Mahjong Tile Names and Meanings: An American Mahjong Cheat Sheet

American mahjong tiles come with their own vocabulary: Bams, Craks, Dots, Soap, NEWS. This cheat sheet explains what each tile shows, what the pictures and characters mean where that is known, and how each tile is used in American play, followed by a glossary of table terms.

For the full tile count, see how many tiles are in an American mahjong set. New to the game? Start with how to play American mahjong.

The three suits

Most of the set is three suits, each numbered 1 to 9, with four copies of every tile. American sets also print a small Western number on each suit tile, so you never need to read Chinese.

Bams (bamboo)

Bams show bamboo sticks, one stick per number. The exception is the 1 Bam, usually drawn as a bird, most often a sparrow or a peacock; some players just call it "Bird." Bams are mostly printed in green.

Craks (characters)

Crak is short for "character." Each Crak shows a Chinese numeral from one to nine on top and the character 萬 (wan) below it, which means "ten thousand." Read literally, a 3 Crak says "thirty thousand."

Dots (circles)

Dots show one to nine circles. You will also hear them called circles or balls.

Writers on mahjong history trace the suits to older Chinese money-suited playing cards (coins, strings of coins and myriads of coins), which is why Dots are often described as coins and Bams as strings of coins. The exact history is not settled, so treat this as the common explanation, not proven fact.

Winds

There are four winds, four of each tile. Each shows the Chinese character for its compass direction: 東 East, 南 South, 西 West and 北 North, and American sets add the letter. American players list them as N, E, W, S, so "NEWS" is the usual shorthand; the traditional Chinese order is East, South, West, North. In American play the winds have no suit.

Dragons

There are three dragons, four of each. In Chinese sets, Red shows 中 (zhong), meaning "center" or "middle," and Green shows 發 (fa), meaning "to get," as in getting rich, which is why Western books often call it "fortune." In Chinese the White Dragon is bai ban, and bai means "white." Many American sets draw the Red and Green Dragons as actual dragons instead.

The White Dragon was originally blank. Once tiles were made of a single solid material, a blank face was hard to tell from the back, so a rectangular frame became common. American players call it Soap, because it tends to look like a bar of soap.

Each dragon goes with a suit

• Red Dragon goes with Craks.
• Green Dragon goes with Bams.
• White Dragon (Soap) goes with Dots.

A memory aid: Bams are mostly green and Craks usually have red characters, which leaves Soap for Dots. The pairing matters whenever a hand asks for a dragon that matches, or does not match, a suit.

Soap as zero

In hands that need a zero, such as the hands built around the current year, Soap stands in for the 0. It is the only tile ever used as zero, and in that role it has no suit.

Flowers (and seasons in other styles)

American sets have eight flowers. In Chinese and Hong Kong styles these are four flowers (plum, orchid, chrysanthemum and bamboo) and four seasons, used as bonus tiles. In American mahjong all eight are simply Flowers: the artwork varies, some show seasons, but any flower matches any other and their numbers do not matter. Flowers have no suit, and because there are eight, they are the only tile you can collect five of without a joker.

Jokers

The eight jokers are what make a set American. A joker can stand in for any tile in a pung, kong, quint or sextet, but never as a single tile or in a pair. Jokers may not be passed during the Charleston, and a discarded joker cannot be claimed. See American mahjong joker rules for the finer points.

Cheat sheet: every tile type

Tile	Nicknames	In a 152-tile set	How it is used in American play
Bams 1 to 9	Bam, bamboo, sticks; the 1 Bam is "Bird"	36 (four of each)	Number suit; goes with the Green Dragon
Craks 1 to 9	Crak, characters, wan	36 (four of each)	Number suit; goes with the Red Dragon
Dots 1 to 9	Dot, circles, balls	36 (four of each)	Number suit; goes with Soap
Winds: North, East, West, South	N, E, W, S; "NEWS"	16 (four of each)	No suit; used in hands that call for winds
Red Dragon	Red; D on the card	4	Matches Craks
Green Dragon	Green; D on the card	4	Matches Bams
White Dragon	Soap; D or 0 on the card	4	Matches Dots; also the only tile used as zero
Flowers	Flower; F on the card	8	No suit; all flowers are interchangeable
Jokers	Joker	8	Wild in groups of three or more identical tiles; never in singles or pairs
Total		152

Shopping for tiles? Check that a set has eight jokers and eight flowers; our American mahjong sets are a good place to compare styles.

Mahjong terms: a glossary of table talk

• Pung, kong: three or four identical tiles.
• Quint, sextet: five or six identical tiles. Since there are only four of each suit tile, these need jokers unless they are made of flowers.
• Pair, single: two identical tiles, or one tile on its own. Jokers can never fill either.
• Exposure: a pung, kong, quint or sextet made by claiming (calling) a discard and laid face up. Pairs and singles cannot be exposed before you declare mahjong.
• Exposed and concealed: on the card, X means you may make exposures; C means none before you declare mahjong, though you may still win on a discard.
• Charleston: the exchange of tiles before play. The first Charleston (right, across, left) is required; the second (left, across, right) is optional and any player may stop it. See our Charleston guide.
• Blind pass: on the first left and last right pass, passing along tiles you just received without looking at them.
• Courtesy pass: an optional exchange of up to three tiles with the player across, after the Charleston.
• Naming the discard: saying each discard aloud as you throw it, such as "Soap" or "Flower."
• Hot tile: a tile not yet discarded when the wall is getting short, so more likely to complete someone's hand. A "hot wall" is a house rule, not an official one.
• Joker exchange: on your turn, trading the matching real tile for a joker in any player's exposure.
• Dead hand: a hand that can no longer win, for example with the wrong number of tiles or an exposure that fits no hand on the card. The player stops playing but still pays the winner.
• Wall game: the wall runs out and nobody wins, so no one pays.
• Self-pick: winning on a tile you drew from the wall. Everyone pays double.
• Jokerless: a winning hand with no jokers, which doubles its value. Hands in the Singles and Pairs and Quints sections do not get this bonus.
• Mahj: short for mah jongg; what you say to declare a win, and a nickname for the game.
• Twittering of the sparrows: a traditional name for the shuffle, often linked to the sound of clattering tiles.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the White Dragon called Soap?

On most sets it looks like a plain bar of soap. It is still the White Dragon, it goes with Dots, and it doubles as zero.

What does the character on the Crak tiles mean?

The lower character, 萬 (wan), means "ten thousand." The upper one is the Chinese numeral for the tile's number.

Are all the flowers the same in American mahjong?

Yes. The pictures differ, but any flower counts as a flower, including tiles that show seasons.

Can a joker be used as a single tile or in a pair?

No. Under National Mah Jongg League rules, jokers only work in groups of three or more identical tiles.

Next, learn the card, which lists this year's winning hands. Our guide to reading the American mahjong card shows how its numbers, letters and colors map onto these tiles.