HEY! PLAY! Chinese Mahjong Set with Ornate Storage Case, Tiles, and Dice

This is NOT an American style mahjong set. Furthermore, it does NOT have numbers on the tiles. The tiles are NOT extra large. All of this information is in the pictures, the title, and the description. Multiple places multiple times. Reviews that fault the product or the seller because the buyer can't read drive me nuts. This set is a great deal for the money. I have not found better online nor in non-Chinatown physical shops. The box is very pretty and certainly sturdy enough to store tiles for a long time. It's not a briefcase-type box, more like a jewelry box. There is even padding in the lid to protect the tiles. The tiles are nicely made with no paint smudges. No wind indicator nor betting sticks are included - as shown in the pictures and printed in the text. There are 2 blank spare tiles. I posted several pictures to show how nice the set is and how well it was packaged for shipment. Styrofoam to protect the ends and the tile box itself shrink-wrapped. If your set doesn't look like the then you should return it or contact the seller immediately, not whine about it. Notice it looks like one of the wind tiles is missing. It's not; it was just packed upside-down. Sorry to say it but if this were made in the US it would probably cost twice as much. The tiles are exactly the size I wanted and the storage case is lovely. A very good purchase.

Very sturdy Mahjong tiles.

I did order a used set. It said supposed to be like new. Look at the condition the box is in. It wouldn't ever have lasted more than a couple of weeks. The tiles themselves are engraved and a good size and appear to be great quality. They're very Chinese, with the characters all written in a cursive style that most foreigners do not learn in school. Goes without saying that there are no jokers, no racks and you basically cannot play Americqn mah Jong with this set, as the description informs you. The tiles are a nice ivory color. The dice are garbage and there are only two. But dice are cheap. There is no wind indicator and there are no betting chips. So it's basic but the price for the tiles alone is very good. ETA: I taped the box together with book tape and it's holding together okay. I've been playing with the tiles for a month and I love them. They are satisfying to play with and I think they are lifetime tiles. So marked this set up to five stars. I don't think you can do better for the price, so long as you don't mind Chinese characters only. Go on youtube and google cantonese corner, mah jong with my mother in law for a great explanation and hints on how to read and use Chinese mah jong tiles even if you can't read Chinese..

