Traditionally, the game consists of 144 pieces which were made with ivory but after a global ban on the usage of ivory, there were no ivory tiles available. Similarly, Mahjong Connect is also associated with the original game but has its own rules that make the game different from the original version, yet maintaining the characteristics of parent game. The game was brought to Western world at a very later stage and by that time even Chinese Mahjong had a lot of variations and original version was played at very few places. The game was exclusively played in China till the end of 18th century and then the game was adopted by its neighboring country, Japan.ĭue to this exclusivity and the restriction of Mahjong as a royal game, historians do not have a very clear picture about the evolution of the game. Mahjong is well known as a game that demands skills, patience and strategy. It’s also sometimes believed to symbolize the higher or spiritual order of beings.The original Mahjong game is originated in China around 2,000 years back and historians suggest that the game originated somewhere near Shanghai region. T he white dragon 白 (bái, white) represents 白板 (bái ban, whiteboard), which means freedom from corruption, a miss in archery, or the Confucian virtue of filial piety. The green dragon 發 (fā, wealth) is part of the saying, 發財 (fā cái) which translates to “get rich,” but it also represents an archer releasing their draw and the Confucian virtue of sincerity. The red dragon 中 (zhōng, center) represents 紅中 (hóng zhōng), which means passing the imperial exam, a hit in archery, and the Confucian virtue of benevolence.
The Three Dragons have several meanings derived from the ancient imperial exam, archery, and the cardinal virtues of the famous Chinese philosopher Confucius. Like the Character suit, it may be best to familiarize one’s self with the wind direction in Chinese characters. The Three Dragons contain 12 tiles with 4 of each of the three variations: The Red, Green, and White Dragon. The Four Winds contain 16 tiles and are inscribed with the Chinese characters for the four compass directions, representing the four winds: East, West, North, and South. The Honor Suits: The Winds and The Dragons Before playing, it’s recommended to master at least the numbers 1-9 in Chinese first. This suit is also sometimes called the wàn suite. The character on top of each tile shows the number while the character under it is the Chinese symbol of wàn which means 10,000. The tiles that show Chinese characters for figures 1 through 9 (man-zu) make up 36 out of the 144 tiles in the set. The stone represents a 筒 (tóng), which is a coin with a square hole in the middle. Just like bamboo sticks, stones also have four of each piece that are numbered 1 to 9. The early Mahjong players depict the stones as coins or shields. This suit is formed by the wheels (pin-zu) which may also be called balls or circles and contains 36 tiles of stones. One is usually in a symbol of a peacock or sparrow and people sometimes call this, “bird,” instead of “one stick.” Bamboo sticks represent the strings that ancient copper coins in sets of 100 or 1,000 were strung on to. There are 36 tiles for Bamboo Sticks (sou-zu) and each has four tiles of the numbers, one to nine. Here are the different kinds of Mahjong tiles: Lastly, there are also optional suits, which are different kinds of flowers. Aside from the three main suits, each Mahjong set also has two kinds of honor suits, namely Winds (compass directions) and Dragons. One Mahjong set typically contains 144 tiles with four of each three suits, namely Bamboo (String), Stones (Wheels), and Characters (Numbers). It’s a four-player game that is well-known throughout Asia and may be played as a casual game with family and friends or as a way to gamble. The origin of Mahjong (麻將) dates back to early civilization and remains popular to this day.
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