Flower Tiles

What Is Flower Tiles

Flower Tiles are a set of up to 8 extra tiles not found in the basic 136-tile Mahjong set (which includes only suits and honors). These Flower Tiles typically depict:

• Four Seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter
• Four Plants: Plum, Orchid, Chrysanthemum, Bamboo

They do not belong to any of the usual suits (Dots, Bams, Craks) and are not honor tiles (winds or dragons). Instead, they are considered bonus tiles: Whenever you draw a Flower Tile from the wall, you immediately expose it (usually placing it face-up to one side) and then draw a replacement tile from the back (or another specified part) of the wall to maintain your hand size at 13 (before winning).

The Tile Pattern of Flower Tiles

Exposed, Not in Your Hand: Unlike ordinary suit and honor tiles, Flower Tiles do not remain in your 14-tile winning hand. They are set aside as soon as you draw them, and you pick a replacement tile. Thus, they do not form melds or pairs and do not affect the structure of your sets (chows/pungs/kongs).

Scoring Bonus: In Chinese Mahjong, each Flower Tile you have exposed at the time you declare win yields a +1 fan bonus.

Example: If you have exposed 2 Flower Tiles over the course of the hand and then declare Mahjong, you might get +2 fan (1 fan for each exposed Flower), in addition to any other patterns in your hand.

Fan Value of Flower Tiles

Flower Tiles: 1 fan per Flower. Because these tiles are effectively outside of your 14-tile hand and automatically replaced, they serve purely as a potential scoring boost rather than shaping your melds.

Strategies and Considerations of Flower Tiles

Take the Replacement Draw: Drawing a Flower Tile always grants you one extra draw from the wall. This can accelerate your progress toward a winning hand. Multiple Flower Tiles drawn means multiple replacement draws, sometimes giving you an advantage in seeing more tiles than your opponents.

Claiming Extra Fans: Each Flower you expose remains in front of you, so collecting multiple Flowers can significantly increase your final score if you declare Mahjong.

Flower Reveal: Since Flowers are exposed as soon as you draw them, opponents can see how many Flowers you have. If you have many Flowers, they might suspect that you have also had more replacement draws (thus possibly more progress in your hand).

No Direct Discards: Unlike suits or honors, you never discard a Flower Tile, so there is no direct interplay with other players’ discards. However, your frequent replacement draws may speed your path to victory, prompting others to play more defensively.

No Impact on Meld Composition: Since Flowers do not meld with suits/honors, do not try to incorporate them into sets. They exist solely to provide bonus draws and (in many rule sets) bonus fans.

Overvaluing Flowers: While Flowers can yield extra fan(s), do not rely on them for large scores. Higher-value patterns (e.g., Full Flush, All Pungs) usually outweigh a few extra points from Flowers.