Mahjong By Angela Rieck

I finally succumbed to learning Mahjong. A number of people had asked me to join in Mahjong games and I was recalcitrant. I remember the senior women in my husband’s country club playing Mahjong and I vowed I would never be that person.

I am that person.

My neighbor invited everyone in the neighborhood to join a game where we would all learn and share our lives as part of the game. I relented, because it was just for fun and not a competitive game. 

I was nervous that it would be hard to learn. It wasn’t. But I am still learning all of the rules.

I have become almost addicted to the game.

I am not alone. While there are no statistics about how many players there are, it is obvious that the number of players in the game is growing. And it is growing among the young. Approximately 50% of those who play are over 60, but 2024 statistics from an online Mahjong application reported that the 18–24 age group had the second highest percentage of players followed by 25–34. These numbers are only for online play and do not reflect the broader mahjong community. In major US cities there are Mahjong cafes and pop-up events. Mahjong is trending on Tik Tok and Instagram.

Mahjong was invented in the 1880s by field workers in China. Apparently sparrows were a pest that made a lot of noise in the trees. The game was invented to be a positive energy to that negative. Therefore, the sparrow features prominently in the game, Mahjong is sparrow in Chinese. There’s a bamboo tile representing the number 1 and the noise of the tiles is supposed to simulate the chatter of the sparrows.  

More than 40 variations are played around the world, although the core tiles and the way the tiles are stacked remain the same. Each of the players will draw 13 tiles. In American Mahjong there are a total of 166 tiles. It includes three suits–-Bamboo (Bams), Characters (Craks) and Dots, as well as Winds, Dragons, Jokers, and Flowers. While tiles may vary from set to set, almost all pay tribute to Chinese culture. 

In the American version we use a card issued by the National Mah Jongg League. The card is a condensed list of over 50 possible winning “hands.” The player begins with 13 tiles and picks up and discards tiles in turn to create a “hand” that exactly matches a winning “hand” specified on the card. A winning “hand” will typically include a combination of tiles—Suits, Dragons, Winds, Flowers and, if you are lucky, Jokers. Jokers serve as wild “cards.” There are many rules governing picking up tiles and using jokers. My group is still learning all of them.

Each year, the National Mahjongg League releases a new version with different combinations to keep the game fresh and to keep us on our toes. The proceeds from the card go to charity.

Mahjong is not just fun to play, it fosters community and provides a way for people to connect away from phones and computer screens. The game’s strategic nature helps boost mental skills, and it is associated with improved memory and slowed cognitive decline. That is an added bonus for seniors and young adults alike. 

So if you pass by a community center and hear clicking and clacking, don’t be alarmed, it is just a group of people playing Mahjong.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech com