🀄Mahjong Nation

A reflection on my first year playing

Mar 30, 2026

🀄I got hog-tied into learning Mahjong by a good friend of mine.

I met her over twenty yers ago playing in a tennis clinic. But she moved and we lost touch. Recently, she moved into my neighborhood and we were looking for ways to spend time together. So when she said, '“hey, I’m going to come over and we are going to learn Mahjong” or something of the sort, I was under the impression she didn’t know how to play either and we were going to fumble around and “learn.” I thought, I’ll call my mom and she can come over teach us. She’s played for over twenty years (I have noted the similarity to my current age) and is seriously good. I forgot to call her.

A year ago, I had watched my mom and friends play and thought “I do not get this at all. I don’t see how I will get it, and I don’t like it.”

In walks my friend, let’s call her Chili, with a big bag.

It weighs a lot! It turns out my friend was coming to teach me. Like an intervention. It turns out, she does this with people regularly. She’ll come teach you, if you let her. We set up in my living room. The photo above was the second time we played.

First impressions: So Cute! She had this adorable paddle/tennis/cocktail themed set with matching mat and stands. The chips are about a finger thick, opaque lucite or some sort of plastic that is warm in my hand. The back of the chips are all the same gorgeous green and the other side has the info: suits, jokers, flowers, winds. Traditional chips are very different looking but it’s like an accent in a language, you can still understand the different variations.

The square mat is supposed to lessen the sound of the chips and protect them from chipping during the “washing” (tumbling them together to mix them up before the start of a game). The mats are works of art in many cases. Take a peek at my list of places to buy sets below. Apparently, buying sets is addictive, I have friends with twelve and more sets. The leisure companies know a good fad when they see one so they are turning out seasonal sets, holiday sets, sports, colors, flowers, on and on…you name it, they make a mahjong set of it!

How I try to sell this new hobby to others:

🀄When you play Mahjong, you can only think about mahjong. You cannot think about your kids, global politics, or anything else but that card and those chips. It’s not like Bridge, you can talk here and there. But, you do need to focus. So for however long you play, you have distracted (protected) yourself from the outside world and your anxieties. #NoANXIETY

🀄At my age, 57, I have more time than I did when I had a full house. This is the drum beat of the middle-aged-empty-nester or the newly retired. How to spend this time? One very important ingredient is not to isolate yourself. Find things to do that involve others. Here is where Mahjong shines. I love that I spend time with friends doing something that is good for me and my brain and good for them, too! #FillYourTimeWell

🀄I am sure some people can drink alcohol and play Mahjong, I wouldn’t want to try. My groups only play during the day, so there is no boozing. I can only speak from my own experience, but Mahjong can be a great excuse not to booze. Or, if you want an excuse to booze, go right ahead. #HealthyActivity

🀄Have you played Rummikub and loved it? I loved it but no one would play with me in my family. It’s a lot harder to get the game going. Mahjong is quick and you can play with only two people but using two “Bobs” (you’ll learn about Bob) or one if you have three players. #FunGamesWithCoolChips

🀄We take turns hosting. Get a few text chains going: “Can anyone mahj this afternoon?” It’s that easy. #JustDoIt

🀄Dirty Little Secrets? Yes, there are a few…

Mahjong can be quite addictive! Playing online can be a massive time sucker and because it feels like you’re doing something good for your brain and not anxious about some other thing in your life, how can it be bad? Too much of a good thing is….better?
I have noticed that the women who have played longer and are into it are starting to go to retreats. There are even tennis-mahjong retreats! $$$
Expensive. These mahjong sets can be around $990 and that is for the tiles, mat, stands and bag. The fancy chips themselves can run about $500 but you can get them for a lot less and on Ebay.
Kids play! The dirty little secret here is that they are so damn good. A number of my friends have sons and daughters who play. Usually these kids are in college but I had my ass fully kicked by a thirteen year old girl this past week. Super annoying and impressive. Her young spongy brain was so much faster than even my mom’s. She won three times in a row and then had to leave for her tennis lesson. Then my mom won five times in a row. The other woman and I smiled and just enjoyed the ride.

🀄Where to play online!

You want to play online when you are beginning. I didn’t. I should have. For starters, It makes you learn the card. For instance, real players know the card by heart. I don’t. But, I now am pretty sure which grouping I want to aim for. Playing online also lets you try new areas of the card. Be careful, though. An hour goes by pretty quickly when you play online! Give both of the links below a try…don’t do them at the same time so you can get a good amount of free play first. I tried both and they are different.