The Games Shop - Australian Board Games, Chess and Puzzles Mahjong

Mahjong

Mah Jong is a game of Chinese origin, which is usually played with tiles, similar to dominoes, made of bamboo and ivory engraved in color, though it can also be played with cards of equivalent design. The literal translation of Mah Jong is "flax/hemp" "sparrow clattering". Those who play the game love the sound of the tiles as they are mixed together prior to the start of each hand. Listening carefully, players hear the sound of the flax blowing in the wind and the sparrows clattering. Sets traditionally consist of 136 standard tiles (and eight bonus tiles) as follows: - Three suits with tiles numbered 1 to 9. The usual English names for the suits are dots, bamboos and characters. There are four identical copies of each suit tile - 108 suit tiles in all.- The four directions or "winds" (east, north, west, south) - four copies of each (16 tiles) - Three colours or "dragons" (red, green, white) - again four copies of each, so 12 tiles. - Bonus tiles: four different flower tiles and four different season tiles - so 8 bonus tiles in all, though some sets may have more.