Questions, answered
The things I am asked most often, gathered in one place. If yours is not here, write to me and I will answer.
One hundred and sixty tiles, four guide cards, two dice, and a navy velvet pouch to keep them in. The tile case is sold separately, so you can choose the one that suits your table.
Yes, and I hope you do. The guide cards walk you through your first hand, and mahjong is best learned at a table with people you like. Invite three of them.
They are. Marelle sets are made for American mahjong and play beautifully alongside the current National Mah Jongg League card. The guide cards are sized to sit beside it without crowding the game.
Heavy in the hand, soft to the eye. A satisfying click against the table. I spent a long time on that click.
Premium acrylic, built in four layers — a white face where the hand-drawn artwork lives, over dark navy, red, and powder blue. Each tile is 32 × 23 × 16 mm with softly rounded edges made to be shuffled.
Every design is gloss-embossed rather than engraved, so it sits raised under your thumb. The embossed designs went through engineering-grade wear testing for chipping, flaking, and scratching, and came through clean.
Every Marelle product is fully made before sales open, so you are never waiting months for a back-ordered set. If something does sell out, you can add your email on that product's page and I will write to you the moment it is back.
Of course. Marelle began as a gift, and it arrives ready to be one.
If your order arrives damaged or incorrect, contact me within 14 days and I will make it right at no cost to you, including return shipping.
If you simply change your mind, unopened and unused items in their original packaging can be returned within 14 days for store credit, with return shipping covered by you. Because everything is made by hand in small batches, I am not able to offer refunds. Tile sets need the shrink wrap intact to be eligible.
Standard shipping is $9.99, with free standard shipping on orders over $350. Faster options are available at checkout for an additional cost. I ship within the United States only, from Charlotte, North Carolina.
Marelle is one woman start to finish, and I package and ship every order myself, so please allow one to two weeks for your order to make its way to you.
Wipe them gently with a soft, barely damp cloth — the way you would clean a phone screen — then dry them with a separate soft cloth. For a stubborn mark, put a tiny amount of mild soap on the cloth rather than on the tile, and never spray anything directly onto a tile.
Please don't soak or submerge them, and skip alcohol, hand sanitizer, solvents, and abrasive cleaners, all of which can dull the finish. Please also skip mechanical tile shufflers — they wear the surface over time. Mix by hand.
Light surface marks after years of shuffling are normal. They mean a set that has been well loved.
Somewhere it can be seen. The case was made to live on a shelf or the table itself, not in a closet.
Keep your set somewhere cool and dry, out of direct sunlight. Prolonged sun and heat can fade or weaken any acrylic tile, so keep them out of hot cars, attics, and sunny windowsills. Store them in their case rather than under heavy objects, and they are made to be passed down.
It began as my own name — Margaret Ellen, my first and middle. I wanted something with a soft French sound to honor the corner of Louisiana I come from and the family who spoke Cajun French around me before I could name what it was.
Then I learned that marelle is a real French word. It means hopscotch — a game you play by moving forward, one square at a time, until you reach the end. Which, I realize now, is what I was doing all along.
In the South, chicken is a term of endearment. She wandered into the illustrations early on and I didn't have the heart to shoo her out.