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A full American set: 166 engraved tiles with corner numbers, 4 racks with magnetic pushers, scoring chips, dice and a wind indicator, in a soft zip case.
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Flat $9.95 shipping · 30-day returns from delivery
American mahjong is not the game played with 144 tiles across Asia. It runs on 166, and the difference is not decorative. 10 jokers change how a hand is built, 16 flowers change what counts, and the National Mah Jongg League publishes a fresh card of standing hands every spring. A set that cannot cover that card is a set you will replace.
The count breaks down the way a card player expects: 36 dots, 36 bams and 36 craks for the 3 suits, 12 dragons, 16 winds, 16 flowers, 10 jokers, and 4 blanks held back as spares. Lose one under the sofa and the game continues.
Every suit tile carries its number in the corner in arabic numerals, next to the Chinese character. Experienced players stop noticing them within a week. Someone at their first table does not: they read the corner, place the tile, and stay in the rhythm of the game instead of holding it up.
The engraving is cut into the tile and filled with colour rather than printed on the surface, so the markings survive the part of mahjong that wears a set out, which is the shuffling.
4 racks, one per seat, in 4 colours so nobody reaches for the wrong wall. Each has a detachable pusher held by hidden magnets. The magnets matter more than they sound: a pusher that separates from its rack mid build is how a wall collapses. When the hand ends, the pusher stores flat on top of the rack instead of rolling loose in the bag.
It takes a deep engraving, it does not yellow the way early plastics did, and it has enough density to give the tile a weight in the hand and a sound on the table. Bakelite sets from the 1930s are lovely and are collectors' pieces now, with prices to match and a tendency to crack. This set is meant to be played.
The soft case zips shut and holds everything: tiles in their trays, the 4 racks, chips, dice and the wind indicator. It stands on its base rather than slumping, which is what makes it stack on a shelf rather than live in a corner.
Tiles wipe clean with a barely damp cloth. Keep them out of direct sun and away from a radiator, which is the advice for any resin tile.
| Tiles | 166 |
|---|---|
| Material | Melamine |
| Numbering | Arabic numerals on every suit tile |
| Racks | 4, with detachable pushers |
| Weight | 2.3 kg (5.1 lb) |
| Colours | Ivory, porcelain white |
| Age | 14 and over |
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.
Play tonight
Tiles, and everything the case holds, in one box. Unwrap it, deal a hand, and your table is running.
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.
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.
Because the American game needs more than the suits and the honours. Here the 166 breaks down as 36 dots, 36 bams, 36 craks, 12 dragons, 16 winds, 16 flowers, 10 jokers and 4 blank spares. The jokers are the mechanism the National Mah Jongg League card is written around, and the blanks are held back so that a tile lost under a sofa does not quietly retire the whole set.
Not the game, only the margin. Both counts carry the same 3 suits, dragons and winds, and both play the same card. What changes between them is how many flowers, jokers and blank spares are included. This set is the fuller version, with 16 flowers, 10 jokers and 4 blanks. Either count plays, but the larger one leaves you replacements, which is what keeps a set in service for years.
144 is the Chinese game: 3 suits, dragons, winds, a short flower count and no jokers at all. 166 is the American game, and the extra pieces here are the 10 jokers, the 4 blank spares and the fuller set of 16 flowers that the National Mah Jongg League card depends on. The two do not share equipment. A 144 tile set cannot make the hands printed on the card, whatever the box is labelled.
For a first table, the useful test is whether you can play on the evening it arrives. This one ships 166 melamine tiles, 4 racks with detachable magnetic pushers, 100 scoring chips, 3 dice and a wind indicator in a soft zip case, so nothing has to be hunted for in a drawer. The engraving is filled rather than printed, and every suit tile carries its number in the corner for newer players.
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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