The 152 tiles
A regulation American set holds 152 tiles: 108 suited, 28 honors, 8 flowers and 8 jokers. American sets are easy to spot — the tiles carry Arabic numerals and Latin letters in the corner so players who do not read Chinese characters can identify them at a glance.
| Group | What it contains | Tiles | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dots | Circles, 1 through 9, four of each | 36 | The circles represent Chinese coins. The rank is printed in a corner. |
| Bams | Bamboo, 1 through 9, four of each | 36 | The 1 Bamboo is the bird tile; designs range from a sparrow to a diving crane. |
| Craks | Characters, 1 through 9, four of each | 36 | The numeral above, the character for ten thousand below. |
| Winds | North, East, West, South — four of each | 16 | Marked N, E, W, S. East is always the dealer. |
| Dragons | Red, Green, White — four of each | 12 | White is universally called Soap. Many sets draw a literal red or green dragon instead of the character. |
| Flowers | Eight tiles, four designs duplicated | 8 | Unlike Asian variants these are ordinary tiles used inside hands, not bonus tiles drawn and replaced. |
| Jokers | Wild tiles | 8 | Unique to the American game. Restricted — see the joker section. |
| Total | 152 | Some sets ship extra blank spares; blanks are not part of the 152. |
Dots, Bams, Craks
Three suits numbered 1 to 9, four copies of each. There are no sequences in American mahjong, so you group identical tiles rather than runs.
Winds & Dragons
Sixteen winds and twelve dragons. These anchor the Winds & Dragons section of the card and turn up in many year hands.
The blank white dragon is called Soap and is written as 0 in card notation.
Two matching sets
Eight flower tiles: four designs, each appearing twice. Common pairings are the four seasons with the four gentlemanly plants.
Flowers are interchangeable — any flower satisfies an F on the card.
Jokers
Eight wild tiles, the feature that most separates American mahjong from every other variant. Powerful, and heavily regulated.
Never pass a joker in the Charleston. Never use one for a single or a pair.