The Tile Set

Recognize the full Hong Kong Mahjong tile set.

Concept

Start by sorting the tile universe.

Hong Kong Mahjong uses a core set of 136 tiles. The easiest way to learn them is to split them into two big families: suited tiles and honor tiles.

Suited tiles have a suit and a number. Honor tiles do not have numbers; they represent winds and dragons.

Visual example
Dot
Bam
Char
Suit Tiles
Wind
Dragon
Honor Tiles
Rule in plain English

Two big buckets first.

Do not try to memorize everything at once. First, ask: is this suited, or is this an honor?

Interactive check

What are the two main categories of core mahjong tiles?

Not complete

There's also Flower and Season tiles

Also included in Mahjong tile sets are 4 "Flower" tiles and 4 "Season" tiles. These are called "Bonus Tiles" and only influence scoring in Hong Kong Mahjong. It's common to play both with and without these tiles. This learning course assumes that the 8 Bonus Tiles are excluded from the game and scoring.

Season
Flower
Bonus Tiles (Optional, not core tiles)
Takeaway

The core tile set is made of suited tiles and honor tiles.

That split makes every later tile lesson easier.

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