American mahjong
Dots, bams and craks
The three numbered suits of American mahjong, and how to read the rank and the suit on each tile.
What it means
Three suits of nine ranks each, four copies of every tile. The dots show their rank as circles, which is why the suit is also called coins or circles. The bams show it as bamboo sticks, with the bird on the 1. The craks write it in a Chinese numeral over 萬.
The coin dots and the bamboo sticks are drawn from the same plan on every set, so a 9 Dot in one set has its nine circles in the same places as a 9 Dot in another. A set may ornament a coin's band or a stick's nodes; the count and the places never move.
The small Western numeral in the corner is an American addition, and it is the same on every tile of a rank across the three suits, so it helps you read the rank. Check the suit symbol too: the numeral alone cannot distinguish bams, dots and craks.
Every set here is built in two layers. The information is locked: the numerals, the characters, the coins and sticks, the Soap's frame and the word JOKER sit in the same places in the same shapes on every set, and a set only lends them its three inks. The art is the set's own: its material and colors, the 1 Bam's bird, its jokers and flowers, the back, and the room the game is played in.
The tiles, one by one
Screen 3 of 9 in What's on the tile.
A historian's review of the history on these screens is pending.