Reddit reviews Yellow Mountain Imports American Mah Jongg (Mahjong) Playing Cards - 178 Card Set
We found 2 Reddit comments about Yellow Mountain Imports American Mah Jongg (Mahjong) Playing Cards - 178 Card Set. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Portable and Durable: Travel-friendly and high-quality American mahjong playing cards made from smooth dealing water-resistant PVC plastic178 Mahjong Playing Cards: Beautifully illustrated cards with traditional Chinese characters, Roman (Western) letters, and Arabic (Western) numeralsSpace-Saving Set: The standard size playing cards measure 3.4 x 2.2 inches (8.7 x 5.7 centimeters)Same Rules as Tile Versions: Plays just like the full tile versions of mahjongCard Only Set: Cardholders, dice, and instructions are not included
I recommend starting off with Hong Kong Old Style. It's pretty easy to pick up IMO, and the rules you learn for it can be applied to just about all variations of the game (Japanese Riichi or American Style for instance).
A cheap way to get started is to get a deck of Mahjong playing cards from Amazon. They're around 10 bucks, and work just fine for learning the game. If it turns out you like it, there's decently-priced sets of the real tiles on Amazon too.
Just FYI - if you're unsure what style you'll end up playing it's usually a safe bet to order an American Mahjong set because it has all the tiles you need for all variations - plus a few extras (jokers, extra flowers/seasons) that are specific to American style.
edit - Also, the American sets will have arabic numbers in the corner for the character suit and letters for the cardinal directions (NSEW), which makes it a little less daunting for new players since you don't have to immediately learn the Chinese symbols up front.
https://smile.amazon.com/American-Mahjong-Mahjongg-Jongg-Mah-Jongg/dp/B005OTSTBE
Just get one of these. They should be a bit smaller than Riichi tiles (which are smaller than standard Chinese tiles) but should still be easy enough to handle. Seriously, I've played Mahjong with cards before and they're very annoying to work with. Also, if you absolutely insist on getting cards, you can save yourself the trouble of designing/printing by getting this:
https://smile.amazon.com/American-Jongg-Mahjong-Playing-Kards/dp/B0031ATWXW/
Another solution is to just have reference guides for the Chinese characters. I found that people learn to memorize them quick because they telegraph too much whenever they have to look up what a character means. My Mahjong group sometimes goes out to teach people how to play Riichi mahjong and this is the method they use. Basically only takes a day for most players to learn.