🧨️ Happy Mah Jongg Monday!️
AROUND THE TABLE by Dottie
Marlene's onto a new project.
She wants us to go to the Mah Jongg World Championship in Las Vegas in October. I haven't said yes. I haven't said no. I've said "Marlene." She heard "we're going."
She's been texting me matching outfit ideas. Six so far. None of them work. I told her I'm not wearing one. She sent another.
She's already talking about how she'll spend the prize money.
She wants to see Wayne Newton. She thinks she's getting his autograph. I'm not telling her how that goes.
She scheduled hair appointments. At her salon. In New Jersey. The tournament is in Las Vegas. When I pointed this out she said "Dottie, focus."
Hal said yes to all of it. He said yes with his face. His Men of Mahj will be there. He calls them that. I don't know what they call him.
I'm the holdout. So far.
It's not the trip. It's the four days keeping up with Marlene.
The Fourth is this Saturday. The grandkids are coming. I've warned the dog.
Pour the coffee. Let's go.
— Dottie
Here’s a quick preview of today’s issue. Scroll down to read each section in full.
🀄 Join the Club — Karen Gooen plays by the numbers, not a feeling.
💡 Table Wisdom — The safe hands to lean on for an unlucky day.
🖐🏻 A Hand to Play — Which three tiles should you pass first?
🧺 Winning Picks — Easy picnic-day essentials.
🎥 Max's Minute — Does holding a Joker cost you the bonus?
📰 In the News — A $500 bonus only a member could claim.
🎟️ Featured Events — Find your next game, plus a Florida getaway.
🏪 Marketplace — A coffee-table book about why we keep playing.
🥠 Ask Auntie — The "stand-up discard" that divides tables.
📸 Spotlight — The six players who are their town's whole social scene.
🎂 Birthdays — This week's AMJA members.
🙋🏻♀️ Free Practice Sessions — See if we called your name.
🏁 Milestones — See why 10,000+ players use The Winning Hand app. Join the Association.
🎁 Earn Free Gifts — Free gifts when your friends subscribe.
… and more!
🀄 Meet Karen Gooen, This Month's Behind the Tiles Guest 🀄
She’s logged hundreds of her own Mah Jongg games and tracked every result, so she can tell you not just what she played but how often that choice actually pays off. Most players move on a feeling. Karen moves on the numbers.
That kind of thinking is what Behind the Tiles is built around, our weekly series for Mahj Insiders Club members, and you won't find it anywhere else.
Every month a different winning player sits down for a full round, four complete games, and explains every decision as they make it, why they keep certain tiles, why they let others go, when they pivot and when they hold, all before anyone knows how the game ends.
This month, the author of Searching for Bubbe Fischer plays her four games and talks through every read while the hand is still up in the air.
👇 See What's Coming This Month
If you join in the next two days, you'll be ready when Karen's first episode drops on Wednesday.
Safe Hands to Start Practicing
You can increase your ability to win using the NMJL 2026 Card by having at least one easy hand in every section. These are hands with no Singles or Pairs, and those that are on the card every year with small changes.
Get Familiar with Six Easy Hands:
Look at each Section of the card and find one hand you can easily remember and play. Here are six hands that have been on the last few cards, all you have to do is learn the new pattern:
2026, Line 1
2468, Line 1
Consecutive Run, Line 4
13579, Line 2
Winds - Dragons, Line 1
369, Line 1
Practice for Speed and Flexibility
Use the Charleston Challenge in The Winning Hand app to practice these six hands until your decisions feel automatic and confident. These are now your “safe” hands. Use these when you are having an unlucky day or as pivot hands for some of the other hands in each section.
This layered approach increases your win rate over time. You stay flexible early and commit only when the hand proves itself.
Beginner’s Takeaway: Learn and play these hands until you’re comfortable with the game, then begin branching out.
Advanced Moves: You’ve got these down! Start using them as pivot hands for hands to up your winning quotient.
Last Week’s 🖐🏻 Hand to Play Results:
3,892 Insiders played, 21% chose right.
👉 See the correct answer & explanation here.
