Mahjong equipment: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:45, 24 September 2024

A physical game of Japanese mahjong is normally played with a set of 136 tiles, along with a few other pieces of equipment, such as dice and game mats. When playing online, there is no need to consider equipment.

Japanese tiles

Japanese mahjong sets usually come with 144 tiles in a case. Typically, Japanese tiles are individually about the size 16 mm x 19 mm x 26 mm (WLH), capable of standing on their own.

For Japanese mahjong itself, 136 of the 144 tiles are used. This leaves 8 tiles left unused:

4 red five dora: one for manzu and souzu, and two for pinzu. To use these, replace the regular fives with the red fives of the corresponding suit. A game is typically played with 3 red fives, leaving the second red 5p out of the game.
4 flower tiles. These are not used in Japanese mahjong.

Of the remaining 136 tiles, there are 34 unique types of tiles, with 4 copies of each type. The tiles may be subgrouped into further categories:

Number tiles (27 types): There are three numbered suits - Manzu, Pinzu, Souzu. Each suit has tiles numbered from 1-9. The three numbered suits are mostly identical, but each tile group must be formed with one suit (though a hand can have multiple suits). Number tiles can be used in sequences.
Honor tiles (7 types): There are two distinct groups of honor tiles. All honor tiles cannot be used in sequences.
- Winds (4 types): East/South/West/North. Wind tiles are unique as their value changes with the round wind and seat wind.
- Dragons (3 types): White (Haku)/Green (Hatsu)/Red (Chun).

All tiles listed below follow the order used for dora.

Man


Ii wan	Ryan wan	San wan	Suu wan	Uu wan	Rou wan	Chii wan	Paa wan	Kyuu wan

Manzu 「萬子」, or man/wan 「萬」 for short, composes the character tiles. Each tile displays two characters. A Chinese character or Japanese kanji are used to indicate the numbers 1-9 on the upper side of each tile. The lower character on each tile means "ten thousand". While some sets have the alphanumeric representations of the numbers superscript on the upper right corners, standard Japanese sets lack these alphanumeric superscripts. For such sets, it is best to memorize the kanji for 1-9.

Pin


Ii pin	Ryan pin	San pin	Suu pin	Uu pin	Rou pin	Chii pin	Paa pin	Kyuu pin

Pinzu 「筒子」, or pin 「筒」 for short, composes the coin or circle tiles. The symbols represent the use of coins.

Sou


Ii sou	Ryan sou	San sou	Suu sou	Uu sou	Rou sou	Chii sou	Paa sou	Kyuu sou

Souzu 「索子」, or sou 「索」, composes the bamboo or stick tiles. Ordered 1-9, it is special to note the 1-sou tile which is marked with a large bird instead of 1-stick, to discourage cheating by tile alteration.

Winds


Ton	Nan	Shaa	Pei

Kazehai 「風牌」, or winds, include four types of tiles: East, South, West, and North. The wind tiles correlate to the player seating, and so therefore, it is best to remember the wind tiles in the East, South, West, and North order, as they correspond to the seating order. Likewise, this is significant to note for yakuhai.

Sangenpai


Haku	Hatsu	Chun

Sangenpai 「三元牌」, or dragon tiles, consist of white, green, and red. Just noting their color is sufficient enough for play.

Mats

Mahjong mats are materials used to provide mahjong tiles a softer surface to slide all over, thus protecting the tiles from wear and tear. Mats come in various sizes, but they are all square shaped. Junk mats provide a plastic perimeter with slots for point sticks.

Tenbou

Main article: Tenbou

Tenbou 「点棒」 are the point sticks used to keep track of points. When points are exchanged between players, tenbou are used to facilitate said exchange. Some gambling games may actually tie these point sticks to money.

Chips (e.g. poker chips) may be used instead of tenbou, so long as their values are agreed beforehand.

Dice

Dice are used to determine the wall break at the start of each hand.

Round indicator

A dealer marker is used throughout the game to either indicate the current dealer, or the initial dealer. In the case of the latter, the dice are used to indicate the current dealer, as it gets passed around from one dealer to the next. It is also used to indicate the current round, either the East Round or South Round.

