Mahjong Guide

Somebody hands you a small folded card covered in colored numbers, stray capital letters, and what looks like a bus timetable. Then they tell you that everything you are allowed to win with is printed on it, and that you should probably pick a hand before the Charleston starts. It is genuinely intimidating the first…

Your first American mahjong game will go fine until about ninety seconds in. The tiles get dealt, everyone stares at their rack for a moment, and then three people start sliding tiles sideways at each other without a word of explanation. Nobody tells you what is happening. You are supposed to already know. That is…