Japanese

Tiles are smaller than other Mahjong variants, generally under 30 mm tall. Older sets are 25 mm (technically the standard size), while modern sets are 26 mm or most commonly 28 mm. You can use sets from other variants to play Japanese, though they will typically not include red fives and flower and season tiles are typically not used.

The white dragon on a Japanese set is noticeably different from a Chinese set because it is typically blank instead of having a rectangle carved in it.

Japanese sets almost never have labels (Arabic numerals) on them. The AMOS NUMBERS set does have these markings, however, it is more expensive than other sets.

Here are recommended vendors:

• Mahjong Stars (AMOS)

  • We recommend the AMOS COMPLETE GEAR set as it contains the tiles, colored point sticks, dice, a compass, a carrying case, and more.

• Yellow Mountain Imports

  • Their sets are more affordable and are great to get started with. We think the quality of the plastic is not as satisfying as the ones from AMOS, though this is subjective and does not affect the gameplay.

Not recommended:

• AMOS JUNK MAT PRIME GEAR: While this combination set seems convenient to get a mat, tiles, and point sticks in the same package, the bag is a major letdown with its poor quality. It is made of a thin cloth (nylon?) and the pockets for the tiles do not hold them in place very well so they often end up scattered in the pocket and around the tray. There is no other way to store this set other than with the included bag.
• From Amazon: There is risk of receiving a counterfeit or defective product and there will virtually be no support from them.

Chinese

Tiles are typically 33 mm tall or larger. They will include 8 flower/season tiles for a total of 144 tiles. There are no red fives, however, they can still be used to play Japanese-style Mahjong. Some characters are different from the characters used for Japanese sets, such as the green dragon. The white dragon will have a rectangle drawn on the tile.

We recommend Yellow Mountain Imports.

Japanese

The Junk Mat is the most common type used. It uses SBR (Styrene-Butadiene Rubber) playing surface and has a plastic frame to straighten tiles as well as slots to store point sticks.

From what we can tell, this is the only type available these days as the bat mat style seems discontinued and light mats are typically used for Chinese Mahjong.

Chinese

"Light Mats" can be used to make playing more pleasant and prevent damage to the tiles and table. These mats do not have borders so tile pushers are recommended to straighten tiles.

We recommend the table covers from Yellow Mountain Imports.

Japanese

Tables are typically a 70-80 cm wide square for hand-shuffled play.

Japanese

Point sticks ( 点 (ten) 棒 (bou)) are not required to play as it is possible to keep track of score with a writing implement and something to write on (e.g. pen-and-paper). They have traditionally come in cream/white color, though modern Mahjong commonly uses colored point sticks.