From living rooms in Little Compton to the Peck Center in Barrington and a brewery in Warren, decoratively engraved tiles are being shuffled, racked and swapped as mahjong is having its moment all over the East Bay.

“It’s been so much fun seeing more and more people learn this challenging game and to see new groups form and friendships made,” says local mahjong instructor Diane Kamphaus. “And the tiles make it a different experience than traditional card games, the sound they make when you move and click them together. There’s a tactile element to it that’s very satisfying.”

Mahjong’s roots date back to 19th century China, making its way to the U.S. in the 1920s. Simply put, it’s a four-person game in which players build hands by drawing and discarding tiles until one player creates a winning combination of suits. In the most commonly played American version, players use 152 tiles total, and base winning on hands chosen by the National Mahjong League and updated annually.

“It’s a little bit like learning a new language (craks, bams, dots, kongs),” says Kamphaus, who teaches private groups in the area as well as a beginner class at the Little Compton Wellness Center in the summer. “But I have yet to have a student who doesn’t come away learning the game. It may take several sessions, but they get there.”

Click, click, click

On Thursday afternoons the clicking and passing of tiles is almost the only sound during a mahjong open play session at the Little Compton Community Center, which welcomes players of all levels. Four tables of players are studying their cards, strategizing and, ultimately, hoping to call out ‘Mahjong!’ when a winning hand is reached.

“Mahjong brings a sense of community through a game steeped in tradition that’s both challenging and fun,” says Bel Levisee, owner of MahjWives, an instruction and events business that offers lessons and guided play as well as curated events at spaces such as The Guild Brewing Co. in Warren and Bittersweet Farm in Westport. “Especially after COVID, people were looking for ways to gather,” she says.

“I love to compete,” says Little Compton’s Janet Coleman, a children’s book author. “And playing mahjong, I get to do so while also being part of a community of interesting and smart women.”

Coleman learned the game through a weekly mahjong group that started three years ago with Diane Kamphaus as their teacher. “Mahjong is continually challenging because players have to pivot from one hand to another and sometimes back again,” she says.

Where to find a game

Weekly opportunities to learn and play in the area are abundant. Check websites for details, but among them are: The Portsmouth Library, the Peck Center in Barrington, Bristol Parks & Recreation, Little Compton Community Center and The Little Compton Wellness Center.

And the interest does not seem to be slowing down. Jean Bellm, director of recreation and senior services at Barrington’s Peck Center, says, “I’ve never seen anything like it. If we could add an instructor on another day of the week, that session would fill up too. We have college students and seniors playing around the same table. It’s wonderful.”

“It’s not an easy game to learn, so it’s fun when the lightbulb goes on and a player ‘gets it’, says instructor Kamphaus. “I especially love seeing people I teach who didn’t know each other before, exchanging phone numbers to make plans to play again.”

At the end of a mahjong session at the Little Compton Community Center, before gathering up their things to go, players at one table begin shuffling their tiles again as someone says, “Who has time for one more game?”