What a custom mahjong set costs, and why nobody quotes a fixed price
We do not publish a price for a set, and that is not evasion — a 160-tile set can legitimately cost several times another one, and the difference is not margin. It is layers, print, body and volume. This page explains what a quote is made of, so you can read one properly.
The five things that move the number
Layer count
One layer is a solid tile. Each extra layer is another sheet of a different Pantone bonded into the body, so the side reads as a band. Four layers is roughly the most expensive tile we build.
Print coverage
A face with a single engraved character costs less than a full-colour illustration. The engraving time barely changes; the UV ink coverage and the passes do.
Body finish
Solid colours are the baseline. Marble, pearl and tortoiseshell are poured in small batches, which raises the unit cost and makes a reorder months later impossible to match exactly.
What ships with it
Tiles alone, tiles with racks, or a full set with pushers, mat, bag and box. Each is a separate line on the quote so you can see what it adds rather than absorbing it in one number.
Quantity
This is the biggest lever by far. Setting up a run costs roughly the same at 200 or 1,000 sets; the difference lands entirely in the unit price.
Why we ask for a quantity first
A quote at 200 sets and a quote at 1,000 sets are not the same price with a discount on top — they are different production plans. At 200 we are amortising setup across a small run; at 1,000 the setup is spread thin and the per-unit number drops substantially. Asking "what does it cost" without a quantity usually gets you a range that is too wide to plan a business around.
How to compare two quotes
When two suppliers quote the same set at different prices, the difference is almost always in one of these:
- Tile body. Is it solid acrylic all the way through, or a printed cap on a cheaper core?
- Layers. "Four layers" in one quote and "solid" in another are different products.
- Decoration. Engraved and colour-filled is a different process from surface print. Ask which one is quoted.
- What is included. Racks, pushers, case, mat, box — each is a line item. A cheaper quote often has fewer of them.
- Incoterm. EXW, FOB and DDP are three different prices for the same goods. Compare like with like.
Where a published price does exist
Our printed playing mat carries a band of US$4–8 per mat, freight excluded. That is possible because its variables are narrow: two sizes, two thicknesses, one print process. The tile set has too many variables for a band to be honest.
Get a firm number, not a range
Send the tile size, the layer count, the artwork and the quantity you intend to order. You get one price with the lead time attached — usually within one business day.