Flowers and Dragons in American Mahjong

New American tables treat Flowers like decoration and Dragons like extra winds. The card does not. Flowers are their own category on most NMJL lines. Dragons — Red, Green, and White (Soap) — sit next to number families and often decide whether a hand is alive after the Charleston.

Flowers

A standard American set has eight Flower tiles. They are not seasons in the Chinese sense, and they are not wild. Collect them when nearby lines want Flowers. Pass them when your family is like numbers with no Flower column. Do not toss them automatically; a Flower-heavy card year will punish that habit.

Dragons

• Red and Green read as their colors on the card. Match the ink, not a memory of another ruleset.
• White Dragon is Soap: a blank-looking tile that still counts as a Dragon.
• Dragon pungs and kongs are common exposures. Call them when the line you chose actually uses them.

After the last pass, glance at Flowers and Dragons before you glance at the rest of the card. Those two piles often tell you which family you are already in.

• How to read the card →
• Table-side rules →