Mahjong tile sizes and materials, explained before you order
Size and material are the two specifications that decide whether a set is pleasant after an hour, and they are the two most listings bury. Here is what the numbers mean and which to pick.
Last reviewed
What the size number means
Chinese sets quote a number — 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, occasionally 42 or 44. It is roughly the tile height in millimetres: a size 36 tile is about 36 mm tall, 26 mm wide and 20 mm thick. Width and thickness scale with height.
American sets quote inches instead: 1.2 inches (about 30 mm) is standard, 1.3 is large print. Riichi sets are smaller still, usually 26 mm, and are quoted in millimetres.
Which size for which table
- Size 32–34 and Riichi 26 mm: fits a 30-inch mat or a small square table. Compact and easy to shuffle; small to read.
- Size 36 and American 1.2": the standard. Four walls fit a 34-inch card table with a mat.
- Size 38–40 and American 1.3": needs a 36-inch surface. Easiest to read; heaviest set; most common in jade-style gift sets.
- Size 40–44 magnetic: automatic tables only. These tiles are not sold for hand play.
Melamine
The standard material for playing sets. Melamine is a hard resin that engraves cleanly, takes paint well and survives decades of play. It is lighter than acrylic and warmer to the touch. Almost every club set is melamine.
Its weakness is cheap printing: a melamine set with printed rather than engraved faces will wear on the most-handled tiles. Look for "engraved" in the listing.
Acrylic
Denser and heavier than melamine, with a cooler feel and a glassy finish. Acrylic is what jade-style and most coloured sets are made of, and the colour runs through the tile rather than sitting on the surface, so it cannot wear off.
The extra weight is pleasant in the hand and audible on the table; an acrylic set on a bare table is loud enough that a mat stops being optional.
Urea resin and two-tone tiles
Most Riichi sets and better Chinese sets use urea resin for the face with a differently coloured back, either moulded as two pieces or as a two-tone single piece. The dark back makes it easy to tell a wall tile from a discard, and the resin takes very fine engraving.
Bone and bamboo
The traditional material: a bone face dovetailed onto a bamboo back. These are antiques, reproductions or commissions, and they are collected rather than played. If a listing offers a new "bone" set at a playing-set price, it is resin.