Playing Mah-Jong mug

The mug depicts something of what goes on in a Mah-Jong game (played by British rules). ….. ….. ….. ….. The aim of the game is to obtain a hand of tiles which allows you to call Mah-Jong! ….. ….. ….. ….. One way to do this is to collect four sets of 3 identical tiles, plus a pair – like the hand shown. ….. ….. ….. ….. Along the way, you may also collect bonus, like the Flower tiles shown. ….. ….. ….. ….. The winner is paid in tallies – little sticks made from bone with dots on to indicate their values. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. Mah-Jong is played by four people, who become Winds: 1. East, 2. South, 3. West and 4. North. ….. ….. ….. ….. They sit around the table in the arrangement shown. It's a bit confusing because it's not the usual orientation that we think of. ….. ….. ….. ….. Along with this, most of the action is in an anti-clockwise direction. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. Some sets include small counters which denote the four Winds. These are used to determine who is to be what Wind at the start of the game. ….. ….. ….. ….. They are then placed in a “Tong box” (or “Chuang-tzu”) to show the prevailing Wind (initially East). . ….. ….. ….. ….. When they are not present then the normal Wind tiles are used instead. ….. ….. ….. ….. Sometimes the game includes a Wind disc indicator. ….. ….. ….. ….. At the start of the game, the 144 tiles are used to build a four-sided wall – The Great Wall of China! ….. ….. ….. ….. Dice are used to find where one has to break into this wall and start dealing out the tiles.