Lesson 1 of 6

The tiles

A set has 152 tiles. Most of them are numbered one to nine in three suits (families of tiles): Bams (bamboo sticks), Craks (a number over a red character) and Dots (circles). There are four of every numbered tile.

One, five and nine in Bams, then Craks, then Dots. The 1 Bam is drawn as a bird on most sets.

Then come the honors, the tiles without numbers: four Winds (North, East, South, West) and three Dragons (Red, Green, and the white one, which American players call Soap). Four of each of those too.

North, East, South, West, then Red Dragon, Green Dragon and Soap.

Finally, eight Flowers and eight Jokers. Flowers are all alike for our purposes. A Joker can stand in for a missing tile in a group of three or more alike, never in a pair.

A Flower and a Joker. Flowers come in eight pictures; for play they all count the same.

The first drill on this site is simply naming tiles until it is instant. Everything else gets easier once that is.

How many Jokers are in a set?