Whether it is the satisfying sound of shuffling tiles, the stylish Chinese characters carved into them, or the desire for community amidst the drain of the digital world, the American allure for the centuries old game of Mahjong is mounting.
Yelp searches for Mahjong instructors have jumped 818 percent, and searches for clubs are up almost 4,500 percent from 2023 to 2024, according to Yelp Trend Tracker.
An article in the April issue of Texas Monthly credits “a group of businesses founded in the (Dallas) over the past six years that have since become many of the country’s leading mahjong companies. My Fair Mahjong, Oh My Mahjong, Bespoke Mahjong, and Peace Love Mahjong” for the craze.
The game of Mahjong, which originated in China in the 1800s, was popularized in Japan and America in the 1920s. The National Mahjong League, the organization from which players order their annual play card, was founded in New York City by a group of Jewish-American women in 1937.
Fast forward nearly two hundred years and you’ll find box sets of Mahjong at luxury department stores and interior design companies touting Mahjong parlors in country clubs and private homes. Aerin Lauder, the heiress to the Estée Lauder empire, designed a shagreen (shark skin or stingray hide that was used as a sword grip by Japanese samurai in the 13th century) travel set that retails for $1,250.
But at Jaclynn Renée Wine Collective in Wimberly, the atmosphere is much more lowkey. Artist and mahjong teacher Dorie Marie sets up her acrylic and oil paintings inspired by Texas and Mahjong around the colorful tables. She charges $50 per person for a three-hour group lesson, and she hosts open play sessions and private parties.
“I like to pair a painting with a mahjong table,” Dorie says. “I have several sets and I like to swap them out and do pretty table settings. Now with social media and tiles becoming so pretty with layers and mats, it’s become more of an obsession with people.”
Dorie took naturally to teaching the complex game, whose winner shouts “Mahjong” once they complete a set pattern. She began teaching her family and friends before she trained with Oh My Mahjong. Now she teaches mostly women, and she has begun to teach kids as young as 7. “Funny that it used to be a man’s game back when it originated,” she says.
With more than 40 different ways to play, Dorie likes to simplify the game, teaching mini mahj to kids using her own patterns and playing “messy” with her husband at her kitchen table, a term used to describe a quick two-person game rather than a traditional four-person table.
“A lot of people have their own house rules,” she says, adding that some ladies play with blanks and coin purses so you can walk away jiggling. Modern games take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes.
“The hardest part of mahjong for me is teaching people how to pick a line,” she says. “You have to be able to recognize patterns and get your tiles together to pick the winning hand. When people get dealt 13 (random) tiles from the dealer, their head wants to explode. I teach them how to narrow these 13 tiles down to a winning combo.”
Once you learn the tiles – bam (for bamboo), crak (for Chinese characters) and dot (for dot), it’s just like a deck of cards. She likens Mahjong game to a game of gin.
Dorie, who also works at Red Arena, a therapeutic riding center for people with disabilities, started her business on Instagram last spring and has turned it into more than 50 percent of her work. You can find her on Instagram at @doriemarie, @mahjwithdorie or at her website: www.dorieart.com.
“To me, art and mahjong are both a hobby and a business,” she says. “It’s all about ambiance and spreading happiness.”