storied process. Rumor has it that new hands are created by mah jong masters with more than 500 years of collective experience playing the game. While it is impossible to accurately estimate the number of people playing mah jong today, one can get a sense of the trend by looking at the number of official scorecards sold.The president of the League, Larry Unger, said, “The number of players is definitely tending up.” He estimates somewhere between 500,000 and 750,000 people are playing the game, many of themwomen. Although its origins are shrouded in mystery, Mah Jong is thought to have started in China, probably in the mid 1800’s. It was a favorite pastime in major Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Beijing. It spread to other Asian nations, and is still enormously popular in China, as well as Taiwan, Japan and Korea. Unlike the American version, the Chinese version of the game attracts more men than women. According to Unger, there are over 100 million players of Chinese Mah Jong. “The game was actually outlawed under the Communist rule of Mao Zedong because it took too much time away from work, and because gambling, an intrinsic part of the game, was also thought to be a capitalist pleasure,” said Unger. Mah Jong was brought to America by Joseph Babcock, a businessman who lived in China in the 1920’s who became obsessed with the game. He was convinced it would be a hit in America. At first, he imported the beautifully carved ivory and bamboo sets from China by boat but then brought the game to American manufacturers like Abercrombie and Fitch, Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley who began large scale production to make the game inexpensively. The American Mah Jong craze was born.
bungalow colonies where Jewish families vacationed in droves. The game fell from the spotlight in the decades that followed. Bridge became more popular, and growing numbers of women took their places in the work force with less time for social pursuits and leisure. However, there was always a substantial core of women who loved the game and kept the tradition of play alive. In the new millennium, the appeal of Mah Jong broadened from its original roots. The game is still associated with Jewish women of leisure, but now is popular with aging baby boomersandpeopleinretirementcommunities of all religions. Said Unger, “There is no faster way tomake friends than to get into amah jong game in a new community. People look for a game online or find a sign in a community center and they are off to the races.” Tournament play is now a growing phenomenon. Aficionados eagerly board specialty cruises or fly to Las Vegas for days filled with competitive Mah Jong play. Rules are strict, and play is fast, often with hundreds of players in large rooms gathered around square tables for hours on end. There is a growing enthusiasm amongst the younger generations who often have their interest rooted in remembrances of their mothers playing while they were children. Now, young mothers are playing mah jong while their children have play dates alongside them. There is a growth in intergenerational games as well. Sue Neville, 71, is retired and lives in Steamboat Springs, CO. She learned the game when she was 63. “I taught the game to my five grandchildren, ages 11-19, who play into the
BELOW: LEISURE-CLASS LADIES PLAYING A FLOATING GAME OF MAH JONGG, 1924. COURTESY OF LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS DIVISION. wee hours of the night when they come visit.” She laughed. “They learned a lot faster than I did.” Neville’s oldest grandchild, who attends college in Boston, plays mah jong with a group of fellow students, all of whom learned the game from their mothers and grandmothers. Ilana Blumen, 18, of Marlboro, New Jersey,
learned to play at her aunt’s house on a summer weekend, and immediately caught the fever. Like many mah jong players, Ilana loves games. She quickly nicknamed her new passion, “The Game of Regrets,” when she understood the heart throb of a failed strategy and the split- second decision-making required to stay alive in the game as it progressed. Andrea Pass, of Fair Lawn, NJ has been playing with the same group for thirty years. “We call ourselves “The Very Friendly Tuesday Night Group,” she said, with undeniable pride. The group has shared life events like weddings, bar mitzvahs, illnesses and deaths. “At every major event, we even take a group picture with our mah jong cards.”
* Pamela Wadler, 41, of Hudson, New York was taught to play by her mother and her aunt. “When I was growing up, if there were more than three women in a room, they would play mah jong, and if they needed a fourth, they would invite me to join.” Wadler said her aunt had a beautiful old mah jong set. “She died recently, and I miss her. I hope to get her mah jong set to keep her close to me.” --- Bonnie Adler is a freelance writer and reporter living in Westport, CT.
The game was broadly embraced by Jewish women, who considered it sophisticated as well as social. Gambling proceeds, thoughmeager, were often donated to charity in accordance with the Jewish belief in Tsedakah, or charitable giving. The game was wildly popular in its early decades, played in cities where there were large concentrations of Jewish residents, like New York, Boston, and Chicago. By the l950’s, it was a cultural phenomenon, and was played for years at Catskill Mountain summer resorts and
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