The short answer: Mahjong has four winds — East, South, West, and North — with four copies of each, so 16 wind tiles in the set. They’re honor tiles, not a suit, and they matter in scoring because of your seat wind and the round wind.
Winds are easy to spot once you know the characters — they’re the four compass tiles in every set. What catches new players off guard isn’t what they look like, it’s how much they matter. Your seat wind can be the difference between a plain win and a big one.
Which winds are in a mahjong set?
- East: the first dealer, and usually the round wind when the game starts.
- South: the second wind in play order.
- West: the third wind.
- North: the fourth wind.
Each one appears four times, so the winds add up to 16 tiles. Like the dragons, they’re honor tiles: no numbers, no sequences — only triplets, kongs, or a pair.
How do winds change your game?
- Dealer: the East player deals first and keeps that role until someone else wins.
- Seat wind: your starting position gives you a seat wind, and it follows you as the dealer rotates.
- Round wind: each round has its own wind, starting with East, and pungs of it score extra.
- Winning: a pung of your seat wind or the round wind adds points, and any wind pair works as your eyes.
Winds make more sense in a real game. The rules of mahjong explain seat winds, round winds, and scoring in plain terms — or jump into Turtle Mahjong and start matching tiles right away.
Related Questions
Can you win with only winds and dragons?
Yes. An all-honors hand — winds and dragons, no suit tiles — is one of the highest-scoring hands in many rulesets.
Do winds form sequences?
No. Winds only appear in triplets, kongs, or as a pair. The only sequences in mahjong are made from the numbered suits.
Which wind is the strongest?
East, because East is the dealer’s wind when the round starts. But seat-wind bonuses rotate as the dealer changes, so the value moves around the table.
Are there more than four winds in any version?
No. Every mainstream version of mahjong uses exactly East, South, West, and North.