Mahjong Counting Sticks - Willow

A 44 piece set of counting sticks in black or red, the traditional way of settling points without a pad and pen.

Sticks settle a hand at once, with nothing reconstructed later
Denominations readable at a glance from any seat
44 pieces, enough for 4 player evening
2 colours, so 2 sets can be told apart or combined

$44.99

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Flat $9.95 shipping · 30-day returns from delivery

The traditional scoring method

Counting sticks predate score pads by a long way and they persist because they are better at the table. Each stick carries a denomination, marked by dots along its length, and settlement happens by passing sticks between players as the hand ends.

The advantage over paper is that the state of the game is visible. Everyone can see roughly where everyone else stands without asking, which changes how the later hands are played.

Where they are essential

Riichi in particular is built around them. Declaring riichi requires placing a stick on the table, and that stick becomes part of the pot. Without sticks, the declaration has to be improvised with a coin or a note, which works and feels wrong.

Any Riichi set that arrived without sticks is incomplete, and this is what completes it.

44 pieces

Enough spread for 4 players through a long evening. Sets sold with twenty or so run short by the third hour, at which point somebody starts making change with tiles.

Black or red

Either works. 2 colours are useful if a group owns more than one set, or if players want their own colour to avoid confusion during settlement.

Care

Wipe clean. Keep them bundled rather than loose in a tile bag, since sticks are thin and snap when something heavy lands on them.

44 mahjong counting sticks

Set weight: 0.3 lb (0.14 kg)

Quantity	44
Colours	Black, red
Weight	0.15 kg (0.3 lb)

These are the small pieces that keep a game moving: scoring, turn order, and keeping the table straight.

Check what your set already holds. Many sets ship with dice and scoring pieces. Read the contents list of the set you own before buying a second lot.

Match the game. Scoring sticks and counters belong to the older scoring traditions. American play works from its own annual card, so the table keeps score differently. Wind indicators suit any table where the dealer moves.

Check the dimensions. Anything that holds a tile or a card is cut to a size. Compare the stated measurements against what you already own.

None of these change how well you play. They make the evening run more smoothly.

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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Wear your mahj

Bracelets, charms and keychains that other players spot from across a room. The quiet way of saying you play.

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Win something to keep

Trinkets and small pieces for the winner of the hand. Every group needs a prize worth playing for.

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Small pieces, big difference

Dice, wind indicators, counters. The details that make a table feel finished instead of improvised.

Frequently asked questions

They are the traditional way of holding points at the table. Each stick carries a denomination, marked by the dots printed along its length, and settlement happens by passing sticks across as a hand ends rather than writing totals on a pad. Everyone can see roughly where everyone else stands, which affects how the later hands are played. This set is 44 pieces in black or red and weighs 0.15 kg.

The same objects under a different name. Counting sticks and scoring sticks both describe the marked pieces passed between players as each hand settles, with the value carried by the marking rather than by the stick itself. Terminology varies by tradition and by translation. What matters is the count you own: 44 here, which covers 4 player evening without anyone running short.

Two jobs. They settle each hand as it finishes, so nothing has to be reconstructed from a pad 2 hours later, and in the Japanese game they are part of the rules. Declaring riichi means placing 1000 point stick on the table, where it stays and goes to whoever wins the hand. A Riichi set that arrived without sticks is incomplete, and 44 pieces is enough spread to carry 4 players through a long evening.

It describes how the numbers in a suit group. Because runs are 3 tiles long, 1, 4 and 7 sit in the same family, as do 2, 5 and 8, and 3, 6 and 9. Players use it when deciding what to keep early: a 4 connects in more directions than a 1, so the terminal usually goes first. It is a Chinese and Japanese habit rather than a written rule, and it has nothing to do with how sticks are exchanged.

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.