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American Mahjong

American Mahjong Collectible Tiles - Bluebell

A full 166 piece American set with tiles made to be kept, for a player buying once rather than buying again in 3 years.

The full 166 count, so no hand is ever out of reach
Markings that survive the shuffling, not just the shelf
Complete on arrival, with nothing to add before the first evening
Ready for club night as much as the kitchen table

$274.99

(0 reviews)

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Flat $9.95 shipping · 30-day returns from delivery

What makes a mahjong set collectible

The word is used loosely, so it is worth separating two things. There are genuinely collectible sets: pre war bakelite and catalin, hand carved bone and bamboo, sets with provenance. They cost what a used car costs and they are not played with.

Then there are sets built to be kept: full count, deep engraving, tiles that will look the same in 20 years as they do now. That is what this is, and it is the more useful category for someone who actually intends to play.

The full count

166 tiles covers the American game as the National Mah Jongg League writes it. 3 suits, honours, flowers, jokers, and spares. Sets sold at 144 are Chinese sets, and they cannot play the card, which is a discovery best made before the first evening rather than during it.

Keeping a set

Sets are not usually destroyed, they are dispersed. A tile goes under a radiator, the dice end up in a board game box, a rack cracks and is thrown out. 5 years later there is a nearly complete set that nobody can play with.

The habits that prevent it are dull and effective: count the tiles back in at the end of every evening, keep the set in one container, and replace a lost tile from the spares rather than playing a hand short.

Care

Wipe with a barely damp cloth. Avoid heat, which is what yellows resin tiles and warps racks. Direct sun over years will lift colour from any set regardless of material.

166 tiles
The annual National Mah Jongg League card is not included

Tiles: 166
Set weight: 0.0 lb (0.01 kg)

Tiles	166
Material	Plastic
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

Because the American game needs more than the base game does. On top of the 144 tiles used across most of the world sit 8 jokers and a run of blanks kept as replacements, and the count lands at 166 once the flowers are included in full. A set short of that will still play, but some hands on the current card become impossible, which is a discovery best made before the evening starts.

6 tiles, and they are almost always the blanks. A 160 set has the suits, honours, flowers and jokers a card needs; a 166 set adds spares that can be marked up when a tile is lost or damaged. Both play the American game. The 166 count matters most to anyone buying once and expecting to keep the set for a long time, which is the case here.

The 144 count is the traditional game as played in China and most of the world: 3 suits, winds, dragons, flowers and seasons, with no jokers. The 166 count is the American variant, which adds jokers and spares on top. They are not interchangeable in play. A 144 set cannot cover a league card, and a 166 set carries tiles a Chinese game simply sets aside.

Craft retailers do stock mahjong, seasonally and inconsistently, and the sets are usually chosen for the box rather than for the count. That is the thing to check wherever you buy: how many tiles, and how many jokers. A set sold without a stated count is a set you cannot match against the current card, whatever the shelf it came from.

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.