Play mahjong how to#

What struck me the most was how intricate the design of the tiles were. The winning tile can come from an opponent or from one of the 34 tiles positioned into a wall at two tiles high and 17 tiles long. Players are given 13 tiles with which they must form several sets of three or four identical or sequenced tiles.Įach player then takes turns picking and discarding tiles in the hope of finding the final tile needed to form four sets and one pair. Whilst different versions of the game exist, the main premise always centres around reaching a certain combination of tiles before your opponents.

Play mahjong how to#

Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon How to play I consider the game a way to take care of your mental health.”Ĭhinese game Mahjong is on display at the Chinese community centre in Chinatown in London, Britain 31 March 2022. You never know what you’re going to get in Mahjong and it shows you how different people think. She told MyLondon: “This is my way to reconnect with China. Iris, who had spent 13 years living in China before moving to London, was another player at our game. You can tell a lot about a person from how they play it’s a real testament to one’s character.” The game offers a chance to talk, gossip, and find your own people. “No one complains about their back hurting when they play Mahjong because you forget everything during a set. “I used to play for up to 12 hours at a time,” she told me. Now, she hosts Mahjong games at the CCC where Chinese immigrants frequently congregate. Cindy Manson, from Hong Kong, told MyLondon she started playing Mahjong professionally 30 years ago. For years, thousands of Chinese immigrants have come together through Mahjong to find members of their own community.

In London and elsewhere abroad, the traditional board game is more than just a pastime. I tried Mahjong at the London Chinese Community Centre in Chinatown What Mahjong means to Londoners