I guess you can tell I am not a mah jong player bc I thought (hoped!) those tiles were also chocolates 😔

I grabbed a box the other day, they are cute. I had the milk chocolate version.

I am sure there are Mah Jongg chocolates out there - there is absolutely everything else!

Maybe that is how I should play 😎

@chispa - I mean, unless the diet specifically says non-chocolate sardines then I think it’s a yes.

I honestly thought the mah jong tiles were licorice allsorts!

@Kswl, here you go, the chocolate version!

The sardines are cute!

I really like my set and mat, but I am lusting after tortoise racks, of course

Wait, what??

Mtn, Amazin has tortoise shell racks. I put some in my cart the other day but saved them for later so i can’t couch for the quality. DD has a set of tiles with a tortoise bottom. I have had a grand total of 2 lessons, but now I want everything.

welcome to the fold! we will have to have MJ night in Sarasota!

How hard is it to learn MJ? My local school night is offering an online class starting in a couple days. Ive been considering it. I am generally not great at card games. I was hopeless at bridge. So many people seem to enjoy mah jongg.

I think MJ looks almost impossible to learn until you have a couple of lessons and start playing. In my experience as a new player in 2018 and now teaching new players (just friends), once it clicks it clicks! I think the best way to learn is in person, but there is no reason not to try the online class to see what you think, ded. Almost everyone who learns ends up loving the game. And there is no end to the cool MJ paraphenalia now. Go for it!

I saw a sweet looking set, but it wants a handful of players.

An amazing woman in my area teaches classes for free. She structures it as two hours, once a week, for 4 weeks. I took her April class. In between classes, I played online. There are a number of MJ apps. My favorite is I LOVE MAJ. com.

Now I play twice a week with two different sets of women. It's really a fun game while being challenging.

@dedtired,

MJ is complex. It takes work and effort and, TBH, smarts. But it is fun and interesting and I think you would like it. I find it relaxing because it requires concetration and you can't think about/worry about anything while you play!

DH says "Mahjong" is Chinese for "you can't do that," because there are so many rules.

DH says "Mahjong" is Chinese for "you can't do that," because there are so many rules.

Ha ha - he is not wrong!

I think choc sardines are an April Fool’s tradition in France. I looked hard for a source back when I had my cafe / shop.

For a while I played Go with my son, who discovered it on his own at age 12 and within a year I was driving him to atlanta weekly to play woth the Georgia Tech Go club. It’s very difficult and required a lot of memory palace construction to support every move. I er, “retired” from Go and have been leery of any and all Asian games since!

I play MJ once a month with a group of women—8-12 (2-3 tables) of us with occasional subs as needed. We had a group lesson initially, and a few have been playing a while and continued to teach the rest of us. I didn’t find it terribly difficult to catch on. If I can figure it out, anyone can.

I do think, though, that *who* you play with makes a difference. There is one woman who rubs me the wrong way, so I avoid ending up at her table. Another woman is too lackadaisical after a half glass of wine… we just work around her. If I were more serious about the game, I’d find other groups. But for now, it’s a fun evening with (mostly) interesting women.

I LOVE MAJ. com. Is my fave site too.

I do think, though, that *who* you play with makes a difference. There is one woman who rubs me the wrong way, so I avoid ending up at her table.

OMG, i run a group, and sometimes I feel like I am in junior high. I actually have resorted to a random sort (conducted live) on ChatGPT to create table and seat assignments. I just today had to run interference on a little spat.

I remind people that "plays well with others" is part and parcel of being in any sort of group. Frankly, I think that is a meaningful part of the value of MJ. One of my young adult daughters who has subbed in the group over the summer thinks that it is amazing how some of these women behave. She claims that we are getting too old to care as much, in a bad way. Sort of assertiveness run amok?

I love maj lets you create a group to play online. Maybe we could get a group of four to play online together? I have a monthly membership($6.), but they also offer a 2 week free trial.

Sure! ruby suggested that once. ive only played online with my dds

I play online on Real Mah Jongg because my group chose that option during the pandemic. We play largely in person now so totally open to switching to I Love Maj if we have some folks interested in a weekly or whatever game. Let me know!

🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️

My daughters, not my dentist lol

I'm definitely interested in an online game!

Yay - we have 3!

Four, if mtn recruits her dentist.

🤣

I remind people that "plays well with others" is part and parcel of being in any sort of group. Frankly, I think that is a meaningful part of the value of MJ.

Yes, this. Exactly. I think because there are so many rules, and because some in my group are relatively new to the game, the seasoned players have to call out mistakes and violations. That's fine--it's part of the learning process. And we all want to be following the rules. But it takes a special kind of nuance to correct another person in a group setting. It's what makes good managers in the workplace, good managers. We have some good MJ managers, and some not-so-good MJ managers. :-)

I 1000% hear you. Add to that house rules, and various levels of adherence/strictness, then throw in a dollop of the competitiveness for which MJ seems to self-select, and you have a who mini-drama of the week.

Anyone who wants to play Mj on Ilovemahj.com email me at MtnRdRedux@gmail.com and let's see if we can come up with a time?.

I wondered if my neighborhood/club had a MJ group and it seems they do ... but they meet at 9:00 am on a Monday. That tells me that the much older ladies in the neighborhood are running it! LOL. My mother is 88 and would never play games/cards that early in the morning. She would say games/cards are for late afternoon or early evening!

lol…. we play 1-4pm and range in age from 17 to 90

1-4 pm I would do, but 9 am is exercise/outdoor time!

I don't know how to play but this sounds like a good reason to learn! 😄

Yes… newbies welcome. email me for details?