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Chinese Mahjong

Black Tile Mahjong Set - Ink

A Chinese set with 148 black tiles, where the markings sit bright against a dark face instead of pale on pale.

The highest contrast of any set, white markings on black
148 tiles, the standard 144 plus spares that keep it repairable
A dark set reads on white cloth where ivory struggles
Black hides the handling marks pale tiles show at once

$499.99

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Flat $9.95 shipping · 30-day returns from delivery

Contrast, properly considered

Mahjong sets are almost universally pale, and pale tiles have a specific weakness: they are played on pale tables, under warm light, in the evening. Ivory characters on ivory tiles on a cream cloth is a harder read than anyone acknowledges, and it gets harder every year for the people who play most.

A black tile inverts the problem. White and coloured markings on a dark face is the highest contrast arrangement available, and it holds up under a dim lamp at the end of a long evening.

148, not 144

The traditional Chinese count is 144: 108 suit tiles, 16 winds, 12 dragons, 8 flowers and seasons. A set of 148 carries 4 extra, which are spares.

Those 4 are the difference between a set that survives a decade and one that quietly becomes unusable. Tiles are lost, not broken, and a set with no spares is one dropped tile away from retirement.

Black and how it wears

Pale tiles show every mark: the grey shine where thumbs rest, the faint stains from a hand that had been holding a glass. Black shows none of it. A dark set looks the same after 3 years of weekly play as it did new, which is a real advantage over its life rather than a cosmetic one.

The reverse is true of dust, which is visible on black in a way it is not on ivory. A quick wipe before a session handles it.

Care

Barely damp cloth. No solvent. Store contained and out of prolonged heat.

148 black tiles
Includes spare tiles beyond the standard 144

Set weight: 0.0 lb (0.01 kg)

Tiles	148
Material	Plastic
Colour	Black
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 unit of sale is a set and the unit of failure is a tile. Every face has to carry the same depth of marking and the same colour fill, and one that does not is scrapped along with its usefulness to the whole box. On a black set the tolerance is tighter still, since a marking that sits slightly light is obvious against a dark face where it would hide on ivory.

The suits trace back to money: circles are coins, bamboo are the strings the coins were carried on, and characters are the written amounts. The honours step outside that, with the winds marking direction and the dragons carrying older readings around virtue and beginning. Flowers and seasons mark time. None of it changes with the colour of the tile body.

Dry, out of direct sun, and packed so they cannot move against each other. Loose tiles in a bag chip at the corners, and the chip is what ends a set rather than any single dramatic accident. Black tiles have one quiet advantage here: they hide the handling marks that show up immediately on pale faces, so the set looks its age more slowly.

Racks, and in the American game they usually come paired with a pusher for moving the built wall. Chinese play, which is what a 148 tile set like this is for, often uses none at all: the wall is built directly on the mat and the hand is held upright by hand. If you do want racks with a Chinese set, check the length against the tile rather than assuming.

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.