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History
While Mahjong is a centuries-old game, the video game versions of Mahjong are pretty recent.The first known implementation of Mahjong was in 1980 with the release of Telejan by Data East. This was a four-player cabinet exclusively sold to mahjong parlors. In 1981, the first computer version was created by Brodie Lockhard, although it was a solitaire version of Mahjong for PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations). Around the same time, in may 1981, Alpha Denshi developed a two-player arcade version of mahjong called Janputer (a not-so-clever word play on the words mājan and computer). Data East then released DS Telejan which was its own two-player version of Mahjong for the arcade.
By 1982, the Japan Mail Service (not to be mistaken for the Japan Postal services) was a company that would sell various items by catalogue, advertise the Microcomputer Mahjong. Very few information is available on this system. It is safe to assume that the console was probably made by a third party, but other than that, very little information is known.
Release
In a excellent blog post by Sly DC, he has uncovered two magazines published respectively on November 1982 and December 1982 that contain an order form for the Microcomputer Mahjong as it was only available thought mail order. You could either pay the full ¥48,000 up front, or split your payment over 10 months (¥4,980 per month for a total of ¥49,800). A 12-inch monitor was also available for either ¥38,000 up front, or split your payment over 10 months (¥3980 per month for a total of ¥39,800). The order form does mention a special introductory price, which could mean that the price was later raised.
The first model, which seems to be the most common, is white with the drawing of a few Mahjong tiles and the word Microcomputer Mahjong written on it. A month later, a gray version with no marking and in a slightly different mold was advertised. The advertisement did mention that the system sold extremely well since its release. While this is obviously a marketing ploy, this could also hint that the initial lot sold quicker than expected and that the company had to improvise to make new one quicker.
Demise
In 1983, the Japanese Console War would begin the release of seven different consoles in the span of a five months. Out of the seven, the My Vision by Nichibutsu, the SG-1000 by Sega, the Pyuta Jr. by Tomy, the PV-1000 by Casio and the Famicom by Nintendo all had a version of Mahjong available for them. Using the Famicom as an example (being the most popular of the seven), the console would cost ¥14,800 and the game ¥3,800 (even if the price later were adjusted to ¥4,800). This is still way cheaper than the cost of the Microcomputer Mahjong. While Japan Mail Service was boasting their console as being better than their other video game counterpart.