How Many Flowers Are in American Mahjong?
By Roxanne Corbett, founder of Mischief Mahj
An American Mahjong set has 8 flowers, and in the American game they all count as the same tile.
Flowers in the American game
The 8 flowers in an American set are interchangeable. When a hand on the card calls for flowers, any flower satisfies it, no matter which season or plant is painted on the tile. Many hands on the yearly card use them, which is why experienced players hold flowers early even when they do not yet know which hand they are chasing.
Because flowers are all one tile for matching purposes, eight copies effectively exist of a single tile. That makes flower groups some of the most reachable in the game, and a flower pung or kong is often the first group a beginner completes.
How that differs from Chinese Mahjong
In most Chinese versions, flowers are bonus tiles. You set them aside when drawn, draw a replacement, and they score extra points at the end; they never form part of the hand itself.
In the American game flowers are working tiles. They sit in your rack, join groups, and count toward your 14 exactly like any suit tile. If you learned a Chinese style first, this is one of the two adjustments to make, along with the jokers.