Rules · 3 min read

Mahjong terms

A short list of the terms you will meet often. The Bahasa term the app uses is shown in brackets. Come back here any time you forget one.

Tiles and suits

tile (ubin) — One piece in a game of mahjong. A full set has 144 tiles.

Dots (Bulat) — A suit of tiles numbered 1 to 9, drawn as circles.

Bamboo (Bambu) — A suit of tiles numbered 1 to 9, drawn as bamboo sticks.

Characters (Karakter) — A suit of tiles numbered 1 to 9, marked with Chinese characters.

winds (angin) — Four tiles without numbers: East (Timur), South (Selatan), West (Barat) and North (Utara).

dragons (naga) — Three tiles without numbers: Red Dragon (Naga Merah), Green Dragon (Naga Hijau) and White Dragon (Naga Putih).

flowers (bunga) — Four special tiles numbered 1 to 4. They are not used in your hand; they are set aside at once and add 1 point.

seasons (musim) — Four more special tiles numbered 1 to 4. They work just like flowers.

Sets and hands

set — A group of three or four tiles that follows a pattern. A winning hand needs 4 sets.

Pong — Three identical tiles.

Chow — Three consecutive numbered tiles of the same suit. Winds and dragons cannot make a Chow.

Kong — Four identical tiles. It counts as one set.

pair / eyes (pasangan / mata) — Two identical tiles. A winning hand needs exactly one pair.

hand (tangan) — The tiles you hold. Usually 13 tiles, and 14 right after you draw.

exposed / concealed (terbuka / tertutup) — An exposed set is completed with another player's discard and laid on the table. A concealed set is one you form yourself from the tiles in your hand.

How play goes

wall (dinding) — The row of tiles not yet drawn. Each turn you draw one tile from here.

discard (buangan) — The tile you throw to the middle of the table at the end of your turn.

first seat (jalan pertama) — The player who takes the first turn. They sit in the East seat.

self-drawn win (menang sendiri) — Winning with a tile you drew from the wall yourself, not from a discard.

Strategy

ready (siap) — Your hand needs just one more tile to win. You are waiting for that tile.

1 step from ready (1 langkah dari siap) — Your hand needs one more right tile to become ready.

win chance (peluang jadi) — An estimate of how likely your hand is to become a winning hand, as a percentage.

accuracy (akurasi) — How good your discard choices were compared with the best choice, as a percentage.