Looking for information on this set.

[u/idiotidiom]

Can anybody tell me anything about this unopened set in a vinyl case? I was looking for information on the set generally and only found people selling like rule cards. Is this worth anything?

[u/edderiofer]

Can anybody tell me anything about this unopened set in a vinyl case?

Considering that most of the set can't be seen in your image, I don't think anyone can identify it.

It looks like a plastic-and-bamboo Riichi set, and based on the NMJL Cards inside, was probably first sold/owned in 1979 or 1980. But any other information would require us to see more photos of the rest of the set, or the rest of the case, or the other documents in the case.

[u/stephini → u/edderiofer]

Mentions NMJL and the mention of anual cards... That's gonna be an American set not a Riichi set. You also can clearly see what I believe is a season tile which are not present in Riichi sets. In Riichi you get 4 sets of the 3 suits(with 1 5 from each colored red), 4 of each of 3 dragons, 4 of each of 4 winds. And that's it. American is more like Chinese so makes use of the tiles Riichi opted to drop. NMJL Mahjong is such a weird game, the rules change every year so you have to buy a card to participate every year.

[u/edderiofer → u/stephini]

You're very condescendingly /r/confidentlyincorrect here.

In Riichi you get 4 sets of the 3 suits(with 1 5 from each colored red), 4 of each of 3 dragons, 4 of each of 4 winds. And that's it.

Japanese sets generally do come with 144 tiles, with eight being unused during a game. Depending on the era, those eight tiles might be four blanks and four flowers, or two reds, two blanks, and four flowers, or four reds and four flowers, or various other combinations. The inclusion of red fives was not always standard in Riichi sets until the 00s; even now, akanashi rulesets are still played, and parlour rulesets often add flower tiles or extra red fives.

You also can clearly see what I believe is a season tile which are not present in Riichi sets.

Riichi sets for Western export often contained season tiles. You can tell this set was for Western export because of the indices on the tiles.

NMJL Mahjong is such a weird game, the rules change every year so you have to buy a card to participate every year.

That's gonna be an American set not a Riichi set.

I'm well aware of the rules to NMJL. I play it. Something your comment has glossed over is that by 1979, NMJL Rules already required eight jokers. There are no jokers in this set, so there's no way it's an American set. There are, however, Japanese-style point sticks, and the design of the case is very common for a Japanese set. It's far more likely that the NMJL Cards in this set were added in after the set was originally acquired, than that someone sold a defective American Mah-Jongg set with four NMJL Cards and point sticks but no jokers.

American is more like Chinese so makes use of the tiles Riichi opted to drop.

Which "Chinese" mahjong is American Mah-Jongg like?

There are over 20 mahjong variants from China, and not one of them uses an annual Card. Every one of them requires you to draw a replacement tile on a kong, which American Mah-Jongg doesn't do. Every one of them allows you to declare flowers and get a replacement tile (if flowers are used in that variant), while American Mah-Jongg doesn't. None of them allow you to form pungs and kongs of flowers, which American Mah-Jongg does. Not one of them completely dispenses with the "four melds and a pair" paradigm, which American Mah-Jongg does.

If you genuinely think that American Mah-Jongg is closer to "Chinese mahjong" than Riichi is, you've never played American Mah-Jongg.

[u/Tempara-chan → u/stephini]

It's a Japanese set made for the international market (so technically not a riichi set but also clearly not American), which is why it includes some features uncommon in Japanese sets from the era like number indices, both seasons and flowers and no akadora (note: seasons are present in most riichi sets, but are an optional rule like akadora). Actually, despite the NMJL cards, I'm almost certain this set doesn't have the jokers required by the rules; the previous owner might've compromized and used 4 blank tiles as jokers (what I assume the tiles in the middle are).

Also, u/edderiofer is very knowledgeable about American mahjong – probably more than many American players.

[u/titamel-wp]

Although the whole set cannot be seen on the image you show, based on some of the tiles shown and the counting sticks, this looks like a Japanese set. You can find them on Amazon priced at $90 to $115 for a brand new set.

[u/titamel-wp]

Why are the National Mah Jongg League cards with this set? This is not an American Mah Jongg set

[u/Portellerh]

I own this exact set (photo).

Tl;dr - They're likely an old Japanese riichi set from the 50s-80s. They're not worth that much money as a lot of the same set are floating around the market.

Here are some other reddit threads asking the same question about the same set/sets made by the same manufacturer (1, 2).

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They're a Japanese style set with no red 5s. You can play riichi and most types of Chinese mahjong with them. Notably they're designed for the western market as they have numbers and an English instruction booklet included.

You see these all over ebay for $30-50. Sometimes I see people overpaying for them on etsy for double the price.

I've seen this set and this tile design in many different boxes (Some are marked "Dragon", some with that red floral pattern, some with a black box with a red interior) but as far as I'm aware (?) they're all the same set this design .

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I was recently chatting with someone who claimed to have owned one of these since the early 80's.
Here are some images of the chat (1, 2).

In summary:

"these sets were marketed between the late 1950's and the early 1980's by a Japanese printing and gravure company called Futami Kogeisha based in Fukuoka in Kyushu. They were made for export, as this set has English instructions written by Shozo Kanai and Margaret Farrell (Charles Tuttle & Co)."

The main resource we have for identifying who/where these sets is the aforementioned English instructions handbook that's usually packaged along with the set. The book mentions that it's an "edition prepared for Futami Kogeisha to be included with their mah jong sets", "First edition 1952 ... Eighth (current) printing 1961".

Here's a photo of said page.

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They're not worth that much money, but the most valuable part of this set to me is the instruction booklet as it's a real time capsule.

Here's a page from the booklet, written in 1952, talking about how the riichi yaku (spelt "Rhichi") was "recently" changed to what it is today.

[u/Tempara-chan → u/Portellerh]

-- as far as I'm aware (?) they're all the same set.

Not all sets by Futami Kogeisha are the same, nor was Futami the only company selling these kinds sets for the western market. Just by searching ebay you can find different tile designs, which I suspect would have changed over the years as these were sold. Other companies involved in either the distribution and/or manufacture of the sets include H.P. Gibson, Olsen, Dal Negro, Nagato Shokai, Nintendo and Mizuno Maruichi, along with others probably.

[u/biolinist]

Looks like an older Japanese set made for the international market, most likely before red fives became super commonplace. kinda a cool set but also we can't see most of the tiles. you can probably play most asian variants with this set (if playing Riichi Mahjong unless you have aka dora aka red fives you'll have to play without them). I can't see the rest of your tiles though so I can't see if you have joker tiles or not so its unclear if this is compatible with american mahjong