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A 144 tile mini set with engraved white tiles and its own storage case, at well under a kilo for a game that travels.
delivery_truck_bolt Estimated delivery: -
Flat $9.95 shipping · 30-day returns from delivery
Most sets described as portable weigh 2 to 3 kilos, which is portable in the sense that a person can lift it. Under a kilo is portable in the sense that it goes in a bag already containing everything else, and that is the threshold at which a travel set stops being aspirational.
It is the reason these sets end up on boats, in holiday flats, in hospital bags and on long train journeys, while heavier sets stay home.
The tiles are engraved rather than printed, which is worth pausing on because it is unusual in this bracket. Printed miniature tiles fade within a year of regular play, and the fading is uneven: the tiles handled most go first, so the set becomes inconsistent before it becomes unusable.
Cut markings do not do that. The colour sits below the wearing surface.
Sets are lost by dispersal. Tiles end up in three places, the set is never quite complete, and eventually nobody suggests a game. A set that arrives with its own case stays together, and on a travel set that is worth more than any feature of the tiles themselves.
144 tiles: 3 suits, winds, dragons, flowers and seasons. No jokers, because the Chinese game does not use them. If the recipient plays from an American league card, this is the wrong set.
Barely damp cloth. Count the tiles back in every time, which matters more on a small set than any other habit.
| Tiles | 144 |
|---|---|
| Size | Mini |
| Colour | White |
| Finish | Engraved |
| Weight | 0.7 kg (1.5 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.
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.
One is the traditional game and the other is the American variant. A 144 set holds 3 suits, 4 winds, 3 dragons, flowers and seasons, which is what is played across most of the world. A 166 set adds jokers and spare blanks on top. This is a 144 set, so it plays the Chinese game complete and cannot cover an American league card.
Because that is the full traditional composition, and the number falls out of the structure rather than being chosen. 3 suits of 9 values, 4 copies each, gives 108. 16 wind tiles and 12 dragons make 136. Add 8 flowers and seasons and the total is 144. Nothing has been left out of this set to reach a smaller box.
The Chinese game and most of its regional relatives, which is to say the majority of mahjong played anywhere. Japanese riichi uses a subset, usually dropping the flowers. The American game is the outlier that goes above it by adding jokers. A 144 set is therefore the most portable choice in a second sense: it fits the widest number of tables you might sit down at.
The valuable ones are pre war, in bone and bamboo, and complete in their original case. Everything after that is worth roughly what a comparable modern set costs, and often less, because tiles yellow unevenly and cases fail. If you want a set to carry and use, buy new and buy engraved: an old set that loses a tile on a train cannot be completed at any price.
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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