“06880” culture correspondent Robin Moyer Chung writes:
From 6 to 8 p.m. every Thursday, Katie Andrews’ living room bustles with 16 women, and the click of mahjong tiles.
Mahjong is the cornerstone of a gaming craze — the kind with boards and playing pieces — that’s hitting Westport as hard as last week’s rainstorm.
Andrews bills the 6-month old series — “The Concealed Hand — as “Fairfield County’s First Mahjong Parlor.” She’s one of many instructors and entrepreneurs making sure you can’t throw a rock in Westport without hitting a player.
Katie Andrews, with her tiles.
Smacking of gin rummy, mahjong is a game of skill, tactility and, according to instructor Michelle Sperry, “a fascinating game filled with endless strategy.”
The game is also an adventure in orthography – there are at least four ways of spelling it. (Mahjong, mah jong, mahjongg and mah jongg. It’s the Chinese word for “sparrow” — máquè, 麻雀 — and refers to the clicking sound of the tiles when they are shuffled, similar to the chattering of birds.)
Why the current craze?
A mahjong query on Facebook elicited responses as swiftly and relentlessly as Compo seagulls on French fries. In fact, as I tapped my post into the online ether, another popped up: “A newbie Mah Jong player would love a card table if anyone has one to give away?”
Local instructors and players note a surge in popularity since 2024. Wait lists for wanna-be players can top off at 40 or more.
Learning the game, with Michelle Sperry (left).
Starting with the opening ritual (the Charleston), the game is refreshing in its formality, and an antidote to the etiquette rot created by social media. It involves 144 tiles, 4 players, 2 dice, and 1 table.
You can stroll into Tiffany and slap down $18K for these ingredients (sans table). But most players are snapping up decorative mahjong sets at The Post for around $650. Or, like me, a cheap set from Amazon in an ugly case.
Sperry notes there’s fun to be found in the tiles, evoking such themes as New York City, rodeos, beaches, Staffordshire dogs, and the Grateful Dead. She adds, “There is even an adult-themed set. I’ll go on record and say I don’t own that one.”
But the greatest appeal? People.
An intergenerational game, mahjong is played by 4 people (or 3, but…) who want to unplug and enjoy the serenade of clicking tiles with like-minded humans.
Jessica Erlich and Dana Bernstein of “Haus of Mahj” write, “Mahjong is one of the rare hobbies that challenges you intellectually while creating human connection.” Every instructor I spoke to had a story about friendships that started with the game, then extended beyond the table.
Jessica Erlich and Dana Bernstein, of Haus of Mahj.
Some say you can learn the game in 3 lessons. I needed 4. It’s not so hard to learn as it is to master. Fortunately, most players are gracious and happy to help beginners strategize.
Games and instructors are literally everywhere. Haus of Mahj is a “mobile social club and mahjong lifestyle brand” that brings its game and instruction almost anywhere.
The Concealed Hand hosts regular 2-hour games throughout the week. Many other instructors host community evenings, offer private lessons, and partner with charities.
Justine Trudeau of the style salon Justine Alexandra Studio included Haus of Mahj at a summer event.
Each instructor has her own price tag and class options. Most classes are 2 hours at $30 to $50, with a recommendation of 3 or 4 classes before wobbling out on your own.
Yes, I wrote “her” because I haven’t yet found a male instructor here. And I’ve heard of exactly one guy who plays.
Lisa Gardan-Barkan, and her table.
NOTE: Try to avoid classes with more than 8 students. They may spread the instructor’s attention too thin.
Below is a wildly incomplete list of resources.
Who can teach you
- Kim Meier: crasianmahj.tiiny.site
- Debbie Solomon: solodeb@optonline.net
- Katie Andrews: @TheConcealedHand
- Christy Duggan: Westport Library
- Michelle Sperry: @MichellesMahjongTable
- Lisa Girden-Barkan: @GirdenBarkan
- Jessica Erlich and Dana Bernstein: @TheHausOfMahj
- Terrie Langer – terrielanger@gmail.com
Where to play
- Westport Center for Senior Activities
- Westport Library
- TCS
- Make-Modern
- The Concealed Hand
- Most country clubs
- Anywhere you can squeeze a table
(“06880” covers mah jong, other games and activities, sports and hobbies, the Senior Center, Library — and everything else in town. If you enjoy this blog, please click here to support our work. Thanks!)
That last photo doesn’t look like Lisa Girden-Barkan.
This game has been very popular in Westport and Fairfield County for a really long time way before COVID came to town. Many years ago I got together with a friend and taught approximately 18 women at one time that turned into a regular weekly game for about 16 of us for many years. We used to meet at her house or my house every week and we usually had 3-4 tables going every week.
Also btw, you can also play with 5 players at a table when the 5th person looks at each of the 4 people tiles (hands) at the table after the Charleston but before play begins and takes a calculated guess(bet) of who will win that round. They quietly write down the name of the person they think will win that hand or they write down wall instead of a name, if they think the game will be a draw without a clear winner. At the end of that round when all the tiles are done or someone declares Mahjongg then everyone finds out who the “bettor” thought would win. The numbers on the side of each hand on the MJ card shows the value of that hand and that is how much the winner of the hand gets from each other player and if the bettor guessed correctly then the players also pay the bettor the same amount for guessing correctly. It’s a game of luck, chance and some strategy. If you don’t have the tiles you need to win you play defensively to try to keep the others from winning with their tiles.
The history of mahjongg is that it started in China as a man’s game and they didn’t use a card. The Chinese version still plays with 4 players and doesn’t use a card, and the play is usually much quicker.
It was brought to the US by service men who learned it while fighting and stationed in China during the World War I. Then businessmen and expatriates revitalized it shortly after WWII and American rules and the cards were developed by a group of NYC women who would “summer” in the mountains with their families in the Berkshires and Poconos while the men commuted from the city on weekends. It became a huge hit in the tristate area among Jewish women and then the National Mah Jongg League was born.
There is much more history details, but that’s the shorter version.