1The tiles

The 34 basic mahjong tiles are presented here. A full set of mahjong tiles contains four identical tiles of each of these.

1The tiles

The 34 basic mahjong tiles are presented here. A full set of mahjong tiles contains four identical tiles of each of these.

1.1The three suits

There are three suits, each has tiles numbered from one to nine:
Circles1pin2pin3pin4pin5pin6pin7pin8pin9pin
Bamboo1sou2sou3sou4sou5sou6sou7sou8sou9sou
Characters1man2man3man4man5man6man7man8man9man

The one of bamboo is often decorated with a bird, the design of which often varies between mahjong sets. The ones and nines are called terminal tiles.

1.1The three suits

There are three suits, each has tiles numbered from one to nine:
Circles1pin2pin3pin4pin5pin6pin7pin8pin9pin
Bamboo1sou2sou3sou4sou5sou6sou7sou8sou9sou
Characters1man2man3man4man5man6man7man8man9man

The one of bamboo is often decorated with a bird, the design of which often varies between mahjong sets. The ones and nines are called terminal tiles.
Three red fives are used, one in each suit. The red fives replace normal fives, so that each suit has one red five and three normal fives:
5sou5sou5sour5sou5man5man5manr5man5pin5pin5pinr5pin

1.2Honours

In addition to the suit tiles, there are seven different honour tiles: four winds and three dragons. The winds are shown in the order: east-south-west-north. The dragons are shown in the order: red-white-green. The design of the white dragon varies between mahjong sets; usually it is either a blank tile or a blue frame is depicted.
Winds eastsouthwestnorth Dragons redwhitegreen

1.2Honours

In addition to the suit tiles, there are seven different honour tiles: four winds and three dragons. The winds are shown in the order: east-south-west-north. The dragons are shown in the order: red-white-green. The design of the white dragon varies between mahjong sets; usually it is either a blank tile or a blue frame is depicted.
Winds eastsouthwestnorth Dragons redwhitegreen

1.3Additional tiles

With four of each of the above tiles, a mahjong set consists of 136 tiles. Sometimes mahjong sets contain further tiles: flower, season or joker tiles, which are not used in riichi mahjong. Japanese tile sets often include red fives. The red fives are sometimes used to replace normal fives, so that each suit has one red five and three normal fives. The red fives would than add an additional han to the hand value. Red fives are no longer used in EMA riichi rules.

1.3Additional tiles

With four of each of the above tiles, a mahjong set consists of 136 tiles. Sometimes mahjong sets contain further tiles: flower, season or joker tiles, which are not used in riichi mahjong.

1.4Additional equipment

Mahjong sets often have markers for indicating the prevailing wind and sticks used for keeping score and used also for counters and riichi bets. The value of the scoring sticks shown below are: 100, 1000, 5000 and 10,000. A stick of different colour can be used for the value 500. Players begin with 30,000 points. The set should also come with at least two dice.

tenbo100
tenbo1000
tenbo5000
tenbo10000

1.4Additional equipment

Mahjong sets often have markers for indicating the prevailing wind and sticks used for keeping score and used also for counters and riichi bets. The set should also come with at least two dice.