Marble Herbarium Mahjong Set — 160 Tiles

The Jokers are a French bulldog, sitting square to you, bat ears up, wearing a collar with a round tag, drawn in a speckled line, with JOKER running down one side of the tile. It is the same dog in the same pose on every Joker — only the ink changes, between a grey-black tone and an oxblood tone — so you learn the shape once and never hesitate over it again. Underneath, this is a thick two-layer acrylic tile with a marble-look body: the face is a high-polished cream ivory with a warm yellow cast, and the body is acrylic made to look like veined marble, not actual marble. It sits in the hand like something inherited rather than something bought.

The suits are drawn with a collector's hand. Each Dot is a ring built as a daisy or wheel rosette in several colors — oxblood, olive green, blue and black — inside a double circular border, with the Arabic numeral in the upper left. Bams are fine-line bamboo stalks in paired olive green and blue-black, with joints and small leaves, and One Bam is a standing rooster with a red-brown and black body, a red comb and a curved tail. Craks carry the character in a black brush stroke, with the Chinese numeral above it and the Arabic numeral in the upper left corner. The Winds put the Chinese character for the direction at the top edge with a small triangle pointing a different way on each, and a large serif letter below — N in blue-black, E in oxblood, W in olive green, S in oxblood-brown. The Dragons are marked in Latin: the BAM tile is a front-facing dragon mask in olive green with whiskers and mane spreading out, the CRAK tile is the same mask in oxblood, and the white dragon is an open rectangle with a black right-angled Greek meander motif at each corner. The eight flower tiles are eight separate botanical plates, each drawn like a pressed herbarium specimen. All of it is engraved in the classical style the supplier specifies, so the color lives in the cut grooves and stays legible through years of shuffling rather than rubbing off the surface.

Set: 160 tiles

Play style: NMJL-ready — American mahjong

Players: 4

Material: Two-layer acrylic — the body has a marble appearance; it is not real marble

Faces: Cream ivory with a warm yellow cast, high-polished

Backs: Beige-brown marble pattern with a pink cast and darker brown veins running at random — each tile veined differently; no mark, no logo

Edges: Three bands — cream at the face layer, deep coffee brown in the middle, then the beige-brown marbling of the back

Artwork: Engraved in a classical decorative style, per the supplier

Lettering: Chinese characters, plus JOKER, BAM, CRAK, N, E, W and S in Latin letters

Numbers: Arabic numerals in the upper left corner; Chinese numerals above the character on the Craks

Dots: Each dot is a daisy or wheel rosette ring in several colors — oxblood, olive green, blue and black — inside a double circular border

Bams: Fine-line bamboo stalks in paired olive green and blue-black with joints and small leaves; One Bam is a standing rooster, red-brown and black body, red comb, curved tail

Craks: The character in a black brush stroke, with the Chinese numeral above it

Winds: Chinese direction character at the top edge with a small triangle pointing a different way on each; below it a large serif letter — N in blue-black, E in oxblood, W in olive green, S in oxblood-brown

Dragons: BAM is a front-facing dragon mask in olive green with spreading whiskers and mane; CRAK is the same mask in oxblood; the white dragon is an open rectangle with a black right-angled Greek meander motif at the four corners

Flowers: 8 tiles, each a separate botanical plate drawn like a pressed herbarium specimen

Jokers: A French bulldog sitting front-facing, bat ears up, wearing a collar with a round tag, drawn in a speckled line, with JOKER set down one side — the same image in the same pose on every Joker, changing only between a grey-black ink and an oxblood ink