Eleanor Noss Whitney - Mah Jong Handbook: How to Play, Score, and Win

CHAPTER ONE

The Mah Jong Set

TILES

Individual sets vary, although the illustrations below will approximate any set the reader has. Some sets, made specially for export, have arabic numerals and letters (indicating the four winds) included on the tiles for the convenience of non-Oriental players. Learning the designations from the symbols and the Chinese characters is simple, however, and allows one more latitude in the purchase of his Mah Jong set.

The complete modern set consists of 136 tiles. These are divided into two groups, the suits and the honors, each group being further subdivided as indicated below. In addition to the 136 tiles, every set contains four extra blanks in case a tile should be damaged or lost, and some sets, especially those for export, contain other special tiles (flowers and seasons) which are no longer used in Japanese Mah Jong. See Part Two, Chapter One.

Suit Tiles

There are three suits, each consisting of thirty-six tiles: four 1's, four 2's, four 3's and so on up to 9. The names of these three suits are bamboos, characters and dots. There are four of each of the tiles depicted below.

Note that the 1 bamboo, above, depicts a bird. In some sets it depicts a bamboo shoot.

In scoring, the 1's and 9's in the above groups are of higher value than the tiles 2 through 8. They should be thought of in a separate category, as the terminals. The tiles 2 through 8 are known as the simples.

Honor Tiles

There are two types of honor tiles: the four winds (East, South, West, and North (and the three dragons (green, white, and red). There are four of each of these; thus, twenty-eight honors in all. One each of the honor tiles are depicted below.

ACCESSORIES

Bones

In addition to the tiles, the complete Mah Jong set also contains a set of bones used, like the chips in poker, for scoring. In some American sets these have been replaced by chips with holes in the middle, which can be stacked on poles, but they will be called bones throughout this book. Each player receives the same number of bones at the beginning of the game. At the end of each hand the winner receives bones equal in value to his score from the loser(s). At the end of the game, the player with the highest count in bones is the winner.

There are usually four kinds of bones; the markings vary, but the most numerous ones should always be assigned the lowest value.

The Japan Mah Jong Association rules state that the bones should be valued at 500, 100 and 10. The one shown on the left should not be used. Each player receives two 500-point bones, nine 100-point bones, and ten 10-point bones at the beginning of the game, making a total of 2000 points.

Arbitrary values, however, may be assigned to them as the players choose. Many Japanese value them much higher, as described on page .

Dice

A pair of dice accompanies each set. These are used to determine the first dealer, and the starting point in the wall of each deal. They usually have rounded corners and the one-spot is often an uncolored hollow in the face of the die. A throw is considered valid only if both dice lie flat on top of the table within the wall. The dice are placed in front of the dealer during play, identifying which player is the dealer.

Discs

Discs are sometimes also found in the set, but are not necessary to the game. See page for a description of their use.