Mahjong equipment

Revision as of 15:16, 19 February 2014 by KyuuAA (talk | contribs) (→‎Mats)

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.

The game is also available online, video games, and software.

Japanese tiles

Japanese mahojng sets usually come with 144 tiles in a case. While 136 of the tile 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.

 
Standard Japanese mahjong tiles

Man

                 
Ii wan Ryan wan San wan Suu wan Uu wan Ro wan Chii wan Pa wan Chuu man

Manzu, or man/wan for short, composes the character tiles. The Chinese characters or Japanese kanji are used to indicate the numbers 1-9. While some sets have the alphanumeric representations of the numbers superscript on the upper right corners, it is actually best to remember the kanji for 1-9. Standard Japanese sets lack these alphanumeric superscripts.

Pin

                 
Ii pin Ryan pin San pin Suu pin Uu pin Ro pin Chii pin Pa pin Chuu pin

Pinzu, or pin 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 Ro sou Chii sou Pa sou Chuu sou

Souzu, or sou, composes the bamboo or stick tiles. Ordered 1-9, and 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

       
Ton Nan Shaa Pei

Kazehai are the wind tiles. They are indicated as 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 are the dragon tiles. They are known as the dragons: white, green, and red. Just noting their color is sufficient enough here.

Mats

 
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.

Mats come in various sizes, but they're all square shaped. Junk mats provide a plastic perimeter with slots for point sticks.

Tenbou

Point sticks are used to keep track of scores. In a sense, these sticks may be viewed as "money". Although, some gambling games may actually tie these point sticks to money.

In the event of honba, players use 100 point sticks and add them to the round indicator. These merely serve as markers, and when a dealer rotation occur, players keep their 100 point sticks used to keep track of the honba count, after a dealer rotation.

  100 point stick
  1000 point stick
  5000 point stick
  10000 point stick

At the start of the game, players begin with the regular 25,000 points:

  • A single 10,000 stick
  • Two 5,000 sticks
  • Four 1,000 sticks
  • Ten 100 sticks

Naturally, if players wish to change the starting value for the game, they may do so by adjusting this distribution.

Round indicator

Automatic tables

Automatic mahjong tables are used to expedite the process of tile shuffling and wall building.

External links