The New Card
I didn't know that the National Mah Jongg League still existed until a friend revealed that she joined. Resurgence. Revival.
During the 1920s the game acquired the status of a "craze". By the end of that decade it no longer held the same fascination for players. Yet, a phenomenon -- probably little understood-- happened. Jewish women took to the game and in 1937 a small group of women formed the National Mah Jong League. Why so many Jewish women played is not known-- which doesn't stop all manner of conjecture.
Every year the League creates a new card of "combinations" needed to win the game. The game is played with tiles, rather than cards, and in order to win your thirteen tiles must represent one of the combinations.
I know next to nothing about Mah Jongg, save for growing up in a household with a card carrying savvy Mah Jongg mother. My mother played at least one evening a week-- often more. I can still hear the clink of tiles being discarded on the bridge table and women saying " five bam"...
When the new card arrived she went into a day of complete study and memorized all the new combinations.
" You can't be checking your card to find out which hand is best for the tiles on on your rack."
When my father retired and they moved to a warmer climate she immediately found a game and my father found the time to read aisles of history books from the public library. While he devoured tomes on historiography she honed her skills at Mah Jong.
Now she had a regular evening game and a poolside afternoon game with the same group of four other women.
After my father died she joined the women, all widows, for Saturday morning breakfast at a local restaurant. She was playing a game of mah Jongg with her regular group when she became ill and left the game. That was her last game.
Two tiles from her old set are on my desk. When I look at them I can almost hear the click clack of the tiles and the women calling out the name as they discard the tile. and I can see my mother drinking a cup of tea and reading and rereading her card.
'
During the 1920s the game acquired the status of a "craze". By the end of that decade it no longer held the same fascination for players. Yet, a phenomenon -- probably little understood-- happened. Jewish women took to the game and in 1937 a small group of women formed the National Mah Jong League. Why so many Jewish women played is not known-- which doesn't stop all manner of conjecture.
Every year the League creates a new card of "combinations" needed to win the game. The game is played with tiles, rather than cards, and in order to win your thirteen tiles must represent one of the combinations.
I know next to nothing about Mah Jongg, save for growing up in a household with a card carrying savvy Mah Jongg mother. My mother played at least one evening a week-- often more. I can still hear the clink of tiles being discarded on the bridge table and women saying " five bam"...
When the new card arrived she went into a day of complete study and memorized all the new combinations.
" You can't be checking your card to find out which hand is best for the tiles on on your rack."
When my father retired and they moved to a warmer climate she immediately found a game and my father found the time to read aisles of history books from the public library. While he devoured tomes on historiography she honed her skills at Mah Jong.
Now she had a regular evening game and a poolside afternoon game with the same group of four other women.
After my father died she joined the women, all widows, for Saturday morning breakfast at a local restaurant. She was playing a game of mah Jongg with her regular group when she became ill and left the game. That was her last game.
Two tiles from her old set are on my desk. When I look at them I can almost hear the click clack of the tiles and the women calling out the name as they discard the tile. and I can see my mother drinking a cup of tea and reading and rereading her card.
'
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