Why is mahjong’s popularity exploding in Houston and across the US?

HOUSTON – Cecila Yip learned how to play mahjong growing up in Taiwan, where the centuries-old Chinese tile game was a mainstay at social and family gatherings, especially during the Chinese Lunar New Year. But she often felt intimidated and struggled to keep up with other family members who were quicker and more decisive in their strategy. 

“I [was] always the slowest one,” Yip told Straight Arrow News. “Everybody’s waiting for me to make a decision.”

That isn’t a concern at the Chinese Community Center’s (CCC) monthly beginner’s level mahjong workshop in Houston.

The cultural and generational appeal of mahjong

Mahjong is having a massive resurgence, both in Houston and across the nation. Between 2023 and 2024, mahjong events on Eventbrite jumped 365% nationwide and 867% in Houston, according to the platform’s data. The growth is driven both by a diverse new crowd — particularly young players, Jewish and other non-Asian women drawn to its American variant and ornate tiles — and players like Yip gradually reconnecting with their cultural roots.

Yip lives in College Station, roughly 90 minutes outside Houston, where she has struggled to find programs that teach traditional Chinese mahjong to seniors. It’s why she happily commutes to Houston once a month to learn the game’s fundamentals, speak Mandarin with bilingual instructors and find community with non-Chinese Houstonians picking up the game for the first time. 

“I not only learn mahjong, but share the culture with other people, and I also enjoy the conversation,” Yip said. 

Seeing mahjong — a quintessential pastime in Chinese heritage dating back to the 16th century — celebrated and embraced by others has sparked excitement and pride among many in the Asian community.

Lynn Chou, the Chinese Community Center’s lead mahjong instructor, has played mahjong since she was 6 years old. Decades later, she jumped at the opportunity to help facilitate the game during the center’s new monthly event, recruiting many of her pickleball friends and fellow retirees to serve as instructors. 

Each month, she coordinates a rotating team of 10 to 20 volunteers who guide participants through the game’s intricacies, helping newcomers grasp its rhythm and logic.

“We love to share this tradition,” Chou told SAN. “That’s why we’re all excited to teach whoever. That’s why I gather so many volunteers. We’re all excited that people want to learn about this. We think it’s from our ancestors, so we’re proud to share this.”

Their monthly mahjong series continues to attract a vibrant and diverse crowd of at least 20 participants, spanning generations from elementary school-aged children to a 100-year-old, Chou said. 

“The most exciting thing is that we have a lot of returning players,” Chou said. “So once we teach them, they come back with friends and family and some bring their whole family back.”

On a recent Saturday, Yip returned for her second monthly visit. 

“This week I want to push myself,” she said before the games began. Within a couple of hours, she had won her very first game. 

“That gave me more confidence,” Yip said afterwards. Her next goal is to make it to one of the experienced tables.

While a few tables are allocated for more experienced returners, Jo Truong, the Chinese Community Center’s programming director, said part of the mahjong workshop’s success is its accessibility to everyone, especially beginners. 

“People who are completely new can come and be guided by an instructor who is sat at a table, and the instructor supports the players throughout the entire game,” she said. “I think that makes people feel very welcomed and at ease knowing that there is someone who can drive their hands.”

The monthly event started as part of the CCC’s Asian Heritage Tours program, which aims to expose the Houston community to Chinese, Taiwanese and Asian culture overall, according to Truong. When 28 people showed up for what she’d planned to be a standalone workshop during Asian American Pacific Islander month this May, she saw immediate potential for regular programming. 

The second session drew 40 participants and prompted a waitlist.

“Mahjong has always been on top of our list as far as things to offer, but we haven’t found a good time to do it until now,” Truong said.

How do you play mahjong?

While there are many different styles of mahjong from Hong Kong and Japan to America, the Chinese Community Center teaches the traditional Taiwanese style. 

Here, the goal is to arrange 17 tiles into five sets — either a “pung” (three identical tiles), “kong” (four identical tiles), or a “chow” (three consecutive numbers in the same suit, which include bamboos, characters and circles) — plus one pair of identical tiles.

Four players take turns drawing and discarding tiles, strategizing to claim those discarded by others or drawn from the wall of 34 face-down tiles each player builds at the start. The first to complete a winning hand and call “mahjong” ends the game. Tiles are then scored to determine the winner. 