I paid lower than advertised price of a new set, from an 'offer' here on Amazon. I like the set. I'm keeping the set. It's smaller than advertised, and is still a bit on the large side, for my intended uses (wanted a set I can use comfortably on a small desk). Still need about a 20" deep by 30" wide playing area, for (Mahjong tile based) Solitaire. Played two rounds of Solitaire on the hard desktop (also of melamine, like these tiles) and then tried it with a wool blanket (good tight weave) and the blanket was much better than the tabletop - very enjoyable; now I know what to get for a playing surface. The blanket worked on the desk because it was carefully flattened and weighted down, for this test run. Obviously a proper felt surface (bonded to a substrate for firmness) would be ideal. Look up the felting process on Wikipedia - it's pretty much the same thing as dreadlocks, for how it works. Amazon messed up on shipping, refunded shipping costs, and still delivered by Tuesday, for a Friday purchase. Driver (Flex) refused a $5 tip (since shipping was free, due to the mess-up, I could afford the extra $5 .. driver waved me off on that). For what I paid, and for what I want out of this set, I'm super happy with my purchase. I think I would pay full price for the same set (undamaged case scenario) and still be happy, at least in comparison with what I've seen on the market. Only one or two sets I've seen have those great Flowers and Seasons designs, and the execution of the design was really quite good, for the set I have in front of me. One or two smudged tile paint jobs (not very noticable, but I did pick up on it). The case did arrive severely damaged, as stated in the ad (the ad did not specify what damage was to be expected; I gambled on it not being a problem with the tiles, but rather with the attractive case they come in - that was a good guess on my part. The tiles were exactly as a new set would ship them, but the case was in need of some reconstruction (technique used to create it might resemble old bookbinder technique .. haven't looked into it carefully to see what can be done for it). Looks like cloth covered MDF panels and that the cloth ripped at the corners, but wasn't too interested in the case, so haven't taken a thorough look at it, to confirm what just a glance at it told me). Case seems to be thickly padded on the inside, just on the bottom, but haven't confirmed this. Perhaps the inside of the lid as well. Just did not look at it. I think a lot of people would very much like the design of the cover on the top of the case; it's a deep traditional red color scheme with black accents and a nice overall tone/texture to it. The clasps on the case would make some of us smile - hokey but unique and more or less stamped metal, with some kind of a finish (no idea if it is durable or not). Even if repaired I'd expect to have to treat the case rather gently, to get any long use out of it. I went with one of those twice shoebox sized plastic tubs they sell at the supermarket. The kind of thing a child's blocks might be stored in. I would say, expect to only use the case to carefully display on some guarded (from shoving other stuff against it) shelf, and to open it very carefully, each and every time (and to transport the tiles out of the home, to someone else's home, in some other container besides this case). Not a daily driver. But really quite attractive and quaint, the first time you see this case. It'd be an excellent model, to redo the design, as a home crafts project, I think. The tiles are 29.6 x 22.2 x 14 mm (1.17 x 0.87 x 0.55 in). (I was expecting closer to 31 or 32 mm tiles, from the stated '1.25 x 0.75 x 0.5 in' dimensions in the ad - these tiles are undersized, compared to those stated dimensions). Also, the ad seems to suggest > 6 lb for the set. That would have to include the case, which weighs an arbitrary amount and isn't relevant (except for shipping weight, of course). One tile weighs exactly 13.33 grams; the set weighs 1.94 kg (4.28 lb.) (without the included case; just the tiles). They occupy a flat space 7x10.5" when laid out as 12x6 tiles (29.6 x 6 = 177.6 mm = 6.99 in; 22.2 x 12 = 266.4 mm = 10.488 in) Tile thickness varies slightly, but isn't noticed - the digital calipers said 13.8 to 14.2 mm (0.54 to 0.56 in) which really isn't much, but is mentioned in contrast with the other two dimensions, which did not vary enough to measure, from the small sample of tiles that were checked. Note that since they are over the advertised 0.5" (but not by much) they could be a bit of a tight fit, if exactly 0.5" (or less) was the expectation the customer had in mind. Had looked at up to 40 mm tile sizes and deliberately chose smaller tiles, but this (melamine) ivory set went a bit too small (by measure) in comparison with what was advertised (29.6 mm vs 31.75 mm / 1.25"). Although, in practice, it is working out perhaps better than planned, since even at this size, they take up considerable tabletop space when playing Solitaire, using them. No chemical smell/odor at all when opening the plastic shrink-wrap holding the four sets of 36 tiles. I'd call it frustration-free packaging - just the right kind of plastic wrap to yeild easily when you want to (rip) it open - no tool was used to get it started. No way to save the wrap, probably - a single use wrapping. Folded at the corners, like a wrapped present (but transparent plastic wrap). Uniform melamine mixture/color - they look like white fudge (appetizing). Something to be aware of, with small children. Definitely in the piano-key off-white range of color ('ivory'). Attractive and aesthetically pleasing, but clacky to handle (my first set of Mahjong tiles; no comparison made to any other set from direct experience - have none). The Flowers and Seasons are of very good design - easy to distinguish among them. The Bird (One of Bamboo) still looks like a dragon to this novice's eyes, but yes, I can see there's a bird there, now. The design matches (exactly) media offered from another seller, down to details (just look at the Flowers and Seasons - they appear to be unique to this set's design). The case says Model No. 80-MAHJ and Wuxi, China for the place of manufacture. Still having mild difficulty distinguishing between South and West, but there's enough of a difference that most people should pick up on it, with use (the central shapes are similar, but the upper and lower peripheral parts of the ideograms used, distinguish the one from the other). I like the abstraction to represent the Green Dragon that was used, for this set. The markings are of red, black and green, including some of the spots for the Dots. For example a 2 of Dots has a black spot and a green spot. The green is dark enough not to really notice it (it's not a loud green). I believe the Green Dragons are, in fact, green, though they look almost black in photographs. On careful inspection (just now) it's quite evident there is exactly one shade of green on any tile in the set; the green you can definitely see in the Bams is that same green that colors the Green Dragons (and the floral work on the Flower tiles, and the green spots accompanying the black or red spots on the Dots suit tiles). If you wanted green, and not black, for the green dragons: you're in luck with this good set. Playing (Mahjong tile-based) Solitaire with this set was a real (and unique) pleasure; it's a very different game than on the computer. For one thing, you have your discards (as it were) to refer to. unlike the computer version where they just vanish (no representation of 'captured' tiles on a computer version of this game). It's a lot of upper body work (especially when absolutely new to the game on the physical level) and quite frankly one can get a sore back playing Solitaire this way, a bit too long in one session. Felt it in chest muscles, shoulders and neck (this improved as I learned how to randomize the tile selection process more efficiently). The wool blanket was a bit itchy to rest the forearms on. A proper table surface seem like non-optional equipment, especially given the size and density and hard reflection these tiles generate (they're really clacky; if you butter-fingers one and drop it onto the Solitaire layout, there's going to be some tidying up to do, to play the game fairly, after that mishap). Clacky would mean not elastic. Reminds of glass marbles, for how much a tiny impact is transmitted to nearby tiles - clacky. They seemed to have just the right amount of resistance to rolling onto another face of the tile, when mixed/shuffled in the usual way (reach out across the desk, and give them a swirl). Did not have to correct a lot of roll-overs during the shuffle (I play with the central 36 tiles face down, until necessary to expose their identities) (to keep the game honest). I stacked a wall four high (the highest possible way) in a pyramid shape, one tile thick (front to back) so no extra tiles supporting - about six or seven tiles wide, at the base, to check for if they were going to topple quite easily. That test was fine, but a bit touchy. I had no objection (at all) to how they stack for a regular Solitaire session. I thought they were great for that use case: Base is 8x8; then 6x6, 4x4, 2x2 and 1x singleton capstone -- seems like about five layers, there. No problem at all. I was able to fish them out and flip them over, for the reveal (played face down during the construction of the layout) without disturbing the rest of the layout, so much as to be annoying to do it this way. It was alright for an approach. Once the novelty wears off, I would expect to play the all-face-up game, so as not to have to go through all of that. I think most people would just go ahead and play all of them face up, the entire game, so this is only an issue for a face-down variant on the layout setup. I got set back just once (16 unplayable tiles) and the other two games I was able to finish to the very last tile. I think this (Mahjong tile-based Solitaire) game is easier for me with real tiles, than on the computer. Though this was long for a review, I wanted to mention each thing that I did notice and thought about -- it's nice to nail it on the first try, when buying a new set for a new game one has never played before. Definitely get the Chinese (no Arabic numerals, except on the four Season and four Flowers tiles) - does not take long at all to learn to read them in Chinese, from never having learned. Just for fun, that is - obviously, it's going to be a hard sell to get anyone else to play with an all Chinese set, if they didn't already know the numerals! The Craks use the '10,000' ideogram on every tile - it's the same symbol. After a while it's not even noticed, and becomes 'those red tiles with the Chinese numbers in black' as your eyes don't even look at the ideogram for '10,000' as you already know what you're going to see, even if you did look, which you do not, since it's just visual background noise that has little to do with what you do want to be aware of - the ideogram of the numeral itself, so that you can match it to another one. It's just a pleasure to use them unadorned with Arabic numerals (which, after all, convey absolutely no new information). EDIT (30 Nov 2020): new image uploaded. (c9bf4e3 upper right corner) A1 - one of dots through A9 - nine of dots B1 - one of bams through B9 - nine of bams C1 - one of craks through C9 - nine of craks D1 through D4 - seasons (no bamboo so not flowers) E1 through E4 - flowers (E4 is bamboo) D5 is North D8 is West (similar to South but a bit different) D7 is East D6 is South E5 E6 E7 are the dragons E2 I think is the Orchid, adding to the belief that E4 is bamboo. ;) That's how I deduce them - looking for what I do recognize, then generalizing to patterns I've setup but haven't identified, yet. So, I can pick out 'West' and then deduce the 'other one like it' is South. Like that. ;)