Your first Charleston pass sets your entire direction, so choose the three weakest tiles carefully. Strong passing starts with a clear read of your hand and a quick sense of which Sections you can realistically build.
Look at your starting tiles and ask one direct question: Which three tiles do the least to support a solid hand?
Check for early signs of a Consecutive Run, a Like Numbers Line, or a Wind or Dragon option. Notice which tiles strengthen those paths and which ones sit on the edges without helping your structure. Those outliers are your best candidates for the pass.
Your task is simple. Identify the three tiles that offer the lowest value to your strategy.
Pick your answer, cast your vote, and see how your choices compare with other players.
Which 3 tiles should I pass during the Charleston?
Picnic Perfection
Sun, snacks, and good company. These essentials make your picnic easier, prettier, and bug-free, so you just pack and go.
🧺 Insulated Picnic Backpack Set Plates, cutlery, and a chilled compartment, all in one over-the-shoulder pack. Everything for four, and nothing soggy. Pack it up →
🌈 Waterproof Picnic Blanket Damp grass, no problem. A roll-up blanket with a waterproof bottom and a soft top for any spot you choose. Lounge in comfort →
🥤 Mah Jongg Tumbler Keep your drink cold from the first bite to the last in this playful double-walled Mah Jongg tumbler, made in the USA. Sip in style →
☀️ UV Protection Sun Hat A wide brim and serious sun protection, so your face stays shaded while you linger over lunch. Stay cool →
🦟 Thermacell Mosquito Repeller It’s portable and it actually clears a bug-free zone around your blanket, no spray and no smell. Keep bugs off →
Pack it, spread it, and stay all afternoon. Picnic season just got easier.
(As an Amazon Associate, The Mah Jongg Insider earns from qualifying purchases.)
Max takes two questions from Insiders and answers both in a quick 60-second video.
🕔 This week’s questions:
1️⃣ Does a player get the Jokerless bonus if they had a Joker in their hand at ONE point?
2️⃣ Which player should get the discarded tile, the one who has already exposed tiles, or the one who is next in turn?
Max’s answer is ready.
🎥 [Click to watch]
Have a question for Max?
🎤 [Click to leave a voicemail]
🌟 Congratulations to Heather Whitfield, who took 1st place at the Mahjong Meets Moxie tournament in Houston on Saturday.
The Association had selected this event as a featured tournament, which meant first place came with an extra $500 bonus, on one condition: the winner had to be a member to claim it. A nice reminder that being a member can pay off in ways you don't see coming.
Going to a tournament this year? You can ask your director to set this up with the Association. When they do, first place comes with a bonus payout, and it goes to the winner if they’re a member. Just like Heather. 👆🏻
🌟 Looking for your next game? The American Mah Jongg Association's Directory is the easiest way to find what's happening near you and beyond. Search upcoming tournaments, retreats, leagues, and open plays all in one place, whether you're after a friendly afternoon table or a weekend away built entirely around the tiles. New events are added all the time, so it's worth a regular look.
And while you're there, don't miss Destination Mah Jongg's tournament in St. Petersburg, Florida. Sunshine, good company, and plenty of Mah Jongg make it a getaway worth circling on your calendar.
A Coffee-Table Book Worth Leaving Out
WHY WE MAHJONG is the kind of book you set on the table and never put
away. It's a true coffee-table edition, eleven inches tall and a cotton
hardcover, with two hundred pages of photography that makes the game look
as beautiful as it feels to play.
Emilie Rabke, founder of Let's Mahj RVA, wrote it with Lauren Wilson, and it isn't about how to play. It's about why we keep coming back, the women, the long afternoons, the way you sit down carrying the week and get up lighter. The chapters carry names like Beauty, Sisterhood, and Joy. Buy it for your own table, or for the friend who first taught you the game. Profits go to the Rett Syndrome Research
Trust.
$75, free shipping over $150. Available Fall 2026, pre-order now.
⬅️ Last Week’s Question
Auntie, what paint or marker works best when marking a blank tile to replace a lost one?
- Patsy B.