It’s equally about chance, skill and strategy. 

“That’s why it’s so fun,” said Chou. “You never have the same hand.”

Many instructors compare it to poker or bridge — only much noisier and far less serious. Across seven tables of games at the CCC, sporadic shouts of “pung,” “kong” and “chow” rang out for hours. 

“I’m telling you guys, you did not shuffle,” said one player, Florence Wong, growing visibly anxious as the game intensified, occasionally tapping her foot and pressing her hand to her forehead.

Wong, 60, said she was reintroduced to the game this March when visiting family in Hong Kong. Before that trip, she hadn’t played since she was 5 or 6 years old.

“They’re hardcore,” she said of her family’s experience level. “When this opportunity came, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to play. I’m going to relearn again.’ … It’s that nostalgia of that feeling again.”

Studies show that playing mahjong is associated with enhanced cognitive function, memory and even helps slow cognitive decline, especially in seniors.

“The game itself is really challenging and really refreshes your brain power all the time,” Chou said. “It’s chaos. You got to create order.”

The history and evolution of Mahjong

Although mahjong’s exact origins are often debated, many scholars — such as Xiaoping Cong, professor of Chinese history at the University of Houston — believe it evolved from card games popular among China’s lower and middle classes. 

“Some people say it started from a group of people who were guarding the granary,” Cong said, to scare away birds and mice attempting to eat the grains. “It’s a boring job, so they start playing, and a lot of signs and cards developed from that kind of job.”

Mahjong could be played anywhere there is a table, from homes to the streets, in restaurants and parlors, she said.

“There’s no universal story of the origin of today’s mahjong,” Cong told SAN, “but it started from ancient gambling games merging with others, and today’s mahjong eventually appeared around the 16th century.”

The government banned gambling in 1949, restricting the game to licensed mahjong parlors.

“The law is you cannot lend money to the players, but there’s always under the table,” said Janet Choi, a Chinese Community Center mahjong instructor from Hong Kong.

People also still play mahjong at home or at social gatherings. Sometimes it’s just for fun. Other times, small bets may be placed privately and secretly, Cong said. 

“No policeman would really care if you get $5, $10 right … even though in nature that is still gambling,” she said. 

Choi described mahjong as a deeply rooted family tradition that nearly every household engaged in while growing up — except hers. Her parents forbade Choi from learning the game due to its association with gambling. She didn’t learn how to play until immigrating to the U.S. at age 16, when her mom gifted her a set. 

“At 16, I think my mom thinks that it’s okay, it’s time that we were old enough to play that game,” she said. “But I know some kids [who] know the game when they’re 8 years old, 10 years old. For them, it’s just like playing a puzzle.” 

Mahjong entered American culture in the early 1920s among elite families and entrepreneurs, and later became popular among Jewish American women with the founding of the National Mah Jongg League in 1937. 

In recent years, mahjong has skyrocketed in popularity through social media and popular culture. The game appeared in a scene of the blockbuster hit “Crazy Rich Asians” in 2018, during which Constance Wu’s character, Rachel, plays a round of mahjong with her boyfriend’s disapproving mother, Eleanor, played by Michelle Yeoh. Rachel sacrifices her winning tile to allow Eleanor to win.

Chi-Mei Lin, mahjong instructor and former CEO of the Chinese Community Center, attributes the game’s growing popularity in Houston to the city’s diversity and the game’s social nature. 

“It’s becoming very popular because it’s very friendly and it’s highly entertaining,” Lin told SAN. “If I play mahjong and we know it takes four, I would invite my friend and this friend of mine may not be Chinese or of Asian descent.”

The center has also felt a growing demand from Asian professionals at major corporations who shared that they use mahjong for team building. 

She said she first noticed mahjong gaining traction within Houston’s Jewish community through classes at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Houston. 

Judy Weil, the JCC’s adult program coordinator, said the game was very popular post-pandemic but has recently “come back in a different way.” The JCC has offered mahjong classes for years, including beginner’s classes on Mondays and Wednesdays during the day, and is looking to expand classes to the evenings. 

Lin hopes to eventually host a joint competition with the JCC. 

Until then, the Chinese Community Center will continue to offer the mahjong series as long as it sees continued enrollment.