The game of mahjong, or mahjongg, as some of my readers may know, is usually played with tiles , somewhat like dominoes. However, mahjong is sometimes issued in playing card form ( such cards are sometimes known as "Kards", to avoid confusion with another piece of equipment used in the american game).
Such decks, produced, albeit infrequently. Nevertheless, if one looks hard enough, such a deck may be discovered. Such decks come in several sizes, form long, thin oblongs, to ones the size of poker cards, as shown here.
Note the followng features;
1- The deck is comprised of 3 main "suits", coins , bamboos, and "萬" , or tens of thousands. The cards in each suit rank form 1-9. Additionally, there is an assortment of extra cards, descriptios of which will be given below.
2- In each of the corners of the cards, we see a depiction of the subject of the card in miniature. These are the indexes of the cards.
In addition to the above, the deck is usnsual, as it is firstly printed in plastic ( most such decks use paper) , and secondly, it's back bears an ad for Tiger beer.
the suit of coins
the suit of bamboos
the suit of 萬, or tens of thousands
Top row; ( L-R),east, south, west north. These cards are typically called the "winds"
bottom row ( R-L ) "紅中 ,白板 , 綠發" lit. "red center, white board, green prosperity"
the aforementioned cards are often known as the "dragons" in English
Bonus cards: Top row- the "Flowers"- in this deck, there are 2 sets of 4 flowers each. half of each of the sets are shown.
Bottom row- "Animals"- Bonuses perculiar to S'porean / Malay mahjong
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