The piece on the handles came off

This game is incredibly fun, so we couldn't wait to get it delivered. Once we opened the box, we were pleasantly surprised with the quality - from the carrying case to the look and feel of tiles, it was beautiful! I would highly recommend this product.

I loved it. The red Chinese case its crazy good. The chipset is a little small but we knew exactly the size before we ordered. 100% satisfied!!!

So, we decided to learn Mahjong this winter and--since it might not stick--I wanted a cheaper set to get us started. (There are some really beautiful antique sets.) First, these tiles are very heavy, the case is a beautiful silk-look and it stands neatly on a bookshelf. There are instructions but I think you have to learn by playing: it all seems bewildering just reading. But I'm sure we'll learn when we start playing. I didn't realize you should also get stands to hold your pieces so this doesn't have those. The circles and bamboo pieces are easy to figure out but the 'character' pieces only have Chinese characters for the numbers. 1-4 are simple to decipher, but 5-9 (see photo) may take some time to memorize. In the short term I'm going to Sharpie the arabic numerals on those.

Mahjong A Game I’ve Always Wanted To Learn and This Set Is A Great Introduction To The Game.

It was a gift - she loved it!

We bought a mini size majiang and the letters are fading away. Fortunately I found this one and it is very good for the size and the quality.

Small than we expected but it is ok

The mahjong tiles are good quality and quite acceptable but the box literally fell apart when I took it out of the plastic. I’m keeping the tiles and building my own box