The Tiles
The whole set
152 tiles, and how many there are of each.
Beginner · lesson 5 of 25
There are 152 tiles in an American Mahjong set, and knowing the makeup is more useful than it sounds. Every suit tile, 1 through 9 in Craks, Bams, and Dots, appears four times. That is 108 suit tiles.
Then the honors: four of each wind and four of each dragon, so 16 winds and 12 dragons. Finally the specials, eight flowers and eight jokers.
Tip
The number to hold onto is four. There are only ever four of any given tile, so once you have seen three of them, the fourth is the only one left in the game.
That one fact quietly decides a lot later on. It is how you work out whether the pair you are waiting on can still arrive, and how a stronger player knows a hand is finished before anyone says so.
This lesson finishes with 2 quick drills in the app, and they're free.
Get the app