Mahjong Sets Sell Out As Fast As They Land; Marketplace Sellers Ask Whether Four Of A Kind Counts As A Bundle

DALLAS—Mahjong is big business. According to Modern Retail, Oh My Mahjong, which began in 2022, generated $1 million in sales in 2023 and $40 million in 2025, and has already passed that figure this year. It now sells in more than 2,000 retail doors and moves a mat every 10 seconds, and a limited collaboration with LoveShackFancy sold out in under five minutes.

Jonathan Adler's president said mahjong is the fastest-growing games category at the home brand, and that keeping its $695 sets in stock has been the biggest challenge. Sets are also sold through Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, Crate & Barrel, West Elm, Walmart and Amazon, where one New York player told the publication she bought a $70 set in August.

On marketplace seller forums, the boom has created new questions. "Is a set with 144 tiles a single unit or a 144-pack?" asked a fictional seller in Arizona at 2:51 a.m. "Because I listed it as a single unit and the catalog changed it to a case of 12 overnight."

Is a set with 144 tiles a single unit or a 144-pack?

A second fictional seller said his variation listing for "Color: Red Dragon" was merged with "Color: Green Dragon" and then suppressed for implying a dragon is a color. A third asked whether "four of a kind" triggers the bundling policy. (Seller forum consensus: unclear, but it probably does.)

This reporter, whose own seller account appeal enters its eighth year next spring, has filed Appeal No. 42, citing a new piece of evidence: a photograph of a mahjong set I have never sold, to show what I could be selling. The automated reply arrived in 4 minutes and thanked me for my passion.

Mahjong makers are not immune to the usual pressures. The article notes import duties, petroleum prices and manufacturing costs have pushed some brands to raise prices. A fictional importer in Los Angeles said a container of tiles cleared customs on Monday. "We could hear it from the street," he said. "It sounded like 40,000 people shuffling at once."

Sellers expect tiles to stay tight through the holidays. Several fictional ones have already begun pre-selling the empty box.

Dashiell Okafor covers marketplaces, and his seller-account appeal is entering its seventh year. More from Dashiell Okafor ›

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