Three games.
One right set.

It depends on the variant. A Chinese set has 144 tiles: three suits of 36, four winds, three dragons, and eight flowers and seasons. A Japanese Riichi set has 136, because it drops the flowers. An American set has 166, because it adds eight jokers and keeps the flowers.

That is why "which set should I buy" has to start with "which game will you play". A Chinese set cannot play the American card; a Riichi set cannot play most Chinese variants without borrowing flowers.

Three things: tile count (166 against 144, the difference being eight jokers), racks (American sets come with four racks because hands are held on a rack rather than standing on the table), and numerals (American tiles print Arabic numbers on the character and dot suits so the hand can be read without knowing the characters).

American mahjong also uses a yearly card of winning hands published by the National Mah Jongg League, which is bought separately from the set.

Chinese sets are sold by a size number — 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 — which is roughly the tile height in millimetres. Size 36 is the sensible default: easy to read, and four walls fit on an ordinary 34-inch card table. Size 38 and 40 need a 36-inch surface.

American tiles are quoted in inches, with 1.2 inches the standard and 1.3 the large-print size. Riichi tiles are smaller, around 26 mm, so that four walls fit on a small Japanese table.

Because nearly every mahjong set sold anywhere is made in a handful of factories in Guangdong, and AliExpress lists hundreds of them directly — in more sizes, materials and variants than any Western marketplace carries. The Amazon button is there as well on every product page for anyone who wants faster delivery and does not mind a narrower choice.

Both links are affiliate links. The commission is similar across sets, so there is no reason for us to favour one over another.

Because any price we printed would be wrong within days. AliExpress runs rolling promotions and Amazon listings change price constantly, and both affiliate programmes only permit displaying a price that comes live from the store with a timestamp. We send you to the listing, where the current price is the accurate one.

Partly. You need 166 tiles, so a 144-tile Chinese set is 22 short: the eight jokers plus the eight flowers it already has make up some of the gap, and sets sold with blank tiles can be converted with joker stickers. You will also need racks, and the tiles will not have Arabic numerals.

It works as a stop-gap. Most people who play American regularly end up buying an American set within a season.

For a group that plays weekly and plays long sessions, yes: shuffling and building walls by hand takes two to three minutes a hand, and an automatic table does it in under one while the players are still scoring the last hand. Over an evening that is several extra hands.

For an occasional game it is an expensive, heavy piece of furniture. Check the folded size, the weight, and whether your variant is supported — most tables ship for Chinese or Riichi tiles and need a specific American mode for 166-tile play.