spirit of innovation. This is the —— Polaroid Concession License. In order to respond to the instructions of the National Sports Bureau to include mahjong in the normal sports program, Shu Jibo has a 50-year mahjong actual combat experience. Based on the appearance and style of the old mahjong, it has been removed from the east, west, north, Chinese, Feng, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, May, Lan, Ju, Bamboo and other cards with strong gamboo have developed Poly.
Keywords: Polyco Patent Sports | Mahjong's new gameplay | New sports

I didn't find those images on the site you linked, but it doesn't matter. I don't know why the translation mentions "Polaroid," but it doesn't matter. The thing I see in these alternate sets is point #1 above, the one with the asterisk.
* I disagree that the traditional tile designs are a problem that needs to be solved. It takes only one or two lessons with a teacher to overcome that. For many players and even people who might want to learn, the tile designs are intriguing because they are so exotic. And the tile designs people like Shu Qibo and others come up with are no less daunting, no less a "barrier to entry." The only suit designs that would seem less off-putting would be to use playing card suits: spades, hearts, clubs, diamonds. But only three of those could be used, and which three? The winds and dragons and flowers still have to be dealt with. Interesting that Shu Qibo got rid of them and added a fourth suit instead. He probably (I can't read Chinese) designed rules to do away with those even more "troublesome" tiles.
I see the whole thing as a tempest molehill in a teapot mountain. To mix metaphors. Which is kind of what Shu Qibo's tile set does.
May the tiles be with you, Nick.
Tom Sloper
Rochester, New York, USA
September 8, 2024
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind"

Mystery tiles

>From: James M
>Sent: Thursday, July 5, 2018 1:12 PM
>Subject: Mah-Jongg Q+A
>My mah-jongg question or comment is: found these tiles and was wondering if they might be part of a mahjong set. Images don’t look like it but not sure. Thanks in advance.

Interesting, James! Sorry but I have no idea what those are. They are not mah-jongg related.
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
トム·スローパー
湯姆 斯洛珀
Creator of the

Mystery Tiles

On Thursday, September 28, 2023 at 01:30:52 AM EDT, Jordan N wrote:
Mystery Tile
Hello,
In your 7e mahjong mystery tiles page, you received a question from James M sent on Thursday, July 5, 2018 1:12 PM.
I believe those are Egyptian hieroglyphs; specifically, cartouches. Unfortunately, I don't know enough to read what they say.
Cartouche - Wikipedia
Best Regards,
Sent from Yahoo Mail - Master Your Inbox, Anywhere

Hi, Jordan! Thanks for that observation. I agree that the tiles from James M resemble Egyptian cartouches.

The question remains, are they pieces from a game, and if so, what's the name of the game?
Play safe out there. And may the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Rochester, New York, USA
September 28, 2023
Donations appreciated

Mystery Tile, part 2

On Thursday, September 28, 2023 at 11:36:37 AM EDT, Jordan N wrote:
Re: Mystery Tile
Hello Tom,
I did a bit more sleuthing and found they're not from a game, but rather an oracle tarot set published in 1994:
The Egyptian Oracle: 28 Hieroglpyhic Divination Tiles and Two-Sided Consultation Board in Four Colors
Simple and easy for the beginner, this carefully researched system develops in richness as you gain experience with the ancient mysteries. Awaken to the sacred Egyptian principles of living in harmony and balance with ourselves, the land, and the div
http://www.learntarot.com/eodesc.htm
It's a set of 28 tiles with a divination board.
Best Regards,
Jordan

That's some good sleuthing, Jordan! This image from your second link cinches it:

Occasionally someone sends me a photo of their "mahjong" set and it turns out it isn't mahjong at all, but rather Rummikub (sometimes made under alternate names):

Rummikub. NOT mahjong.

What is it??

Mah-Jongg Q+A
On Monday, January 31, 2022, 11:24:27 AM EST, engschaeffer wrote:
My mah-jongg question or comment is:
Hello. I have a pirce that i am trying to identify. I have had no luck and would like to attach a xouple photos and see if you recognize it. Thank you, Richard
Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

That's a mystery, Richard! It's not a mah-jongg piece, but it does look like a game piece of some sort. As part of your search, I recommend you check Pagat.com, the Domino Games section and try also the link to "other tile games" there. Thanks for asking, and I hope you'll let me know if you find something.
Play safely and stay healthy. And may the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Author of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs
Donations appreciated
Monday, January 31, 2022, 12:20 PM
Rochester, New York, USA

What is it, part 2

Re: Mah-Jongg Q+A
On Monday, January 31, 2022, 05:25:48 PM EST, engschaeffer wrote:
My mah-jongg question or comment is:
Hello and thank you for replying. I continued searching on line and found out what the mystery item is. It is a Nepalese long dice. 3 of them would be used to play a game called chaupur. A very similar game to the game pachisi, or parcheesi. You would use these long dice or 7 cowrey seashells to determine how many places that your game pieces would move on the board.
Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

Very cool, Richard. Thanks for sharing.
Play safely and stay healthy. And may the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Author of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs
Donations appreciated
Monday, January 31, 2022, 5:45 PM
Rochester, New York, USA

© 2001-2024 Tom Sloper. All rights reserved. May not be re-published without written permission of the author.

Thanks also to British mah-jongg scholar Michael Stanwick; his research has informed parts of this article.