Mah Jongg is Fun!

Mah jongg is certainly something that is a big part of my family background. I remember my grandfather used to watch me when I was really young. From what I was told, there was often a mah jongg table set up in our apartment and he would show me how to play. I was probably around 3 years old. But this probably wasn't odd in Chinese families. I remember my parents used to bring us to all day weekend mah jongg games where we would fall asleep on their friends' sofas and be carried home in the wee morning hours. This apparently was not terribly abnormal either. I still hear about how my grandmother used to play all night long and my mom would barely even see her growing up. My parents still have a very active mah jongg social calendar these days. Not a week goes by when they don't play at least 2 or 3 days. Those who play usually have played for decades of their lives.

Mah jongg has been described as seductive and thrilling. It brings people together connecting them to a rich social and cultural history. From my past, I certainly agree that this game has been weaved into my own life. I've been a part of this social community from childhood through adulthood. I have witnessed and heard the intimate conversations that four people have during the limitless hours and days that they spend together. I remember starting out sitting on a parent's lap trying to learn the right strategies and graduating to being allowed to play a hand whenever someone had to take a bathroom break. It has always been such a treat for me to get to play.

The beauty of this game is that it transcends time and cultures. The origins of the game date back many years (there are different legends that date similar forms of the game back as far as to 2350 b.c or 500 b.c). Today Japanese, Filipino and Jewish (just to name a few cultures) play the game. There is skill and luck involved. The style of play, rules and etiquette differ from one culture to another. Countless millions of people play this game throughout the world. The game is sophisticated, fashionable and very addictive. Games are played in homes, mah jongg parlors, at tournaments and even aboard cruise ships. The tiles are equally rich with history. Mah jongg sets have been crafted from bone, bamboo, bakelite, wood, ivory and nowadays even plastic.

So how does this all pertain to me now? Well about a year ago, I'm guessing, I mentioned mah jongg to three of my coworkers. They all expressed an interest in learning this game. I didn't think much of it since none of them knew how to play and had never seen it before. Plus they were non-Asian so I probably doubly didn't think they were serious. So we planned a Mah Jongg Party on a Friday night after work. I prepared a cheat sheet of all the Chinese characters for them a week prior to our meeting. Most of them had done a pretty good job of memorizing some or all of the characters. We had cocktails, appetizers and dinner before. Once food was out of the way, we began. It took about one hour for me to explain to them the rules of the game and go through the motions of running through trial runs of the game. But by the second hour, the three of them were on their way. I was very proud of them. They needed some guidance on which direction play goes and required reinforcement of some of the rules, but for the most part they were 3 highly performing players. Play speed was dialed down quite a bit but I wouldn't have expected any different considering this was the first time they had played the game. That night we all had a lot of fun, chatting, laughing and learning the game. At the close of the evening, we talked about doing it again. I didn't expect we would play again.

Well, since then, we have had 3 more games. 3 more nights of cocktails, food and laughs. Each time required less time to refresh their memories from the time before. More importantly, each time there was less effort concentrating on the game and more time spent chatting about work and life. Mah jongg succeeded again to dazzle and bring people of all kinds together. Hopefully the game will add fond memories to my friends' lives and they will now be able to pass on their experiences of the game to their family and friends.