A new Houston audience goes all-in on mahjong
Why it matters: The centuries-old Chinese strategy game often associated with older generations in the Asian diaspora has a new wave of players in Houston who are making it their own.
Stunning stat: Between 2023 and 2024, mahjong events on Eventbrite surged 179% nationwide and a staggering 867% in Houston, per the online platform's data.
Among the nine major cities analyzed by Eventbrite, Houston ranked third for most events last year, behind New York and San Francisco.
State of play: While longtime players continue their regular games, a new crowd is reshaping the hobby — drawn in by post-pandemic social appeal, and, of course, all the new pretty tiles in the market.
Houston - and Dallas -based tile companies now sell sets that run upward of $300.
Houstonian Amanda Commons discovered mahjong on a bachelorette trip about three years ago and, along with her friend Nicole Cottone, joined a group of HISD moms in West University who had a Google Sheet of roughly 100 players.
In November 2023, Commons and Cottone launched That's aMAHJzing, a company offering $60–75 lessons to help people start their own neighborhood groups. They also host $50 open plays, tournaments and kids camps.
"I think it's people craving connection … and I think people like to get involved with beautiful trends," Commons tells Axios.
Making an old game "bougie" and slapping "a big price point" also makes more people want to play, Commons adds.
The big picture: As demand grows, many instructors now regularly teach the American version of mahjong in collaboration with tile companies.
While many new players are white women, the resurgence is drawing people of all ages and backgrounds — including those reconnecting with the game through their cultural roots.
Flashback: Originally Chinese, mahjong was embraced by Jewish women in 1930s New York, shaping the American version still played today — including at the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston.
Versions like Cantonese, Taiwanese and American each have distinct rules — all played by four people, often with gambling elements.
Zoom in: The Chinese Community Center in Houston is seeing a rise in mahjong participants, too.
After a successful AAPI Heritage Month game event in May, the center began hosting monthly beginner meetups using the Taiwanese version and is now adding bimonthly club sessions for more experienced players, CCC development manager Jo Truong tells Axios.
The most recent meetup hit capacity with 40 players across 10 tables — only four of whom were CCC members. Entry is $35, and the event gained traction through a "very active" Facebook mahjong group sharing the invite.
What they're saying: Lynn Chou, who started playing at age 6, now teaches alongside friends at the CCC and says attendees have ranged from young children to a 100-year-old.
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