Americans Fall in Love with Mahjong
"I'm telling you, mahjong is addictive, really addictive," says Liz Bush, a 42-year-old mahjong instructor, whose courses for the next six weeks are fully booked. Data shows a mahjong craze sweeping across the US, with searches for mahjong classes increasing more than ninefold year-on-year, and searches related to mahjong rooms increasing by 4467%.
This four-person indoor activity, originating in China, isn't particularly glamorous and is sometimes accompanied by reports of cardiovascular incidents, yet it appears remarkably healthy in today's internet age of smartphone addiction and short video dominance.
From actress Blake Lively to (former) Princess Meghan, everyone is playing mahjong. A TikTok video criticizing a mahjong player's unfair play attracted 2.2 million views. Unlike the audience in China, mahjong players in the US are becoming younger.
“I know the word ‘lubricant’ sounds a bit off-putting, but it really is a social lubricant,” says Joanne Xu, 28, founder of the New York “Green Tile Mahjong Club.” “You have to sit with three other people, making eye contact with everyone.”
And physical contact is also understandable in this context.
The Green Tile Club holds events every Friday, with tickets costing $25 including a free cocktail. Everyone dresses coolly, attends weekly themed parties, and over 200 young men and women rub together with emerald green mahjong tiles, switching tables every two rounds, creating a lively atmosphere comparable to speed dating.
Only when the host announced that the party would end in 20 minutes did people take out their phones to take pictures of losing hands and post them on social media – a rare sight during the nearly three-hour event.