Mahjong: One of the newest and oldest games played in America

There are a variety of spellings of the game of mahjong. Heritage uses the AP Stylebook format, unless used in a specific name like the National Mah Jongg League.

Few games have managed to be both ancient and newly fashionable, but mahjong is one of them. Mahjong is a tile-based game of skill and strategy, played with 152 engraved tiles, racks, dice, and chips. Its roots in China stretch back centuries, but it gained popularity in the United States during the 1920s. It was Jewish women who adopted it early and made it their own, turning the game into a cultural mainstay that has been passed down from mothers to daughters. For many, it became a weekly mishpocha ritual — part family, part friendship, and a little bit of spiel. Much like sharing home remedies or recipes, it became a way to preserve connection and continuity within the community. In Florida’s vibrant retirement enclaves this tradition continues to thrive.

The Game

Mahjong is a serious game, played by people whose bubbes played and taught them for decades. A proper game requires more than enthusiasm. You need a complete mahjong set, along with an official score card from the NMJL, the National Mah Jongg League, which changes the winning combinations every year.

Despite its reputation as a pastime for retirees, mahjong is now gaining wider appeal. Far from simple, the game combines skill, strategy, chance, and quick thinking. Players must recognize patterns in the tiles, recall what has been played, and anticipate what opponents might do next. Studies have shown that playing mahjong can sharpen memory, processing speed, and logical reasoning. While these benefits appear strongest in older adults, early research in children is intriguing.

Mental fitness for older adults

Mahjong may look easy, but the experienced bubbes who play weekly have spent decades mastering how to read the tiles at the table — outsmarting everyone else sitting around it. The game provides a full workout for the brain, especially for older adults. It engages attention, memory, hand-eye coordination, and planning, while at the same time encouraging conversation and laughter.

Research has linked regular play to lower stress, improved mood, and even a reduced risk of cognitive decline. Doctors often recommend it as a way to stay mentally active and socially connected. Many women continue playing well into their 80s and 90s. While it requires little physical effort, it keeps the mind active—which is the very reason so many stay with it for life.

Men occasionally get on board

You do not see many men at the mahjong table, and there is a reason. In many Chinatowns, you will see men gathered at outdoor concrete chess tables playing mahjong. When the game first took hold in America in the 1920s, it found its home in the living rooms of women — especially Jewish women — who were busy raising families and running households. For them, mahjong was not just a pastime; it was a social lifeline that gave them a reason to gather, talk, and laugh long after the dinner dishes were done.

The men had their own escapes — synagogue brotherhoods, B’nai B’rith lodges, or poker nights after temple meetings — and probably never saw the need to join in. Over time, mahjong simply became “the women’s game.”

That tradition has held strong for almost a century, though things are starting to shift. At community centers and clubs, you will now see an occasional husband taking a seat at the table. The same qualities that made the game a refuge for women work just as well for the men who give it a try. In Florida, mixed-gender groups are appearing more often in places such as senior centers, including The Villages, broadening the game’s appeal.

Repackaging mahjong for the masses

Mahjong saw renewed interest during Covid as people sought connection and challenge while spending more time at home. The game had gone from Chinese to being a Jewish cultural mainstay, drawing wider attention and, inevitably, commercialization. The renewed popularity brought an explosion of themed merchandise, online tutorials, and competitive forums. Devotees take the game seriously: in Facebook groups they reply in ALL CAPS — “NO!” — when naïve newcomers ask such questions as whether a joker can be used in a pair.

One neighbor even uses an online mahjong app to play solo drills against bots, saying it refreshes her brain without the chaos of the full table. It is important to note that while some games are mahjong-themed tile-matching versions, only a few sites host the actual game with the matching NMJL card.

More recently, cheap knockoff cards have begun to appear on Amazon, and incomplete sets are now showing up at Costco. A costly and embarrassing one-line color error on last year’s NMJL card forced the League to reprint and resend thousands of them.

Meanwhile, the game’s surge in popularity caught the attention of The Today Show and Good Morning America, which featured mahjong segments showing younger women hosting themed parties and “learning nights.” Those feel-good features drew in a new crowd eager to join the trend. Designer card-table covers, themed napkins, and matching cups are now part of the mahjong home-game look, and none of it comes cheap. Some are paying big bucks — as much as $500 — for designer sets that do not even include racks or bags, just the tiles.

The social connection

Mahjong is about more than tiles and strategy. It is about the women (and the occasional man) who gather to play. Around kitchen tables, in neighborhood clubs, and at community centers across the country, the laughter, conversation, and friendly competition create lasting bonds.

What began as an imported pastime has become a cherished tradition that keeps minds sharp and hearts connected.