A clacking sound fills my friend’s dining room as our hands swirl the mahjong tiles on the table. It’s a cacophonous scene, the clacking meshing with the laughter, but it brings a smile to my face.
I have to laugh, however, when I remember how just a few years ago I rejected the idea of playing mahjong. “Isn’t that for old ladies?” I asked a friend who told me she was taking lessons. The game evoked images of senior citizens playing it for hours at my childhood synagogue.
A year ago, a switch flipped. I wanted to feel more connected to my community, and I noticed how much fun my mahjong-playing friends were having. Like a good millennial, I was charmed by the modern tile brands filling my Instagram feed. Many lessons and games later, I relish the time I spend with friends over mahjong (and snacks — always snacks).
It turns out, I’m not the only person catching on to mahjong. It has become downright trendy.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
What exactly is mahjong?
Likened to the card game rummy, mahjong (sometimes spelled mah jongg) is a four-person tile game in which each player tries to be the first to make a winning combination of sets and pairs. When playing American mahjong, each player is dealt a hand of 13 tiles from different suits (bamboo, dots, characters) as well as wind, flower and dragon tiles. Each player takes turns drawing and discarding tiles until one player completes a hand and calls out “mahjong.”
At first it may seem impossible to make a combination, but it’s exciting to see your hand take shape. The game comes down to luck and skill — you may never get that tile you need to complete the hand you’ve carefully cultivated on the rack before you. As a puzzle lover, this is an appealing part of mahjong.
The game originated in China’s Yangtze River Delta around the 1800s and caught on in larger cities like Beijing. Translated, the name means “sparrows,” in homage to the bird symbolism on the tiles and the sound the tiles make. In the 1920s, trade and exporting brought mahjong to the United States where it exploded in popularity. The game evolved — new tile combinations were added and old ones eliminated — to create the Westernized version that most Americans play today. The National Mah Jongg League, which publishes the rules of the American version and issues changes, was founded in New York in 1937.
While there’s nothing inherently Jewish about mahjong, it’s associated with the community because it became popular with Jewish suburbanites in the 1950s looking to socialize. Ladies would play it in Jewish vacation hubs like the Catskills, and from there it dispersed to their hometowns.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Mahjong’s Moment
The game has never gone away, but there’s a renewed interest in it among the millennial crowd. Recent years have brought stylish mahjong-centric brands like the Mahjong Line selling brightly colored tiles with modern designs like ocean-themed patterns. Ashley O’Donnell, vice president of marketing at Swoozie’s, a gift and party supply shop with locations in Atlanta and Peachtree Corners, first noticed an uptick of interest in the game last summer.
“As we got closer into the fall and the holiday season, it just continued to grow,” said O’Donnell, adding that since then, “it’s only gotten bigger.”
Swoozie’s sells tile sets, tile pouches and ancillary items like mahjong party coasters. As enticing as the products are, however, that’s not the game’s main draw. “It’s … a reason to get together with your girls. I think every age and every generation of women is always looking for those connections,” O’Donnell said.
To meet the demand of people wanting to learn how to play, businesses providing instruction have sprung up. When a few friends told me they wanted to play, I hired Let’s Rack and Roll to come to my house for a two-hour lesson. The women behind it, Gabby Spatt and Sami Tanenbaum, grew up in South Florida watching their respective grandparents play. It wasn’t until the pandemic, when Tanenbaum turned to Facebook in her search for fellow players, that the two connected.
When Dallas-based Oh My Mahjong asked Spatt to teach lessons in Atlanta under their umbrella, she asked Tanenbaum to join her and things quickly took off. Despite having done “zero marketing,” said Spatt, they racked up clients from large parties at country clubs to small, in-home lessons. Since this time last year, they have taught about 400 people to play in Atlanta.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Connecting People
While I love the puzzle aspect of mahjong, the way that it brings people together is what makes it shine. My current mahjong group is a mix of married moms and single ladies. Some of us have been friends for years and a couple of us only recently met. You don’t need to be longtime friends to play mahjong; doing so creates its own bond.
Luci Holbert and Liz Liu, co-founders of Buckhead Mahjong Club, have seen this firsthand through the lessons they teach. At an event they recently hosted, two women in their 70s were seated with two women in their 30s. The pairs hit it off and now they play weekly. “I don’t think that connection would ever happen in the real world,” said Holbert.
For Tanenbaum and Spatt, playing mahjong was a way to connect with their faith and heritage. “How many Jewish women before me sat down at a table to play this game that strengthens community and friendship and our heritage? I don’t know,” said Tanenbaum. “There’s something about that connection that always resonated with me.”
An alluring feature of mahjong for me is its tangibility. In a digital age when we’re so often face-to-face with our screens, scrolling through social media and clicking out of ads, mahjong offers a sensory experience with a side of socializing. Touching the smooth tiles and taking in their pretty designs while laughing with friends is simply delightful.
“Today’s modern world, with all the technology and how our kids are all connecting, is so different,” said Liu. “It’s, like, let’s bring the old school back, and that’s what mahjong is giving to people.” Other than the occasional snap of a photo, I can honestly say I don’t check my phone very often during a game.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Now go play
Mahjong feels daunting at first, but there are plenty of ways to learn how to play. In addition to Let’s Rack and Roll and the Buckhead Mahjong Club, Rocket Mahjong and Mahjong Social offer lessons. If finding three other friends to take a private lesson with is challenging, however, keep an eye out for events around town, like tutorials at Swoozie’s.
Jen Chan grew up playing mahjong with her family and later introduced her wife and business partner, Emily Chan, to the game. She quickly became hooked. Now Jen hosts Mahjong Mondays at her Cabbagetown restaurant JenChan’s. Guests can book tables or purchase individual tickets and receive a crash course at the start of the evening. Dim sum and cocktails are available for purchase.
“We have people reserving just one seat and we have a table of four complete strangers meeting each other and enjoying each other’s company and learning the game together,” said Chan. “It’s pretty refreshing to see complete strangers have fun together.”
Learn more
Mahjong Mondays. 6 p.m. most Mondays. $10-$35. JenChan’s, 186 Carroll St., Cabbagetown. 404-632-7064, jenchans.com
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