Definition
Flowers are the eight decorative tiles in an American set, all interchangeable with each other, that certain card lines require as working tiles rather than bonuses.
Unlike other mahjong variants, flowers are not set aside for points. Any flower counts as any other.
At the table
Flowers are easy to pass away early. Several card categories use them, and a joker cannot stand in for a single flower or a pair of them, so a hand that wants one or two has to find real flowers after yours have gone around the table, and it can call a discarded flower only as the winning tile. Hold them through the first Charleston unless your direction clearly has no use for them.
Read the full guide: Flowers in American Mahjong: What They Do and How to Use Them.
Lesson 1, Meet the Tiles, teaches this in its step "Flowers". The lesson is free. Start Lesson 1, free.
See it on real tiles. The AI coach reads a dealt hand, free, and names the direction it goes for, what to keep and what to pass, at the free read.
Want the coach on call? The Club adds the coach for your own tiles and for each morning’s hand, all 10 lessons, and every new NMJL card taught the week it lands, for $14.99 a month, cancel anytime. See what the Club includes.
Related: Winds, Dots, Dragons, Bams. All 52 terms.