Mahjong in the USA
Mahjong was introduced into the US in 1920s with the first set of mahjong sets being sold by Abercrombie & Fitch. The game became a huge success in New York and Fitch, from Abercrombie and Fitch sent emissaries to Chinese villages to buy every set of Mahjong they could find. They went on to sell 12,000 sets of this new and widely popular game.
“Rules of Mah-jongg”, also known as the red book, was written and published by Joseph Park Babcock in 1920. He lived in China and learned to play the game and wrote the book to make it simpler for Americans to learn. His version of Mahjong was the one commonly played during the 1920s fad but when the fad cooled down and died out; Babcock’s simplified rules went with it.
During the period of the 1920s to the 1930s, many different variations of Mahjong developed in the USA. By the 1930s a lot of the rules that Babcock had initially introduced were drastically different than what he has taught. The most common form of Mahjong, which was known as American Mahjong ended up being very popular among Jewish women.
Maajh: The American Version of the Ancient Chinese Game was the first American mahjong rulebook, and came out in 1937 along with the creation of the National Mah Jongg League. Even though Mahjong was embraced by United States players of all ethnic backgrounds during the era of Joseph Babcock, a lot of people consider the American version nothing more than a remake of the Jewish version, mostly because many mahjong players are of Jewish decent.
The NMJL was founded by Jewish players and has always been considered a Jewish organization. The first Mahjong cruise tournament was conducted in 1986 that went along with Mahjong Maddness. It’s still going strong with 2010 seeing its 25th Silver anniversary cruise that had players from all over Canada and the United States.
There is another organization that has formed as well known as the American Mah Jongg Association. They host events all over North America with their biggest jewel being held at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City.
This is a game that people typically either love or hate, but a lot of those who hate it simply don’t understand it or are intimidated by the complexity of the rules. If you take your time learning and have a good book or video or in person teacher to learn from, you could end up having the knowledge to play a game that could keep you entertained for hours.
It’s a game with a lot of history, a lot of culture and a lot of intelligence, and the way the game has been played has changed and progressed over the years. You are sure to love ALL versions of this game if you give it a chance and you’ll have a unique conversation starter for people who like to learn new things. Take your time, don’t get overwhelmed by all the rules and all the steps and names of the different tiles.