Automatic tables

Main article: Automatic mahjong table

Automatic mahjong tables are used to expedite the process of tile shuffling and wall building. With the push of a button, players can save time as the wall building process is performed by machine.

Playing cards

Mahjong playing cards are an alternative medium to play the game, where cards are used in place of tiles. They are considerably cheaper than mahjong tiles, but tiles are considered the standard way to play, since playing cards are more cumbersome to use.

References

External links

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Of course, the proper equipment is needed in order to play [[Japanese mahjong]].  Naturally, mahjong tiles are used.  It is possible to play the game using printed cards; yet, it is actually cumbersome to do so.  In practice, tiles have been the most effective way to play the game in person.
+A physical game of [[Japanese mahjong]] is normally played with a set of 136 tiles, along with a few other pieces of equipment, such as dice and game mats. When [[playing online]], there is no need to consider equipment.
-The game is also available online, video games, and software.
 ==Japanese tiles==
-Japanese mahjong sets usually come with 144 tiles in a case.  For every tile, there is four of each type.  Usually, every tile is dual colored, with every tile having the same colored back side; and these colors vary from one set to another.  Some sets come with tiles whose front and back side are of the same color.  Even then, a specialized set called a "Washizu set" features 3 out of 4 tiles using transparent acrylic material.
+Japanese mahjong sets usually come with 144 tiles in a case. Typically, Japanese tiles are individually about the size 16 mm x 19 mm x 26 mm (WLH), capable of standing on their own.
-For Japanese mahjong, 136 out of 144 tiles are used.  The extra tiles are four red five [[dora]] tiles: one for manzu and souzu, and two for pinzu.  To use these tiles, regular five tiles are switched with the red dora.  The remaining four tiles are four flower tiles, which are not used at all.  Typically, Japanese tiles are individually about the size 16 mm x 19 mm x 26 mm (WLH).  Like most mahjong tile sets, these tiles are capable of standing on their own.
+For Japanese mahjong itself, 136 of the 144 tiles are used. This leaves 8 tiles left unused:
+* 4 [[red five]] dora: one for manzu and souzu, and two for pinzu. To use these, replace the regular fives with the red fives of the corresponding suit. A game is typically played with 3 red fives, leaving the second red 5p out of the game.
+* 4 flower tiles. These are not used in Japanese mahjong.
-The tiles may be subgrouped in a couple different ways.  The first distinction is the separation by suits and tile types.  Three groups of tiles form the numbered suits, while another group form the [[Jihai|honor tiles]], which can be further subdivided as [[sangenpai|dragons]] and [[kazehai|winds]].  Within the numbered suits, the tiles numbered 2 through 8 are composed of the [[tanyaohai|simples]], while the 1's and 9's are separated as the [[terminal|terminals]].
+Of the remaining 136 tiles, there are 34 unique types of tiles, with 4 copies of each type. The tiles may be subgrouped into further categories:
+* Number tiles (27 types): There are three numbered suits - Manzu, Pinzu, Souzu. Each suit has tiles numbered from 1-9. The three numbered suits are mostly identical, but each [[tile group]] must be formed with one suit (though a hand can have multiple suits). Number tiles can be used in [[sequence]]s.
+* [[Honor]] tiles (7 types): There are two distinct groups of honor tiles. All honor tiles cannot be used in sequences.
+** Winds (4 types): East/South/West/North. Wind tiles are unique as their value changes with the round wind and seat wind.
+** Dragons (3 types): White (Haku)/Green (Hatsu)/Red (Chun).
-All tiles listed here follow the order used for [[dora]].
+All tiles listed below follow the order used for [[dora]].
 [[Image:Mahjong_Tiles.jpg|thumb|240px|Standard Japanese mahjong tiles]]
@@ Line 27: / Line 31: @@
 {{souzu}}
-'''Souzu''' {{kana|索子}}, or '''sou''' {{kana|索}}, composes the bamboo or stick tiles. Ordered 1-9, it is special to note the 1-sou tile which is marked with a large bird instead of 1-stick to discourage cheating by tile alteration.
