Mahjong Guide

There’s a moment at every American mahjong table where somebody wins a hand and everyone reaches for their change. Nobody’s playing for rent money — usually it’s a quarter, maybe two — but the little economy of the game has its own rules, and they’re worth getting right before anyone sits down. Get them wrong…

Nobody shows up to a mahjong night because they love watching someone stare at a discard for four straight minutes. They come for the tiles, sure, but mostly for the people. The rhythm of the evening — how fast the tiles move and how the talk flows — is what makes a game feel alive…