Understanding Mahjong Tiles: Names, Suits & Symbols

This guide uses Venezia as a visual teaching example. Venezia is an imagined tile collection: its graphic designs exist, but the physical tiles are not yet available for retail purchase. Use these illustrations to learn the tile names, then compare them with the American Mahjong set you already own. Other sets may use different artwork for the same tiles.

You do not need to read Chinese to begin recognizing the tiles in this set. Start by noticing the picture, the number or letter in the corner, and the name underneath each example.

The tile face tells you its identity. In the Venezia collection, the faces are white and the shared backs are teal with a kingfisher design. That bird on the back does not identify the tile: all the tiles use that same back.

For this lesson, lay your tiles face up and sort them as you read. You are learning to name individual tiles. You can learn shuffling, dealing, passing, and taking turns once these names feel familiar.

American Mahjong has three numbered suits: Dots, Bams, and Craks. Each suit runs from 1 through 9.

Name a suited tile by saying its number and then its suit: “2 Dot,” “6 Bam,” or “9 Crak.” “A two” is incomplete because there is a 2 in each of the three suits.

Dots are also called Circles. Look for separate round symbols. One circle makes 1 Dot, two circles make 2 Dot, and so on through 9 Dot.

Venezia decorates each circle with a floral rosette. Count the separate circles, not the petals inside a circle. The large ornate circle on 1 Dot is still one Dot; it is not a Flower tile.

Bam is short for Bamboo. On most tiles in this suit, the number corresponds to the number of bamboo sticks. Venezia replaces the sticks with striped Venetian mooring poles.

The special face to remember is 1 Bam. It usually depicts a bird. Here it is a kingfisher perched on a pole, with a 1 in the corner. Call it “1 Bam,” even though its picture looks different from the other Bams.

Craks are also called Characters; you may also see the spelling “Cracks.” These tiles have a Chinese numeral above the shared character 萬.

In Venezia, the numeral is blue, 萬 is red, and a small Arabic number appears in the upper-left corner. Use that corner number while you learn the larger Chinese numerals. The decorative arch is part of the design.

Winds are named tiles rather than numbered suit tiles. Learn the four English initials: N means North, E means East, W means West, and S means South.

Venezia places each initial above a compass rose and a scene, with a Chinese character below. The scene is decoration. The initial is the quickest way to identify the wind.

There are three dragon identities. Venezia’s Red Dragon has a red dragon illustration and the character 中. Its Green Dragon has a green dragon and 發. The White Dragon has a blue-and-gold rectangular frame with an open center.

White Dragon is commonly called “Soap.” These are two names for the same tile, not two different tiles. Other sets might show a border, a simple blank face, a dragon picture, or letters on their dragons. Check the maker’s key when a design is unfamiliar.

Venezia’s eight Flowers have different botanical pictures, an F, and numbers 1 through 8. Each one is called “Flower.” In NMJL American Mahjong, those numbers distinguish the artwork; they do not give the Flowers different playing values.

All eight Flowers are interchangeable for a Flower requirement. For example, two different flower pictures can form a pair of Flowers. On the NMJL card, F stands for Flower.

Other sets may use seasons, people, or other scenes for these tiles. Use that collection’s identification key instead of assuming that every tile with a plant picture is a Flower.

Venezia’s Joker has the word JOKER above a carnival mask. A standard American Mahjong playing set includes eight Jokers. They are separate from Flowers, winds, dragons, and the numbered suits.

A Joker has a wild-card role, but it cannot replace every tile in every situation. Under NMJL rules, it can substitute in a group of three or more identical tiles; it cannot stand for a single tile or either tile in a pair.

For this recognition lesson, learn to identify your set’s Joker first. Joker exchange procedures belong with the game-mechanics lesson.

Venezia’s decorative designs make these three tiles a useful recognition check. Read their identities before relying on the subject of the picture.

A complete NMJL playing set uses the following tiles. A box can contain additional replacement pieces; its total contents may be larger than the playing inventory.

A few minutes of sorting and naming will help more than trying to memorize the whole set at once. Keep the labeled charts nearby.

Name A through F before reading the answer key. These are individual examples, not a rack to play or a winning hand.

You can name a numbered tile using its number and suit, recognize all four winds and three dragons, and separate Flowers from Jokers. You know that the bird is 1 Bam and that White Dragon and Soap mean the same tile.

Keep this guide within reach as a reference. The next step is learning the game mechanics with your materials ready: building walls, dealing, moving through the Charleston, and taking turns. Those procedures are a separate lesson, so you can focus on one skill at a time.