Some Fundamentals of MahJong

Points on Choosing a Set and a Style of Play

By  R.F. Foster

Reprinted from the April 1924 Issue of ASIA Magazine

PAGE 1

One of the first essentials for the enjoyment of MahJong is a good set of tiles.  Many prefer those of Chinese manufacture on account of atmosphere that attaches to objects from the East.  Tiles of domestic manufacture have the advantage of being more uniform and more easily replaced if lost or broken.  Their thinness is no longer an objection, now that racks are so generally used.

  The Chinese tiles vary in both width and length.  The three varieties commonly found are here shown in exact size.

  The one at the left is known as the standard, and eighteen tiles of this size will be exactly the length of a standard rack.  Players who use them will obviate the necessity of counting the tiles when building the walls.  Those who play the three-hand game a good deal prefer the smaller sizes, since the walls are not so long.  

  The Chinese are a nation of carvers, and they make many sets that are works of art.  But the customs appraise the tiles by the thickness of the bone in proportion to the bamboo back.  There are three standard thicknesses in common use-3, 5, and 7 millimeters respectively.

  It follows naturally that the best workmanship is put upon the thicker bone.  The carving is more uniform, the circles are better alined and the English numerals are all of the same size and design.  The better sets are hand-painted, but the cheaper are often only stained.  To the unpractised eye the difference is not apparent, but, when one comes to wash the tiles, it will be found out.  An important point is the mortise that holds bone and wood together.  A good sharp mortise is invariably a mark of the better class of tiles.  In the cheaper sets this mortise is merely an insert, and the tiles frequently come apart.

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