# The American additions

[Canonical page](https://jongg.app/tiles/american-additions)

The corner numerals, the wind letters and the jokers that American play added to the Chinese tiles.

## What it means

A Chinese set says everything in Chinese. The small Western numeral in the corner of a suited tile and the Latin letter above a wind were added for export in the 1920s, when the game crossed to the United States: Joseph P. Babcock's rules of 1920 and the sets he had made carried both, so a player who read neither script could still follow a hand.

The jokers came later. They entered American play in the 1960s and are a feature of the League's yearly card, which lets a joker stand in a matching group of three or more identical tiles, never singles or pairs. There are 8 of them in a game. Each set here draws a family of ten, and every deal shows eight of them, so a joker is a small surprise; the word JOKER beneath the drawing is locked, in the set's darkest ink.

The index numerals here are drawn from Fraunces, with every digit at the same width so a rack lines up; the Han characters from LXGW WenKai TC Bold. Both faces are published under the SIL Open Font License.

## The tiles, one by one

Screen 8 of 9 in What's on the tile.

A historian's review of the history on these screens is pending.

- [Previous: 麻雀, the sparrow](https://jongg.app/tiles/sparrow)
- [Next: The 1937 card](https://jongg.app/tiles/the-1937-card)

## Keep exploring

- [What's on the tile](https://jongg.app/tiles)
- [Print what's on the tile](https://jongg.app/print/whats-on-the-tile)
- [Explore the tile sets](https://jongg.app/sets)