Hooked on Mah Jongg
Step inside the boathouse at Quail Valley, Riomar Golf and Country Club or any number of private homes today and you may well hear the rattling of tiles and murmurs of “Wind, Dragon, Bam and Mah Jongg.”
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By L.L. Angell

Step inside the boathouse at Quail Valley, Riomar Golf and Country Club or any number of private homes today and you may well hear the rattling of tiles and murmurs of “Wind, Dragon, Bam and Mah Jongg.”

If you’re looking for a game with staying power, Mah Jongg wins, hands down. Popular in this country since the 1920s, Mah Jongg’s origins stretch back to the mists of ancient China, circa 800 B.C. And the Chinese have been playing it for high stakes and at lightning speed ever since.

Though played differently here, American devotees are just as hooked as the Chinese.

During a friendly game on Vero’s beach, eight of Shelly Greenberg’s students explain why.

“It’s fun, uses strategy and is completely absorbing,” says Maddie Higgins.

“Unlike Bridge, I can play it solitaire, figuring out how to proceed,” says Sally Lurie.

Sheila Huidekoper also prefers Mah Jongg to Bridge. “You play it without a partner,” she says. “If I make a mistake, I’m the only one to blame.”

“Everyone I teach loves it,” Greenberg says. “It’s challenging, fast-paced and when you’re playing, you’re completely in the game.”

While Greenberg does teach beginners, this group all played before taking classes with her, leading them to another point Greenberg’s classes teach strategy, “how to think outside the box.”

“Shelly’s taught me to think strategically and defensively,” Emily Furr says.

“She’s definitely taken my game to a higher level,” says Higgins who only intended to take a few refresher classes. “I’m much more skillful now and really enjoying it.”

For Higgin’s the game’s about more than having fun. She’s motivated by her family’s history of Alzheimer’s.

“Playing Mah Jongg teaches you to see patterns and improves memory. I think it helps our minds as we age,” Higgins says.

Greenberg’s observed the phenomena first hand. Her own mother, one of the first in the country to embrace Mah Jongg, played all her life.

“When she died in 2010 at 94, her mind was as sharp as an 18-year-olds,” says Greenberg. “Not just regarding Mah Jongg, but everything.”

On mahjblog.blogspot.com, Dr. Marie Savard writes about the benefits of Mah Jongg. Her studies suggest the game uses sensory stimuli and math skills to improve short and long term memory as well as the ability to organize and learn new things. An added plus Mah Jongg’s a great way to make new friends and enjoy old ones.

Greenberg’s mother taught her to play when she was a little girl in the Bronx. As a young mother whose husband often worked late, Greenberg put the babies to bed, then played the game with neighbors till two in the morning. Now she teaches Mah Jongg to classes at Riomar Golf and Country Club and John’s Island.

And when she isn’t teaching, she’s playing!

A quick study, Melody Gabriel has played Bridge most of her life and began Mah Jongg just eight years ago.

“I learned easily because I’ve always played cards,” says Gabriel.

President of the Vero Beach Bridge Club in 2007 and former member of their Board of Governors, Gabriel began teaching two years ago at the suggestions of Kris Ell, a member of Quail Valley Country Club.

”I met Melody at the Bridge Center,” says Ell, “and thought she’d make an excellent Mah Jongg instructor.”

Today, Gabriel teaches large and small groups at Quail Valley and privately.

Before retiring to Vero in 2007, Gabriel was editor of “The Hampton Union” in Hampton, N. H. for 18 years.

“I’d say I have a sense for cards and numbers and a good memory,” says Gabriel who admits that sitting down for your first Mah Jongg lesson can be “mind-boggling.”

“A beginner can play after three or four lessons but it takes about six months to be truly confident,” she says.

Designed for four players, Mah Jongg is played with 152 tiles engraved with Chinese symbols and numbers. That’s half the fun. The tiles are beautiful with hundreds of variations.

Like Gin Rummy, its ultimate goal is to complete a hand or “make Mah Jongg” before the competition, using a combination of suits and pairs.

Forget about hearts, spades, clubs or diamonds. Mah Jongg’s got Dots, Bams, Craks, Winds (labeled E, S, W, N for the four directions) and Dragons.

Once players have their tiles, each builds a wall two tiles high and 17 tiles long. Rolling dice, they take turns drawing and discarding tiles, till one assembles a winning hand and it’s “Mah Jongg” time.

The winner gets a cash prize. Players enjoy betting a little something and different hands (depending on their difficulty) earn different amounts.

Usually modest, say three to five dollars a game, in some circles, those bets are huge.

Inside Quail Valley’s boathouse, a mixed group of Gabriel’s students, graduates and beginners, play a friendly game.

Graduate Jeanne Leslie says, “It’s good to learn the correct national rules.”

“We tried to learn from a book,” says Sheila Hatherill, another graduate. “But you can’t do that. It takes a teacher.”

“Sizing up the tiles and making a strategy is the most challenging moment for a beginner,” Gabriel says.

A list of “legal hands” is on the National Mah Jongg League’s official Standard Hand and Rules Card. Beginners consult that card constantly.

“They tweak it every year,” says Greenberg who pulls out vintage cards from eBay.

A 1959 card cost 30 cents and in 1974, a dollar. The 2014 card, released only days ago, costs eight dollars.

“I teach playing with a poker face,” says Gabriel. “New players point to the card, giving it away. After about three lessons, I introduce some strategy.”

Players are frustrated when they don’t get the tiles they need. If they whine, Greenberg pulls out her trusty sign “NO WHINING.”

“It goes everywhere with me,” she says with a laugh.

The grand dame of Mah Jongg organizations, the National Mah Jongg League began in 1937. See www.nationalmahjonggleague.org.