Wall

If mahjong were a card game the wall would be the deck. After shuffling the tiles the wall is constructed in four parts and come together in a square pattern. Players draw from the wall if they don't claim a discard. When the wall is exhausted the hand ends. Depending on the version of mahjong and the number of tiles used, each wall is constructed two tiles high (also known as a stack) by:

• 17 tiles across if using suits and honors
• 18 tiles across if using suits, honors, and flowers
• 19 tiles across if using suits, honors, flowers, and jokers

Dead Wall

Main Article: Dead Wall

After dealing the last fourteen tiles in the wall is not played. These fourteen tiles is the dead wall.