Themed sets, love or hate?

[u/Curious_DaisyFlower]

I play American Mahjong and bought a standard set. So the Bams, Craks and Dots are easy to identify, as are dragons, etc. I feel some of the themed sets are confusing. What is the consensus here? Do you love or hate them? Or like, dislike, feel neutral?

[u/MattyBro1]

I think the most important thing in a set with alternative designs is readability, which will always depend on the specific set.

I've seen some that are just as readable as standard tiles, and add a fun spin to the traditional design.
I've also seem some that are nigh illegible as actual game pieces.

I come from the world of Riichi where themed sets are less common, but American has lots of options, so you'll find a big mix of good, okay, and bad aha

[u/edderiofer]

Like as an art piece, hate as a game component. Yes, they look pretty, but as you say, when used in a game, tiles need to be easy to identify at a glance, from across the table, in any orientation, and crucially without having to rely on the indices; in a word, subitisable. Most "luxury" or "themed" sets don't accomplish this well at all. Many tournaments even ban such sets, as they tend to either confuse everyone at the table, or confer an unfair advantage to whoever lent that set to the tournament.

[u/Zestyclose-Chard-436 → u/edderiofer]

The proliferation of various Mahjong tile designs in recent years I compare to the explosion of popularity of Tarot cards, starting approximately in the mid-60s, and which lingered throughout the entirety of the 80s. There was a bewilderingly vast profusion of various designs (many of which can be reduced to highly-derivative copies of a small number of traditional forms, e.g. Rider-Waite and Marseilles), but, the main impetus behind the diversification was mercenary, and, to a lesser extent, genuine artistic exploration. After a while that commercial feeding-frenzy died out (in the 80s and afterwards), and traditional forms reasserted their rightful place. Be patient, and the normal Mahjong iconography, and cultural references along with them, will come back. 😊

[u/edderiofer → u/Zestyclose-Chard-436]

I'll admit that I don't know very much about tarot cards, but it seems to me like there's still a great many different tarot decks for purchase in my local stores, to the point I had some trouble finding a standard Rider-Waite deck; so your comment doesn't seem to line up with my personal experience. I don't suppose you can give more background on this "bewilderingly vast profusion" in the world of tarot cards?

[u/Kafke → u/edderiofer]

tarot has a similar readability issue. the original cards have a lot of deeper symbolism that gets lost on some of the modern "aesthetic" cards. you can still manage it if you remember what the originals are but it's an extra cognitive step required when it isn't really necessary.

[u/TableAvailable]

Some of them are really hard to decipher. Are the feathers supposed to be Bams? What are the cowboy boots? Lol!

I went for a set that's a little themed, but it's still bamboo and lanterns, my dots are actually lotus flowers.

[u/Intelligent_Pea5351]

I loathe them. I haven't seen one that I've genuinely liked yet. I hate pastel colors which the majority of them seem to be.

[u/magnificentbunny_]

I appreciate them for creativity, but it stops there. This is a game of strategy, speed and visual recognition of patterns. The cute themed sets don’t lend themselves to serious strategic gaming. If you’re into leisurely mulling over tiles and chatting while helping each other figure out if the puppy tiles are bams or dots, it’s all good.

[u/TomatilloDear3744]

I think there's a lot of room to play with in terms of making sets that are custom and unique that doesn't affect their playability. Unfortunately I find most American sets tend to lose the playability factor in a way I find it hard to get on board with.

For example, here's a set that uses unique colours and fonts but maintains its playability. Anyone familiar with standard MJ tiles would have no issue here.

https://www.lovebonito.com/intl/love-bonito-lunar-new-year-mahjong-set-35z6011900.html

This set from 7-11 Singapore is a little more adventurous but still feels playable to me.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DUPHGozE4kO/?hl=en&img_index=3

This one from the Merry Mahjong Co is not terrible, but the bamboos are pretty unreadable, I'd have to depend on the western number in the corner to differentiate between 3 and 4, or 8 and 9.

https://www.themerrymahjongco.com/products/southern-springs-tile-collection-american-mahjong-set?srsltid=AU7gw4Uvx58hUYM4Sg9lELBFWx1MgYTTNn3bUVfb3lNvU65CXLc_2vqi

Finally, then you have sets like this that IMHO are just a friggin' mess. In my opinion playing with this would be a bit of a pain - you'd have to rely entirely on the western number because the artwork is just too detailed for these to be useful as game pieces.

https://ohmymahjong.com/products/pearlescent-tile-set

So I guess my answer is that it's fine, as long as it remains easily playable. Otherwise not interested.

