Mad about Mah Jong
SAXONBURG — The South Butler Community Library was filled with the sounds of clattering, clicking tiles and calls of “Eight Bamboo” and “Red Dragon.”
As it has for every week since 2012, the Tuesday afternoon Mah Jong players had convened.
An age-old Chinese game, once all the rage 90 years ago, has made a local comeback.
One of the players, Wendy Redmore of Sarver, attributed the resurgence of Mah Jong to Cynthia Beazell Krchnavy of Sarver, a sort of Johnny Appleseed of the game.
“Cynthia taught me. I did not know how to play,” said Redmore.
As for the Mah Jong group, Krchnavy started that too, Redmore said.
“Cynthia started us and I was the first one to join,” Redmore said. “For awhile it was just the two of us. We each played two hands. And it slowly grew to 25.”
Krchnavy wasn't present at this gathering because of grandchild baby-sitting duties, Redmore said.
With its tiles in suits of bamboo, circles, characters, winds, dragons and flowers and terms such as washing the tiles and the flower wall, the game at first seems impenetrable.
But it's really not, said Rosemarie Meyer of Valencia.
“It's like rummy. You try to get three of a kind. The hard part is keeping score,” she said.“I'm an avid card player, and if you can play cards you can play this,” said Pat Paraska of Butler.“It really doesn't take that long to learn,” said Janet McClean of Cabot, who has been playing two years and like most every other player present was introduced to the game by Krchnavy.Of course, it might be helping McClean's skill that she plays in two Mah Jong groups, the library's and one that meets at the Cabot Methodist Church.At its most basic, each table of four players starts with 13 tiles in their tray.Players pick up tiles from a line of 36 placed face down in the center of the table, keeping or dropping tiles and calling out what they have discarded.The object is to clear the tray of tiles by either gathering four of a kind, called a kong; three of a kind, called a pong; or three consecutively numbered tiles in the same suit, called a chow. A player who clears his tray calls “Mah Jong” and ends the game.But there are complications caused by receiving a flower tile and a preliminary move called dancing where three tiles apiece are exchanged among players in specific pattern.
Meyer said, “If the tiles don't fit in our hand, slide them to the player on the right, that player passes tiles to the player opposite, who passes them to the player on the left. This is called dancing.”Then there's the scoring which some players claim is harder than the actual game play. Combinations of tile suits can bring about double and triple scores, just like Scrabble.Redmore, who has her own customized case for carrying her Mah Jong set, said, “It's just so much fun. It moves quickly, it's easy to grasp. Part of it is luck and part of it is skill.”“It doesn't take a long time to learn,” said Phyllis Bagaley of Deer Lakes. “But the scoring takes a long time to learn.”“Sometimes you look at what's thrown down and you don't even want to mess with it,” Bagaley said.Players can always consult the official rule book, but there's another quirk. The rule book they use was published in 1924 and is long out of print.Redmore said the several copies of Henry Snyder's “The Ma-Jung Manual” were bought on the Internet as were most of the game sets in use at the library.
Mah Jong was imported to the United States in the 1920s where it became one of the fads of the Roaring '20s along with flagpole sitting and dance marathons.According to The New York Times, several hit songs were recorded during the Mah Jong fad, most notably “Since Ma Is Playing Mah Jong” by Eddie Cantor.Of course, the players agreed, the library group plays the Chinese version of the game. It's simpler than the American version.“I was introduced to American Mah Jong by my girlfriend,” said Collen Cook of Sarver. “It's much more intense, and you really don't socialize.”And the players agreed as much as they like the game, they like the company more.Redmore said, “We play from 1:45 to 4:30 and sometimes longer. It depends on what everybody's plans are.“And it's lots of fun. We're not serious. We visit while we play. It's a very social group,” Redmore said.Meyer said, “I like it because it gets me out of the house, and I get to mix and mingle with a lot of nice ladies.”Redmore said she thinks there has been renewed interest in the ancient game.Cook said, “They play Mah Jong in East Vandergrift, but this is so much closer. The girls are great, and I believe in supporting the local library. I play every Tuesday.”
McClean said, “It's just enjoyable, it's different and it gets you out of the house.”For Josie Shust of Verona, N.J., who at 12 was the youngest player at this Tuesday's gathering, it was a chance to spend more time with her grandmother, Sue Yacono of Saxonburg during Shust's annual two-week summer visit.Shust already knew how to play. “We have a Mah Jong set,” she saidDorothy Brooks of Saxonburg, at 87, was the oldest player at the tables.“I come almost every Tuesday. This is my R and R. I love the game and the socialization, too,” Brooks said.“We've recently have had a burst of new members,” Redmore said.Bagaley said, “I think it is becoming more popular. There's a State Farm commercial where women are sitting around and playing Mah Jong.”
