Character Mahjong Tiles, 144 Tiles, Rose, 26 mm

Traditional faces, decorated backs

The playing faces are standard: three suits, winds, dragons, flowers and seasons, in the arrangement used everywhere the Chinese game is played. The illustration is on the reverse, which is the side facing up while the wall is built.

So the game is unchanged and the table looks different, which is the whole proposition.

Twenty six millimetres in practice

This is the size that works for a set which is meant to travel but also to be played properly. At 20 mm a set is genuinely pocketable and genuinely hard to read across four seats. At 26 the characters stay legible under a lamp while the whole set still fits in a bag.

If a set is going to be both the travel set and the everyday set, 26 mm is usually the right answer.

Identifying a set

An unusual back is more useful than it looks. Mahjong groups accumulate sets, tiles migrate between bags, and a distinctive back is the only way a stray tile finds its way home.

Travelling with a decorated set

Printed backs take more care in a bag than engraved faces do. Tiles rubbing against each other loose in a pocket will mark the illustration long before they touch the playing face, so a decorated set benefits more than a plain one from being kept in a case or a cloth bag.

It is a small habit and it decides whether the set still looks like itself after two summers.

Care

Barely damp cloth. Illustration on the back is printed rather than cut, so it wears faster than an engraved face: no abrasives, and keep the set out of direct sun.

Orders leave our warehouse within 24 hours on business days, with tracking on every parcel. Standard shipping across the United States takes 3 to 6 business days and is free over $34.99 — $5.90 below that. Express delivery arrives in 2 business days.

Changed your mind? You have 15 days from delivery to send it back, unused and in its original packaging. Once we receive and check the return, the refund goes back to your original payment method.