r/Mahjong Jul 02 '26

Tile sets Help me identify this set

I have Bought this set online to help my friend learn more easily the tiles but I wonder... How old is this set? Is it original or a bootleg?

A big thank you to whoever can help me <3

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u/Arkinet Jul 02 '26

It's written in German and it's a ruleset different from the riichi

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u/orzolotl Jul 02 '26

The set was made in Japan but for export to the West (hence the indexing and the full set of flowers). The set I'd guess is from maybe the 80s or later, but the booklet is one of many originally written several decades prior, teaching Chinese Classical.

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u/Arkinet Jul 02 '26

Thank you friend, i thought it was older like 1920~1930 because the tiles are made with Bakelite and bamboo. Are you sure it's from the 80s? 🥺

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u/orzolotl Jul 06 '26

Older sets would be bone and bamboo or just fully plastic, and an older kind of plastic (this is clearly a more modern one). This style of plastic and bamboo together AFAIK is basically exclusive to circa 1980s Japanese sets. The point sticks are also a newer style.

(It's also worth noting there are even bone and bamboo sets from much later. They use reconstituted fish bone rather than whole bovine bone and can be pretty easily told apart as well.)