Mah-Jongg: An American game?

The traditional Asian board game shapes social lives.

By Yu Le

Every Monday night Arlene Rubin, 72, hosts five friends at her Hyde Park home. They gossip, munch on popcorn and play mah-jongg, a Chinese board game with dominolike tiles.

The game’s popularity has been on the rise since the ’80s. Rubin belongs to the National Mah-jongg League, which has more than 350,000 members — more than double the American Contract Bridge League.

Rubin has been playing for 14 years. After retiring from her job as executive director of nonprofit LEAP, she even started making $20 per lesson teaching newcomers.

Mah-jongg is a popular social game in China, Japan and other East Asian countries. It came to the U.S. in the 1920s and has seen a growing number of players. Although the States’ rules differ slightly, the basic game remains the same.

“Americans love their games just like the Asians do,” says Gladys Grad, a national mah-jongg tournament organizer who has more than 10,000 fans in her mailing list of tournament information. “I know hundreds of women who literally play almost every day.”

Rubin is one of those women, but she plays in person only on Mondays. On other days she challenges online players because her group cannot meet more than once a week.

“It’s just a supplement; I just want to play more than I can play with friends.” Although the online game is more convenient and can be played in half the time, Rubin says, “It’s like ‘Bang! Bang! Bang! Thank you, man!’ That’s all it is. It’s not the worth of a personal game at all.”

Linda McCabe, a 58-year-old Chicago resident, learned the game from Rubin’s class last year and became more and more dedicated.

“The best part of it, of course, is getting together with others and having a reason to get together other than sitting around and eating,” McCabe says. “We certainly do sit around, we certainly do eat, but in the meantime, we are challenging our brains and having a good time.”

Mastering mah-jongg

A typical mah-jongg game takes four players and 136 tiles with different characters and symbols. Each person receives 13 tiles at the beginning, picking up one and discarding one each round. You always have 13 tiles in hand until someone completes a legal combination of tiles to claim win. The game requires skill and luck.

The National Mah-jongg League annually publishes the combinations that are recognized as legal, but those generally stay the same.

Some people in Asia use mah-jongg as a gambling tool. Some small minorities in America also play for money, but often with only a little amount, Grad says. Some enthusiasts set a $5 to $25 cap on how much players may win or lose in one night.