One thing that keeps mah jongg interesting is the variety of tiles.  Those of us who inherited mah jongg sets from older relatives may have tiles that are covered in red nail polish, band aids, masking tape or a plethora of other materials.  Those tiles are homemade jokers.  Back in the day, mah jongg was played without jokers.  When jokers were introduced, players turned their extra tiles into jokers by painting them with red nail polish or covering them with band aids or other materials.  The extra tiles in a set were usually extra flowers.  Sets made today come with pre-made jokers that usually say “joker” on the tile.

Here are a few homemade jokers:

These jokers were made from band-aids and red nail polish.

I think the homemade jokers add character to the set.  What do you think?