Mahjong tiles
Mahjong tiles explained
A full Chinese mahjong set has 144 tiles: three suits of number tiles, winds and dragons, and eight flower and season tiles. Outlaw Mahjong keeps only the number tiles: three suits, ranks 1 to 9, four copies of each, 108 mahjong tiles in all. That is also the number of heroes at Liangshan.
The three suits
Characters万子
Also called Cracks. The top glyph is the Chinese numeral, the red 万 below it means ten thousand.
- 一万
- 二万
- 三万
- 四万
- 五万
- 六万
- 七万
- 八万
- 九万
Dots筒子
Also called Circles or Coins: each ring is a coin, and 1 Dot is a single large ornate wheel.
Bamboo条子
Also called Sticks: each stick is a string of coins. 1 Bamboo is traditionally drawn as a bird, here a sparrow.
What the numbers do
A tile's number is its chip value: a scoring 7 adds 7 chips. The 1s and 9s are the terminals, the ends of each suit. They can't sit in the middle of a chow, but some heroes reward them, such as Hua Rong for every terminal and Lu Zhishen for every 9.
Where are the winds, dragons and flowers?
Winds and dragons are not in the deck. The flower tiles took on two new jobs: heroes are painted on flower tiles and sit on the flower rack, and the eight flowers and seasons are the rewards for skipping a blind.
Tile modifiers
Silk-bag tricks and the shop change your tiles as the run goes on. A tile can carry one enhancement, one edition and one seal at the same time.
| Name | Effect |
|---|---|
| Gold金 | Still in hand at the end of the blind: +¥3. |
| Jade玉 | ×2 Mult when scored; afterwards a 1 in 4 chance to shatter (removed from the deck for this run). |
| Iron铁 | ×1.5 Mult for each hand it stays in your hand, unplayed. |
| Dice骰 | When scored: 1 in 5 chance of +20 Mult, 1 in 15 chance of +¥20. |
| Wild百搭 | Counts as any suit, rank unchanged, for chows, pairs, pungs and kongs, and never breaks a Pure hand. |
| Stone石 | No suit or rank; always scores a flat +50 Chips. |
| Cinnabar朱 | +4 Mult when scored. |
| Name | Effect |
|---|---|
| Gilded描金 | +50 Chips. On a hero: added every hand, just before the hero's own effect, even when that effect doesn't trigger. On a tile: added each time the tile scores. |
| Lacquer朱漆 | +10 Mult. On a hero: added every hand, just before the hero's own effect, even when that effect doesn't trigger. On a tile: added each time the tile scores. |
| Emerald翡翠 | ×1.5 Mult. On a hero: applied every hand, right after the hero's own effect, even when that effect doesn't trigger. On a tile: applied each time the tile scores. |
| Ink Wash水墨 | +1 flower slot: an Ink Wash hero takes no slot, so you can take it even with a full rack (heroes only). |
| Name | Effect |
|---|---|
| Red Seal红印 | When this tile scores, its chips, mult and effects count again (non-scoring tiles don't trigger it); held tile effects (Iron or Zhu Tong’s 9s) also apply again. |
| Gold Seal金印 | +¥3 when scored. |
| Blue Seal蓝印 | Still in hand at the end of the blind: creates the formation for the last hand played (needs an empty consumable slot). |
| Purple Seal紫印 | When discarded: creates a random trick (needs an empty consumable slot). |