Before Mahjong

Games experts are generally agreed that Mahjong was not created but is a relatively modern evolution from a composite of the gambling games that preceded it. 

Dice Games (Caixuan) have existed in China since at least the Jin Dynasty and amongst the most popular were gambling games. In the Tang Dynasty animal bone was used to make the dice and, from this time they closely resembled the dice we see today. During the Song Dynasty many dice games involving the promotion of officials were popularised, and in the Ming and Qing Dynasties games involving Immortals and key literary texts appeared.

Paper and bamboo tile (Shipai) games appeared around the Tang Dynasty, both as drinking and gambling games. The use of bamboo has been connected to the Tang fashion of writing poetry on bamboo boards. Bone cards (Xuanhe) appeared in the Song Dynasty and in the Ming and Qing were a popular medium for many drinking and gambling games. The word pai came to be used interchangeably for both paper and bamboo tiles.

During the reign of Qianlong the popular paper card game madiao was modified into Mohe and Penghe, both of which had the same basic 30 cards doubled (mohe) or quadrupled (penghe). Those basic cards became standardised as the three suits Wan (characters)(1-9), strings of coins (ciao or bamboo)(1-9), coins (bing or circles)(1-9), Red Flower, White Flower and Laoqian. The growth in trade along river routes and through the Concession ports brought the game to different parts of China and overseas.

The combining of these elements, the use of dice, bamboo pieces and the game of penghe, to produce mahjong has broad agreement, complicated by the regional differences in how the game is played and scored.