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The traditional 144 tile game at 20 mm, engraved rather than printed, in a box the size of a paperback.
delivery_truck_bolt Estimated delivery: -
Flat $9.95 shipping · 30-day returns from delivery
Miniature sets are where printing normally wins, because engraving a character into a face the size of a thumbnail is slow and the tooling is expensive. The result is that most mini sets fade: within a year of regular play the markings are noticeably lighter, and within three they are guesswork.
This set is engraved. The character is cut into the tile and coloured in the cut, so the wearing surface is the tile around the marking rather than the marking itself. On a set this small, that is the difference between a travel set that lasts and one that gets replaced.
The tile is 20 x 14 x 10 mm. The box is 155 x 95 x 50 mm, which is roughly a paperback.
Published box dimensions are rare on mahjong listings and they are the number that actually decides the purchase for a travel set. Whether 144 tiles fit in your bag is a question about the box, not the tiles.
Legibility, and it is worth being direct about it. At 20 mm the characters are small, and a table of four will lean in more than they would with a full sized set. In exchange you get a game that fits in a coat pocket.
For a suitcase, a boat, a hospital visit or a small flat, it is the right trade. For a weekly table at home, it is not.
Barely damp cloth. Count the tiles back into the box every time, because a 20 mm tile that reaches a car seat is gone for good.
| Tiles | 144 |
|---|---|
| Tile size | 20 x 14 x 10 mm |
| Box size | 155 x 95 x 50 mm |
| Material | Dense amine |
| Colour | White |
| Weight | 0.8 kg (1.7 lb) |
| 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.
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.
From a seller who publishes dimensions. On a miniature set that is the whole question, because 20 mm tiles are pleasant in the hand and impossible in a standard rack, and a box listed at 155 by 95 by 50 mm can be checked against the bag you intend to carry it in. Listings that show only a photograph leave you to discover the scale after it arrives.
Engraved ones, once they have been used for a while. A printed face is at its best on day one and fades from there; an engraved face keeps its lines because they are cut into the material rather than laid on top. At 20 mm that is harder to do and rarer to find, since most miniature sets print precisely because engraving small is difficult.
Players have favourites and none of them are written into the rules. The red dragon attracts the most folklore, and after that it is personal: the tile that completed a memorable hand tends to acquire a reputation at a particular table. If you want a tile to do something for you, choose one you can read instantly, which on a small set means engraved rather than printed.
Age and completeness set value far more than material does. A full pre war bone and bamboo set in its original case is worth many times a modern set of any quality, and the same set missing 4 tiles is worth a fraction of itself. Travel sets are the opposite end of that market entirely: they are bought to be used and their value is measured in journeys.
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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