What is Mahjong? Mahjong is more than just a game—it’s a tradition, a social ritual, and a brain workout all in one. Originating in China and now played around the world, Mahjong is a tile-based game that’s easy to start but endlessly deep to master. If you’ve ever been curious about the clacking of tiles, mysterious symbols, or how your grandma always seems to win—this guide is for you.
What Are Mahjong Tiles? An Illustrated Guide to Every Suit and Symbol
Mahjong is a traditional Chinese parlour game, and it is played with four people around a square table. There are total 144 tiles in a set of mahjong, and they are differentiated by 6 kinds of suits.
Character Suit (萬子)
The first is the Character suit, with Chinese numbers on it. The Chinese characters represent numbers from 10,000 to 90,000, which are Yi Wan, Er Wan, San Wan, Si Wan, Wu Wan, Liu Wan, Chi Wan, Ba Wan, and Jiu Wan.
Circle Suit (餅子 / 筒子)
The second is the Circle Suit, with a circle on top. In Chinese we call it “Bing” or “Tong”, and it means that its shape looks like a cookie or a cylinder.
Bamboo Suit (條子 / 索子)
The third is Bamboo Suit, with a long thin strips like a bamboo pattern on top. There is a special pattern on “One Bamboo Suit”,and we often call it “bird” or “chicken”
Wind Suit (風牌)
The fourth is the Wind Suit, which is the four directions of east, south, west and north.
Dragon Suit (三元牌)
The fifth is the Dragon Suit, including Red, Green, and White Dragon.
Flower Suit (花牌)
The last is the Flower Suit, which is divided into four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter, and four plants: plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum, a total of 8 suits.
How to Play Mahjong: Basic Rules for Beginners
After understanding various Mahjong types in the previoius section, you then need to learn how to play the game and the rules of mahjong.
The 4 Combination in Mahjong
To win in Taiwanese Mahjong, you need to have five sets of either straights, three of a kind, or four of a kind, plus one additional pair.
The Basic Tile-Claiming Moves in Mahjong
You can use Chow to form a “Straight”. But remember, you can only Chow the suits which discarded by your previous player.
You can use Pong to form a “Three of a kind”. Different from “Chow”, you can Pong from any tiles discarded by the 3 players.
You can use Kong to form a “Four of a kind”. A little bit different from “Pong”, you can not Kong the tiles discarded by your previous players.
When your hand is just one tile away from winning, you enter the “Listening” state. As long as you see any player discarding the tiles you lack, you can shout “Hu” to win If you get the tiles by yourself, you can shout out “Tsumo” to win the game.
How a Mahjong Game Works: Step-by-Step from Start to Finish
After learning the different tile categories and basic rules of Mahjong, this section will walk you through how to play the game step by step.
- Step 1: Shuffle the tiles face down on the table. Each player builds a wall of 36 tiles in front of them.
- Step 2: One player rolls three dice, and the total sum determines where the tiles will be drawn from.
- Step 3: Players take turns picking up four tiles at a time until everyone has 16 tiles.
- Step 4: Players take turns drawing tiles in a counterclockwise direction.
- Step 5: Once a player meets the winning conditions, the round ends. A full game of Mahjong typically consists of 16 rounds.
Now you’re ready to start playing Mahjong with your friends—have fun and good luck!