+'''Souzu''' {{kana|索子}}, or '''sou''' {{kana|索}}, composes the bamboo or stick tiles. Ordered 1-9, it is special to note the 1-sou tile which is marked with a large bird instead of 1-stick, to discourage cheating by tile alteration.
-===Kazehai===
+===Winds===
 {| class="wikitable" width=26%
 |-
@@ Line 37: / Line 41: @@
 |}
-'''[[Kazehai]]''' {{kana|風牌}} are the wind tiles. They are indicated as East, South, West, and North. The wind tiles correlate to the [[Jikaze|player seating]], and so therefore, it is best to remember the wind tiles in the East, South, West, and North order, as they correspond to the seating order.  Likewise, this is significant to note for [[yakuhai]].
+'''[[Kazehai]]''' {{kana|風牌}}, or winds, include four types of tiles: East, South, West, and North. The wind tiles correlate to the [[Jikaze|player seating]], and so therefore, it is best to remember the wind tiles in the East, South, West, and North order, as they correspond to the seating order. Likewise, this is significant to note for [[yakuhai]].
 ===Sangenpai===
@@ Line 47: / Line 51: @@
 |}
-'''[[Sangenpai]]''' {{kana|三元牌}} are the dragon tiles. They are known as the dragons: white, green, and red. Just noting their color is sufficient enough here.
+'''[[Sangenpai]]''' {{kana|三元牌}}, or dragon tiles, consist of white, green, and red. Just noting their color is sufficient enough for play.
 ==Mats==
 [[File:Junk_Mat.jpg|thumb|240px|right|Mahjong mat used to protect tiles from hard surfaces.]]
-Mahjong mats are materials used to provide mahjong tiles a softer surface to slide all over.  Naturally, the intent is to prevent or minimize the effect of friction onto the mahjong tiles.  After prolonged play, the tiles may eventually wear themselves out and no longer be deemed usable.
+Mahjong mats are materials used to provide mahjong tiles a softer surface to slide all over, thus protecting the tiles from wear and tear. Mats come in various sizes, but they are all square shaped. Junk mats provide a plastic perimeter with slots for point sticks.
-Mats come in various sizes, but they're all square shaped.  Junk mats provide a plastic perimeter with slots for point sticks.
 ==Tenbou==
 {{main|Tenbou}}
-'''Tenbou''' {{kana|点棒}} are the '''point sticks''' used to keep track of scores.  In a sense, these sticks may be viewed as the game's "currency".  When points are exchanged between players, they may either give exact values or give values while requiring some change.  Some gambling games may actually tie these point sticks to money.
+'''Tenbou''' {{kana|点棒}} are the '''point sticks''' used to keep track of points. When points are exchanged between players, tenbou are used to facilitate said exchange. Some gambling games may actually tie these point sticks to money.
+Chips (e.g. poker chips) may be used instead of tenbou, so long as their values are agreed beforehand.
-==Chips==
+==Dice==
+Dice are used to determine the [[wall]] break at the start of each hand.
 ==Round indicator==
 [[Image:Dealer marker.jpg|thumb|right|Dealer marker, showing the East face.]]
-A dealer marker is used throughout the game to either indicate the current dealer, or the initial dealer.  In the case of the latter, the dice are used to indicate the current dealer, as it gets passed around from one dealer to the next.  It is also used to indicate the current round, either the [[East Round]] or [[South Round]].
+A dealer marker is used throughout the game to either indicate the current dealer, or the initial dealer. In the case of the latter, the dice are used to indicate the current dealer, as it gets passed around from one dealer to the next. It is also used to indicate the current round, either the [[East Round]] or [[South Round]].
 ==Automatic tables==
@@ Line 73: / Line 78: @@
 == Playing cards ==
-'''Mahjong playing cards''' is an alternative material for the game.  Mahjong tile faces are printed as playing cards.  They are considerably cheaper than mahjong tiles, but the game is not usually played with cards.
+'''Mahjong playing cards''' are an alternative medium to play the game, where cards are used in place of tiles. They are considerably cheaper than mahjong tiles, but tiles are considered the standard way to play, since playing cards are more cumbersome to use.
 ==References==