mahjong tile

A thick, blocky tile used in the game of mahjong. Mahjong tiles are traditionally made of bamboo and bone, although most modern tiles are made of plastic.

A mahjong set usually consists of 144 tiles. They are:

• 108 suited tiles. There are three suits, each numbered 1 to 9 with four tiles each number, thus 36 per suit:
• Circles
• Bamboos (1 Bamboo actually has a bird pictured to deter cheating by adding more bamboo lines)
• Characters (Chinese numerals with 萬, man/wan written on the lower part)
• 28 honor tiles that are suitless:
• 16 Wind tiles, four each for North (北), South (南), East (東), and West (西).
• 12 Dragon tiles, with four tiles for each "color":
• Red Dragon, symbolized by a red 中
• Green Dragon, symbolized by a green 發
• White Dragon, which is blank in Japanese sets (Some other sets have White Dragon tiles with a decorative blue rectangle on each to distinguish them from replacement tiles.)
• 8 optional "flower" tiles, so called because they are often depicted with flowers (many sets have them, but some including Japanese sets don't):
• 4 tiles representing actual flowers: plum (梅), orchid (蘭), chrysanthemum (菊), and bamboo (竹)
• 4 tiles representing seasons: spring (春), summer (夏), autumn (秋), and winter (冬)