[u/Ask_Dahlia_Quinn]

I love them. I love to set a pretty table and serve great snacks and drinks when it's my turn to host. I have holiday sets and mats, but I don't like my mat to be too busy and I usually reach for clear acrylic racks. But it's such a pleasure to play with gorgeous tiles...as long as they're not annoyingly unreadable!

[u/TeaOk2254]

I like alternate colors & materials, but they still need to have a similar coloring convention as traditional. I struggle with even the white on black tiles with only one accent color. I do prefer pretty high contrast though, not a fan of a something like all pastels. I can even deal with different symbols as long as the shape is the same (feathers & bamboo are similar enough).

What I really don't like is when the number of symbols is in a different orientation. I read the 'shape' of the groups of symbols, my eyesight isn't good enough to count them.

Grain of salt though- I'm primarily a online Riichi player which goes by at a pretty fast pace opposed to American Mahjong.

I do wish Riichi sets had some of the gorgeous resin layering in the middle & back of the tiles. I'm already so tempted by American sets as just art pieces and to have something Mahjong themed & aesthetic.

[u/617717]

Difficult to Identify 💯
A large single Character or Letter for the winds would be better than the tiny size 6 font words on the $500 incl tax Sunday Tile mahjong set . The winds all have a lantern image on them. We are always asking what the exposure is across the table. Traditional sets have a single Large Chinese Wind Character that’s much easier to identify.

[u/617717]

[u/jyuichi → u/617717]

I dislike these, the red lantern makes the character hard to read

[u/JamieDHinds]

I can appreciate the artistry, but I refuse to play with them. The traditional tiles are the only ones I use. I have six sets. Three sets have pretty, glittery backs, but the faces are traditional.

[u/VitriolBaiter9000]

mahjong is a majorly visual game, so aesthetics and colors that compromise visual consistency are inherently bad in design

they can be pretty, but if their visuals obfuscate details, they aren't good at their functions

i like tilesets that change arbitrary visual details like the color and texture of the tile backings, that is completely fine as it does not affect the gameplay

or sets that refine and retain the original tile graphics while giving suits like wan arabic numerals for more accessibility

my subjective artistic preference also leans to the original designs, i love the abstractions and themes used already

[u/wxursa]

I have a set that has alternate colors, which I got because I have a lot of queer friends, and I wanted to show that this was for them. (a lot of light pink and blue)

Overall, I prefer minimalist sets though- I so want to use my untranslated tiles when teaching, I like them more. (We generally play a slightly modified version of Zung Jung here)

[u/angelfish61]

Hate them. Give me a standard set any day compared to these messes.

[u/jyuichi]

I have several anime-tie-in sets just for the fun of it but traditional tiles are faster to read.

I am used to riichi so Chinese sets throw me off with the bright colors and strange (to me) font but it’s all very minor; I wouldn’t object to anything but the most bizarre tiles.

[u/journmajor]

I’ve played on multiple themed sets. It takes 1 minute to adapt
to a new style IF you take another minute to review all the tile formats. And then it’s fun playing with fun tiles.

[u/6WaysFromNextWed]

I want them to be three distinct colors, immediately legible, with the honor tiles also distinct and instantly identifiable. If those aren't the case, it's not a functional set.

So if each individual suit is an unusual thing, but within each suit it's all the one thing and all the one color, that's fine. But if there are multiple main colors within one suit or if there are main colors shared across the suits, or if any individual tile is hard to identify as belonging to a particular suit or being a particular honor, it's not functional.