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Mah- jong
Mah- jong, introduced from China and America at the end of the Meiji period, is played by four persons around a square table using pieces called "tiles." Traditionally, these are made of ivory but in modern times they are usually made of plastic. Each tile is marked with its "suit"-bamboo, characters or circles - and its number (1 to 9). In addition there are special tiles representing red, green and white dragons and east, south, west and north winds, four pieces in each case. The rules of the game are fairly complicated and there are a large number of scoring "hands." Mah- jong is very popular in Japan ; it is estimated that over 1 million people play the game for leisure or business entertainment. In the latter case, the game is played in a mah-jong parlour, of which there are many in every Japanese town.