Last month, during a quick getaway to my brother’s house, my sister-in-law invited me to join her weekly cards/mahjong outing.  That Monday, they played mahjong.  I sat next to Joan and watched her play as she explained craks, bams, and dots to me. I watched as the women picked their tiles and arranged them on their racks.  Joan began perusing her card to determine what hand she might play. The card looks like some secret code waiting to be deciphered! Once they began the Charleston (not the dance), I thought my head would explode. In the end, I was hooked.  I wanted to learn how to play mahjong for real so much that my kids bought me a mahjong set for my birthday.

Fast forward to this month, when I took another little trip back there. I accompanied Joan to her mahjong game again, but this time I wasn’t so overwhelmed.  I sat next to Joan, and she encouraged me to make moves for her, which I did from time to time with her guidance. I felt like I was getting the hang of things. One of the women had to leave early and suggested that I play in her spot when she left.  I was hesitant, but I stepped out of my comfort zone and did it, thinking, “What’s the worst that could happen?”  

I was nervous to start and didn’t want to make any stupid mistakes, but as the tiles began moving, I began to feel a little more sure of myself.  I kept scouring the card to see which hand I could play with the tiles I ended up with after the Charleston.  In my mind, there were two possibilities. I kept picking up and discarding tiles for a while, and things on my rack began to fall into place. Long story short, I won that hand; beginner’s luck, for sure. And with that win, a mahjong fanatic was born.

For the next two days, Joan and I played two-person mahjong (rules are a little different, and there is no Charleston) for hours, basically only stopping for meals. We’d check our watches and say, “one more game,” and then “just one more.” I even downloaded a mahjong app on my iPad, so I could practice at home.

Needless to say, I have been going through a little mahjong withdrawal. I have been busy searching for local places to play mahjong as a beginner and trying to convince friends to learn how to play. One friend wants to learn, so we are halfway to a foursome. For now, I will have to practice using the app.