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A 160 tile acrylic set at full size, under 2 kilos, which is the lightest a proper table set gets before the tiles start shrinking.
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Flat $9.95 shipping · 30-day returns from delivery
There is a floor below which a mahjong set cannot lose weight without losing tile size, and this set sits close to it. Under 2 kilos, with tiles at 31.5 mm, is unusual: most sets at this weight have shrunk to 20 or 26 mm and become travel sets.
The distinction matters at the table. Full sized tiles read from the opposite seat and sit properly in a rack. Travel tiles do neither, and no amount of portability compensates for a wall nobody can read.
One to 9 in bams, cracks and dots, 4 of each, gives 108. Then 16 winds, 12 dragons, 8 flowers, 10 jokers and 6 blanks. That is the American set as the National Mah Jongg League card assumes it, with spares.
The 10 jokers are the number to check when comparing sets. 8 will play; 10 is what the card is written around.
16 millimetres is the measurement that decides whether a wall survives being built. A shallow tile has a small base, leans in the rack, and takes its neighbours down when it goes. It is the specification most listings omit and the one experienced players check first.
Non absorbent, so a spilled glass wipes off rather than soaking in. It is the practical argument for acrylic over wood backed tiles in a household where the mahjong table is also the dining table.
Barely damp cloth, no solvent, stored contained. Acrylic scratches from hard objects rather than from play, so what damages a set is the drawer it lives in rather than the game.
| Tiles | 160 |
|---|---|
| Tile size | 31.5 x 23 x 16 mm |
| Material | Acrylic |
| Weight | 1.9 kg (4.3 lb) |
| Age | 14 and over |
Actual size
Drawn to scale. Tile 31.5 x 23 x 16 mm, next to a standard credit card.
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.
Warehouse sets are bought on the box and judged later on the tile, which is the wrong order. The three numbers that decide it are the tile count, the tile dimensions and the joker count, and they are rarely printed on a warehouse pack. This one is 160 tiles at 31.5 by 23 by 16 mm with 10 jokers, which is enough information to compare against anything.
Weight is the whole question, and most people answer it by shrinking the tiles. There is another route: keep the tile at full size and cut the weight of the set instead. At 1.9 kg with 31.5 mm tiles, this is about as light as a full sized American set gets before the tiles start shrinking, which suits a group that carries a set rather than posts it.
Acrylic is what most modern American sets are made from, and the reasons are practical rather than aesthetic: it holds colour through the thickness, it survives a table that also holds drinks, and it is light enough to carry. The objection people raise is sound, since a denser tile lands with more authority. That matters at a fixed table and much less at a travelling one.
If the set is going to move between houses, buy on weight and dimensions before anything else. Full sized tiles that stay under 2 kilos are unusual, and the alternative is either a heavy set that stays put or a miniature one that is hard to read. Confirm the joker count against the current card, then choose the colour you will actually want on the table.
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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