its a big square pad of paper backed by cardboard that gets put on the mahjong table and a player sits at each cardinal point N, S , E , W.
scores get written on the paper which i assume gets discarded and ther next sheet used.
My wife was asking if you can get them in the UK but i am noit siure how essential it is to play the game with or without a pad. I was hoping to get more information here!