Mahjong Game Sets - A Classic Board Game

Mahjong game sets are as diverse as the game is complicated. You can find the sets made out of marble, ivory, bone, wood, and plastic resin. The tiles of a full set are in three categories.

The first sets of tiles in a full mahjong set are the suit tiles. The suit tiles are the tiles which consist of dots, lines, and characters, depicting a suit, similar to a deck of cards. Each set of suit tiles in the mahjong set, consists of four sets of nine dot tiles, four sets of nine line tiles, and four sets of nine character tiles.

The honor tiles consist of four sets of three dragon tiles, a red dragon, a green dragon, and a white dragon. The white dragon tile is sometimes depicted simply with a blank tile. Also included in the honor tiles, are the directional wind tiles. There are four sets of four wind tiles, each depicting a direction the wind blows, in other words, east, west, north, and south.

The bonus tiles are just that, a bonus. If you choose a tile, and it turns out to be a bonus tile, you simply put it aside, face up, to be played later, and draw another tile. The bonus tiles usually depict a flower, with a number, going from one to four; there are eight of these tiles, two sets of four.

In some mahjong game sets, you will also find a set of tiles that depict the seasons, winter, spring, fall, and of course summer. While the mahjong game sets can vary slightly, they will generally consist of at least one hundred and thirty six tiles, and up to one hundred and forty four tiles.

Also available, are mahjong game sets that are actually decks of cards, however, the tiles are preferred as you get the actual feel of the game, as well as the traditional sound of the tiles clinking together.

The game of mahjong is a complicated game, which dates back four thousand years, to a time when only royalty played the game. It has been passed on through the generations and there are now several versions of the game. Included in these versions, are the Chinese version, American version, Taiwan version, Vietnamese and Japanese versions.

In every version of the mahjong game sets, there will be included different accessories, such a tile holders, and dealer score cards.