You know that game on your phone where you match tiles called, "Mahjong?" Yeah, that's not this game. This game is much better. Don't get us wrong, we love that game too, but the only thing that app and this game have in common is the tiles and the name. The two games are very different!

​

American Mahjong draws upon Chinese Mahjong and is a tile-based game. It consists of three suits (Bams, Craks, and Dots), Dragons (one for each suit), a Honor Tiles: Winds, Jokers, Seasons, and Flowers. Over the course of the game, there are a series of trades (The Charleston), draws, calls, and discards similar to a game of cards until you have a complete hand and can call "Mahjong!"

​

Depending on what version you are playing, you may have extra tiles, fewer tiles, no Jokers, no Seasons, different ways of scoring...and Mahjong could be spelled differently. I don't even know all of the variations! (Note: Be careful who you mention "Blanks" to; it is highly divisive. IYKYK!)

​

The heart of Mahjong is and always will be in Asia and spreads from there. At Two Bamboo, we focus on American Mahjong (also Mah Jongg), which really got its start in the 1930s when a group of Jewish women decided to create a standardized card so everyone would be playing by the same rules (this is the NMJL card noted below).

 

American Mahjong is played with tiles (melamine, acrylic, cardboard, wood, and more), mats (often made of neoprene, though other materials exist), and racks (acrylic or wood are the most common). Some other parts are helpful, but you really can't play American Mahjong without a National Mah Jongg League (NMHL) card. This card is used by American Mahjong players to determine which hands they can make with the tiles dealt to them.

​

If you want to know more, I Love Mahj is a great site (promo code: MegBritton will give you a 3-week trial instead of 2), but you really get the best idea by coming into the store for a lesson!