What I was hearing was thousands of mah-jongg tiles clacking against each other.

The one shown here is from a collection of bracelets made with Bakelite mah-jongg tiles from the 1920's to 1950's.

She still had the mah-jongg tiles out, arranged in a three-tiered pile that looked like a Japanese castle.

The design is a dizzying, dark, two-story extravaganza of Buddhas, chandeliers and mah-jongg tiles.

But mah-jongg tiles feature abstract symbols that have to be matched up.

"As long as I am strong enough to pick up a mah-jongg tile I will still be playing this game."

The women kept talking as if the only things missing from their klatsch were mah-jongg tiles.

"There was obviously a big fight in there," one officer said, describing mah-jongg tiles littering the floor and five or six tables knocked over.

She recalled hearing mah-jongg tiles being mixed late at night when she was a little girl.

His eyes were pulp and his teeth lay scattered like mah-jongg tiles.