Disclosure first: this is posted by the OneMall team. OneMall is a Japan-based proxy buying and forwarding service, so we have a commercial interest in Japanese game sets. Our earlier thread on go equipment prices seemed useful to people here, so here is the same kind of write-up for the other Japanese table game many go players end up learning: riichi mahjong.
What makes riichi different (30-second version)
- 136 tiles: 34 kinds × 4, no flowers, no jokers. Three suits (man / pin / sou, 1–9) plus 4 winds and 3 dragons.
- A winning hand is four sets and a pair, and it must contain at least one yaku (scoring pattern). “No yaku” is the classic beginner mistake; dora do not count as a yaku.
- Riichi: with a closed hand one tile from winning (tenpai), you declare, turn your discard sideways and put a 1,000-point stick down as a deposit.
- Dora: bonus tiles shown by an indicator in the 14-tile dead wall. Many Japanese sets add one red 5 per suit (aka-dora). M.League uses them; WRC 2025 and EMA 2016 rules do not.
- Scoring is han × fu. Below 5 han the base points are fu × 2^(han + 2); from there the limit table takes over (mangan = 8,000 for a non-dealer).
Like go, it has a strong online ranking culture in Japan: Tenhou (free, top “Phoenix” table needs 7-dan, R2000+ and a paid account) and Mahjong Soul (on Steam since July 23, 2024).
Japanese tile sets: sizes and shelf prices
Tiles are sized by face height. 26 mm is AMOS’s “hand-play size”, 28 mm is “the size familiar from mahjong parlors”, and automatic tables take 28 mm or 30 mm tiles. AMOS shop prices, tax included, checked 2026-10-29:
| Set | Tile size | Contents | Price in Japan |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMOS BEGIN | 26 × 19.5 × 16 mm | 144 tiles, 103 point sticks, 3 dice | ¥6,390 |
| AMOS SMART | 28 × 21 × 16.5 mm | 144 tiles, 103 sticks, 3 dice | ¥6,900 |
| AMOS MASTERS | 28 × 21 × 16.5 mm | 144 tiles, 103 sticks, 4 dice, 20 chips | ¥8,900 |
| AMOS COMPLETE GEAR (aluminum case) | 28 × 21 × 16.5 mm | 144 tiles, 91 sticks, 4 dice, 40 chips | ¥13,600 |
| Mahjong Soul hand-play set | 28 × 21 × 16.5 mm | 144 tiles, 91 sticks, 69 × 69 cm mat | ¥17,600 |
AMOS tiles are urea resin. The 144 includes extras beyond the 136 in play; the shop pages do not say what they are, so check the contents photo. Roll-up rubber mats are ¥2,900–¥4,600 (about 500 g). Vintage sets turn up on Yahoo Auctions and Mercari; count that all 136 tiles are there.
Automatic tables: read the rating plate first
Home automatic tables (AMOS JP2 from ¥165,000, about 45 kg) shuffle one tile set underneath while you play with the other. Every AMOS table is rated AC 100 V, 50/60 Hz (Japanese household power). US outlets are 120 V, and AMOS does not say its tables are made for use outside Japan, so ask the maker before plugging one in. A 45 kg table is also freight. Get a live shipping quote before you buy.
Getting a set to the US
- Shipping is charged on the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight (L × W × H ÷ 5,000 in cm) of the box the warehouse uses.
- Since August 29, 2025, US-bound parcels of any value go through customs and pay applicable duties, taxes and fees. The $800 de minimis exemption no longer applies.
- OneMall’s fees: ¥300 per item on most marketplaces, from ¥200 per item on Yahoo Auctions and LinkBuy. The first six orders consolidate free. Storage is free for 90 days after arrival (30 days after consolidation). For a used set, a wrong/missing-item check (¥200) or unboxing photos (¥500 / ¥700) at the Tokyo warehouse let you see the tiles before international shipping.
The full guide, with the yaku list, the yakuman list, the han/fu table and sources (WRC 2025 rules, M.League, Tenhou, Kotobank), is here: Riichi Mahjong: Rules, Yaku List, Scoring and Japanese Sets. Current Japanese listings: 麻雀牌 (mahjong tiles) search.
Happy to answer rules or buying questions. And if anyone here plays both, which do you find harder to read: a go position or a riichi discard pond?