Mahjong: Difference between revisions

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The set of tiles contains three regular Suits, with individual tiles having a value from one to nine:

* '''Characters''' (萬子/万子), sometimes called "cracks" or "craks", are classical Chinese numerals. Each tile has the specific value written on top (usually in blue), and the ''wán'' character for "ten thousand" or "countless" (signifying prosperity) on the bottom in red. Modern sets are commonly marked with Arabic numerals in addition to the Chinese ones. There are in fact ~~three~~ possible ''wán'' characters; the first two are 萬 and 万, and the ~~third~~ is 卍, no longer seen on Western sets [[No Swastikas|for reasons which should be obvious]].

* '''Characters''' (萬子/万子), sometimes called "cracks" or "craks", are classical Chinese numerals. Each tile has the specific value written on top (usually in blue), and the ''wán'' character for "ten thousand" or "countless" (signifying prosperity) on the bottom in red. Modern sets are commonly marked with Arabic numerals in addition to the Chinese ones. There are in fact four possible ''wán'' characters; the first two (the most common ones) are 萬 and 万, and the the other are 卍 (no longer seen on Western sets [[No Swastikas|for reasons which should be obvious]]) and 品 (both of which are rare).

* '''Sticks''' (索子), also called "bamboo" or "bams", use little bamboo rods to represent the number. Traditionally, the one of sticks has a picture of a sparrow perched on it.

** There are several bird variants for the 1, including cranes, peacocks, and even an owl.