The basic game of Mahjong is played by four persons and, much like poker, is enjoyed not only as a social activity and a form of family recreation, but also for gambling and serious competition.
Internationally, however, the original Chinese form is still considered the gold standard. Perhaps because the original rules of the game were rather difficult to learn, each culture made modifications, so that today the version played in Japan called “Riichi Mahjong” is quite different from the “All-American Mah Jongg” enjoyed in the United States.
It was called “mahjong,” which means “hemp bird” or “sparrow,” because getting the winning piece is as difficult as catching the Chinese bird of cleverness.įrom China, Mahjong was exported worldwide, gaining unprecedented popularity in Europe, the Americas and elsewhere in Asia in the 1920s. In 1846, the rules of a set-forming card game-Ma Tiao, which was similar to Gin Rummy and very popular in Shanghai-were applied to a ceramic tile game by a clever imperial servant named Chen Yu-Men.ĭecades later, when China became a Republic in 1912, the game took off as a welcome diversion from troubled times. In truth, however, the current game was invented only about 150 years ago. Many say Confucius himself enjoyed the game as Ma-chur, and there are even a few who claim the game entertained Noah and his family on the Ark. Stories are often told of a lonely Tang Dynasty princess who invented the game to ward off boredom more than twelve hundred years ago. Mahjong, also spelled majiang or mah jongg, as it is played around the world today, is not the ancient Chinese pastime you might think it to be.
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