📢 Readers’ Responses 📢
🗨 I find the best thing to use on a blank tile is a sticker instead of a marker. You can create one on the computer or even mark the sticker with a pen. If you end up finding the missing tile, you can remove the sticker and use it for something else. Also, for vintage sets that didn’t have jokers, we create special joker stickers for those sets.
- Mister Mahjong
🗨 One solution is to print an image on tattoo paper, apply it to the tile, and then seal it with acrylic spray.
- Jenni B.
🗨 I use a permanent marker, then cover it with clear nail polish. I let it dry a few hours before using. The first one I did was about 5-6 years ago and I haven’t had any problems.
- Joyce J.
Whose response do you like best?
➡️ This Week’s Question
Hello, I am the organizer of a Mah Jongg Program at a Library where players come to learn the game or enhance their skills. I have begun using a “stand up discard” to help players learn to look at & listen for the stated discard & to underscore that the discard is available until a player calls the tile & displays it OR the next player picks from the wall & racks the picked tile in the slope of the rack before the stand up discarded tile comes down & placed face up and no longer available.
When practiced regularly the “stand up discard” effectively requires players to quickly call or the next player to quickly pick & rack. It also keeps the discard visible until no longer available & does not allow the discard tile to get lost in the mix of tiles on the table until it is no longer available.
Some players like this style of discard, others do not. I would be interested in your thoughts.
- Valerie K.
🤗 Want to share your advice?
🤔 Have a Mah Jongg manners or table moment dilemma?
📩 Send it to Auntie: [email protected]
We had a Mah Jongg fundraiser at our Neptunian Woman’s Club. It was a great turnout!
We play weekly at the club.
- Mary Reggie
Here are some photos from a recent Mah Jongg house party I hosted on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
We are part of the Cape & Islands Mahjong Group.
- Neil M.
That's me, Lou — far left, last to arrive and last to admit defeat. Six of us roll into the senior center twice a week in a town of under 300 people, which means we are the social scene. The tiles fly, the trash talk flows, and somewhere between the laughter and the very passionate disputes over who discarded what, you forget about any age gaps. One thing we all agree on, forget your lucky socks and you have no one to blame but yourself.
- Lou B.
Here’s a photo from our Father’s Day Mah Jongg.
- Andrew K.
📸 Share your Mah Jongg moments!
Send us a photo and a quick note — big wins, themed nights, or fun group shots — for a chance to be featured.
📩 Email: [email protected]
The American Mah Jongg Association would like to wish these members a very Happy Birthday!
June 29
Barbara C. (FL), Giovanna Z. (CA), Sherri L. (TX)
June 30
Kristin S. (OK), Linda T. (WA), Richelle E. (MD), Sheri H. (CA), Sue E. (SC)
July 1
Allison C. (NC), Barbara K-A. (NJ)
July 2
Eleise R. (FL), Kim C. (FL), Nan N. (HI), Rita K. (FL)
July 3
Kathy Z. (WI), Patricia W. (SC), Patty Y. (CA), Terri S. (IN)
July 4
Ceil C. (IL), Gail Q. (NH), Lisa W. (CA)
July 5
Em K. (MI), Jan G. (CO), Janice S. (WA)
If your name is Monica , enjoy a FREE Practice Session 🙋🏻♀️ on us!*
*Just reply to this email by this Friday at midnight—your email name must match!
These milestones come from players using The Winning Hand, the practice app included with membership in the American Mah Jongg Association. [Join Here]
10,000+ members use it in different ways: To warm up. To stay sharp. Or simply to spend more time with the game you already love.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 500 games played
Julie Holmes
Michele Murphy
🔥🔥🔥 300 games played
Lizzie S.
Bonnie Bondy
🔥🔥 200 games played
Cindy Thompson
Shirley Lacroix
Erin Beuka
Paula Rounsaville
Valeria Paget
Kate Clark
Cindy Womack
🔥 100 games played
Maureen Hinkelman
Linda R.
Eva Klawinski
Claire Arnett Johnson
Karen Bridges
👏 The more you play, the better your game gets.
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