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Chinese Mahjong

Agate Mahjong Set - Cinnabar

A set cut from natural agate and boxed as a gift, with the weight and coolness of stone and a grain that differs on every tile.

Cut from stone, so no 2 tiles share a grain
Stone stays cool through a long evening where resin turns tacky
The weight holds a wall exactly where it was built
Boxed as a gift, which is how a set like this changes hands

$1,799.99

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Design

delivery_truck_bolt Estimated delivery: -

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Flat $9.95 shipping · 30-day returns from delivery

Stone rather than resin

Almost every mahjong set made today is melamine or acrylic. Stone sets are a different category and they behave differently in three ways that players notice within one hand.

They are cool, and they stay cool. Resin picks up hand heat over an evening and begins to feel tacky; stone does not. They are heavy, so tiles stay exactly where they are placed. And they sound different: a flat stone note rather than a plastic click.

Agate and its grain

Agate is a banded chalcedony, which is why each tile carries its own pattern. No 2 tiles in the set are identical and no 2 sets are alike. That is the appeal and it is also worth knowing before ordering: a stone set is not uniform, and expecting the evenness of moulded tiles will disappoint.

Variation in tone between tiles is the material behaving normally, not a fault.

The weight, and the table under it

14 kilos. That is a genuine consideration rather than a specification. A folding table is not the place for it, and a set this heavy is carried in two hands to a table it then stays on.

As a gift

Sets at this level are usually given rather than bought for oneself, which is why the box matters. It also means the recipient may not have racks: stone tiles are thicker than melamine and will not sit in every rack, so it is worth checking the table they are joining.

Care

A barely damp cloth. No solvent and nothing abrasive: stone is hard but the polish is not. Do not stack the tiles loose in transit, since stone against stone chips corners where resin would only mark.

Full set of natural agate mahjong tiles
1 gift box

Set weight: 30.9 lb (14.0 kg)

Material	Natural agate
Presentation	Gift box
Weight	14 kg (30.9 lb)
Age	14 and over

Three things tell you more about a set than its price.

Weight. A full-size set runs around 2 to 3 kg; a travel set can be under 1 kg. That difference is what you feel when you shuffle, and it is listed in the specifications on every page here.

Material. Melamine and acrylic give a bright click. Stone, bone and denser composites are duller and heavier in the hand. Neither is better: they suit different tables.

Tile size. From 30 mm upward reads comfortably from the seat opposite. Between 24 and 29 mm suits two players better than four. Below 24 mm is made to pack, not to read at a distance.

You do not need an expensive set to play well. You need one your table can read and you are happy to handle.

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.

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Play tonight

Tiles, and everything the case holds, in one box. Unwrap it, deal a hand, and your table is running.

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The sound alone

Shuffling a real set is half the pleasure. Weight in your hand, that clack across the table: you can hear it before you see it.

history

Yours for twenty years

A set outlasts the group it started with. Choose one you'll still want on the table when someone else is dealing.

Frequently asked questions

At this end of the market the answer is simply the material. Agate is cut, faced and polished tile by tile, and a flaw appears only once cutting has begun, so a proportion of the stone never becomes a tile at all. The finished set weighs 14 kg, which is a shipping cost of its own. None of that applies to a moulded set, which is why the two are barely comparable.

It is the observation that any 2 consecutive tiles can be completed at either end, and that those ends land on one, four and seven as the suit rises. Used as strategy it works backwards: the discards already on the table tell you which of those waits are dead. Players who read the table that way discard more safely than players who only watch their own hand.

The honest position is that studies on tile games and cognition are promising but not settled, and nothing sold here should be presented as a treatment. What the game demands is uncontroversial: attention over a long session, pattern recognition, and regular company at a table. Anyone weighing it for a health reason should discuss that with a clinician rather than a shop.

For most people, a set that plays their version at a size their table takes. A stone set answers a different question, which is what a set feels like after 2 hours: agate stays cool in the hand where resin warms and starts to stick, and the weight holds a wall in place on a table that gets leaned on. It is bought as an object as much as equipment.

Play in Style with The Mahjong Section

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.

A Set Worth Collecting

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.