Let’s play
If you don’t have someone to learn mahjong from, this can be the next best thing.
ON A MISSION
A main rule of mahjong is that house rules apply.
Over the past few years, I have been documenting my family’s rules, etiquette and traditions around how we play mahjong. And it’s not just so I can share and play the game with others, but as a means for preserving my Chinese New Zealand family history and cultural legacy.
Easy to learn, but hard to master.
You can pick up the basics of mahjong in an afternoon, but there are layers of complexity and strategy you can add as you build your skills in the game. I think this is why it’s a game people come back to, time and time again. Literally for decades. And people say Settlers of Catan is different every time? LOL.
Why am I doing this?
Mahjong was serious business at my grandparents’ house in Dunedin, New Zealand. Playing well was how you earned respect and gained a higher ranking on the “favorite grandchild” ladder. My goal is to document rules that have only ever been passed down as oral history, a scorekeeping system that stretches mental math to the limits, and decades of family wisdom and gameplay. Wish me luck!
Mahjong is played all over the world, in as many styles as there are dialects of a language.
Talking about mahjong immediately opens up conversations about family, identity and diaspora.
Want to share a house rule, favorite family tradition, or mahjong memory?