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A 160 tile set built from 4 layers of acrylic, which is what gives the cyan its depth and the tile its smooth, cool surface.
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Flat $9.95 shipping · 30-day returns from delivery
The phrase turns up on a lot of acrylic listings without explanation. It describes how the tile is built: sheets of acrylic bonded together rather than a single moulded block. The face layer carries the engraving, the layers beneath carry the colour, and the base gives the tile its weight.
Two things follow. The colour has depth when you turn the tile towards a light, because you are looking through material rather than at a coating. And a chipped edge shows the same colour as the face, because the colour is the tile.
Acrylic polishes to a smoother surface than melamine. During the shuffle, that means tiles slide across each other rather than catching, which makes the mix faster and quieter. It is a small thing that happens 20 times an evening.
The same smoothness is why an acrylic set should be stored contained rather than loose. What slides easily also scratches easily against a key or a coin.
In a group where several people own equipment, sets get mixed. A tile that ends up in the wrong bag stays there. An unusual colour makes that reversible: everyone can see at a glance whose tile is whose.
Cut to the American game. The headline number matters less than what is inside it, which is the joker complement the National Mah Jongg League card assumes. This set carries it.
Barely damp cloth, no solvent. Solvents fog acrylic permanently, and the damage cannot be polished out at home. Keep the set out of prolonged sun.
Someone who has handled both materials and prefers the cooler, smoother feel of acrylic, and who wants a set that is unmistakably theirs.
| Tiles | 160 |
|---|---|
| Tile size | 31.5 x 23 x 16 mm |
| Material | Acrylic, four bonded layers |
| Colour | Cyan |
| Weight | 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) |
| Age | 14 and over |
Actual size
Drawn to scale. Tile 31.5 x 23 x 16 mm, next to a standard credit card.
Orders are processed within 1 to 2 business days, with tracking on every parcel. Delivery across the United States takes 10 to 25 days and costs $9.95, one flat rate charged once per order whatever the number of items.
Changed your mind? You have 30 days from delivery to request a return, unused and in its original packaging. Approved refunds go back to your original payment method within 3 business days.
Read at a glance
Nobody wants to squint at their own hand. Faces that carry across the table, so the game moves and nobody has to ask.
Weight you'll notice
The difference between a tile you tolerate and a tile you reach for is in your fingers. Heavier tiles shuffle better and stack straighter.
Match your mat
Tiles set the palette for everything else on the table. Pick the ones you want to build around.
4 layer tile is not moulded in one shot. Sheets are bonded, cut and polished, which is what gives the colour its depth when the tile is turned to the light, and each of those steps is charged per tile across 160 of them. A single layer tile skips the bonding and looks flat next to it. The finish is where the money goes, not the plastic.
It depends whether you are prepared to lose tile size. Miniature sets pack anywhere and become hard to read by lamplight; full size sets stay legible and weigh more. At 2.5 kg this is a full size American set that travels rather than a travel set proper, which suits a group that meets at different houses more than a set going into hand luggage.
Sets from general retailers are usually judged on their case, which is the part that matters least. Compare on the tile instead: is the colour through the material or on the surface, what does each tile measure, and is the joker count right for the current card. Those three answers tell you more than any brand, and they are the numbers published here.
For most tables, yes, and the layered versions are noticeably better than the plain ones. Acrylic is stable, wipes clean and does not warp with humidity the way natural materials can. Where it falls down is at the bottom of the range, where a thin printed tile wears through within a couple of years. Bonded layers are how you tell one from the other.
A mahjong set is handled more than almost anything else in the house: every tile passes through four pairs of hands, several times a game.
That is what we select for. Tiles that read clearly from the far side of the table, edges that stay clean, and a case that still closes after a few seasons of being carried around.
Sets differ in ways that only show at the table: the weight of a tile in the hand, how a crak reads from three seats away, whether the case survives the trip to a friend’s house.
When we have the figures, we publish them: tile count, tile size, weight and material. When we do not have one, we leave it out rather than guess.
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