🧨️ Happy Mah Jongg Monday!️
AROUND THE TABLE by Dottie
So many of you wrote in and said the same thing. Let them find out at the door.
I did.
We walked into the senior center on Friday. Helen looked up from the sign-in sheet and greeted me. Marlene said, “NO WAY. You’ve got to be joking.” We all had a good laugh.
Thank you for that.
Now for the other thing.
I stopped at the grocery store Sunday. The clerk who has known me for years said, “Haven’t seen you in a while. Must be all that Mah Jongg. I’ve always wanted to learn.”
That’s all Hal.
Pour the coffee. Let’s go.
— Dottie
Here’s a quick preview of today’s issue. Scroll down to read each section in full.
🏆 Behind the Tiles — Fern’s toughest calls. Join the Club.
💡 Table Wisdom — The cost of calling too early.
🖐🏻 A Hand to Play — Only one of four is valid.
📰 In the News — A new dragon tile?
🛒 Winning Picks — Easy hosting-season upgrades.
🪧 From Our Sponsor — Hear every tile called.
🎥 Max’s Minute — Do you need a tail on your wall?
🥠 Ask Auntie — The player nobody can hear.
📸 Spotlight — Two tables, $3,000 raised.
🎂 Birthdays — This week’s AMJA members.
🙋🏻♀️ Free Practice Sessions — See if we called your name.
🏁 Milestones — Progress inside The Winning Hand app.
… and more!
🏆 Fern Oliphant Has Spent Years Watching Who Wins and Why 🏆
Fern built Destination Mah Jongg eleven years ago, has run 130+ tournaments to date, and has played with thousands of players across the country for the past 14 years. Almost nobody has watched her play, until now.
Starting Wednesday, Mahj Insiders Club members get to.
September is her round on Behind the Tiles, the weekly series where Club members watch a guest play four games and talk through every decision as they make it. Join this month to see which two hands Fern’s weighing before she commits, why she lets three nines go, and the moment she catches her own mistake and says so out loud. A prepared lesson can’t show you a player catching her own mistake. The mistake has to happen first.
September has five Wednesdays this year, so Fern spent the fifth recording answering questions on tournament play. How to prepare, what the clock does to a first-timer, and what she tells every new player before the doors open.
If you join in the next two days, you’ll be ready when Fern’s first episode drops Wednesday. Nowhere else can you watch winning players think through a whole round out loud.
Patience Pays Off
The Charleston is over and you’re off to the races, calling the first tile that comes out and... oops, you’re now locked into a game you can’t win.
If this sounds like your game, slow down and let patience win it for you.
A few reasons to avoid calling too early:
The exposure may lock you into a specific hand
You decrease your flexibility, leaving fewer opportunities to change hands
You use your Jokers too early and may hand them to your opponents
You’re giving your opponents information about your hand
When the tile is part of a Winds Pair (N/S or E/W), calling one may cause other players to hold its companion
Practice the Art of Patience
On your next game day, try something new. During the first wall, avoid calling the first tile if:
You need it for a Pung
You need it for a Kong and have a Joker to cover it
You need to use two Jokers to expose it
Next, watch how the game progresses and notice if you pick the tile. Also notice whether you win more frequently during your patient games or the ones where you call immediately.
Timing is everything though, and sometimes you’ll want to call the first tile:
If you need to get “set” quickly to call a Single tile or the second tile of a Pair for Mah Jongg
If the tile you need is in high demand, as indicated by other players’ exposures
If the early call gets you “set” for an early win
One more thing to keep in mind while you practice. If you use a Joker for an early call, your opponents can exchange for it. Don’t hand out Jokers in the first wall.
Last Week’s 🖐🏻 Hand to Play Results:
2,208 Insiders played, 59% chose right.
👉 See the correct answer & explanation here.
Knowing exactly what the Card allows keeps you from spending a whole hand chasing something that can’t win.
Of the four hands below, only one is valid.
Check each one against the Card and decide which one follows all the rules.
Cast your vote and see how your read compares with other players. 👇
A
B
C
D
🌟 The Black Dragon Is Coming for Your Soap
Gladys Grad wants a Black Dragon tile in every American Mah Jongg set, with the Soap demoted to a neutral that only ever means zero. She has already mailed out more than 5,000 free sticker sets to players converting their blanks.
This is not an NMJL change. It is a grassroots push, and advanced players are already doing it. Missy Mahjong explains the reasoning, and what it does to your wall.
Reader Poll: Would you add a Black Dragon to your set?
Hosting Season Starts
September is when the calendar fills up again and your house is usually where it happens. These make putting out a spread easier, and give you something to carry when it is someone else’s turn.
🍷 Mah Jongg Wine Charms Every glass gets its own tile, so nobody loses track once the room fills up. A small touch your group notices and then wants for themselves. Claim your glass →
🎁 Luxury Lotion Set The hostess gift that actually gets used, already boxed and ready to hand over. Rich, beautifully scented, and it earns a spot by the sink instead of the back of a cupboard. Bring it along →
🍲 Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven Braises, soups, and a round loaf of bread all come out of the same pot, and it goes from the oven straight to the middle of the table still looking good. This is the piece you reach for every cold month from here on. Cook something wonderful →
🍽️ Tiered Serving Stand Cheese, fruit, and everything else stack up instead of spreading out, so a crowded table breathes again. It folds down small once the guests go home. Set out the spread →
🕯️ Rechargeable Candle Lighter The long flexible neck reaches every wick without singeing your knuckles, and it charges by USB instead of running out of fluid. One less thing to hunt for before dinner. Light them all →
(As an Amazon Associate, The Mah Jongg Insider earns from qualifying purchases.)
The Future of Hearing Tech
Say hello to hear.com’s new IX hearing aid. This tiny, German-engineered hearing aid is taking the US by storm this year.
Why? Partly because it’s tiny. Like, secret-agent-device tiny. And partly because it boasts the world’s first-ever dual-processing system (with double the power comes double the clarity).
In non-science-y talk, you get maximum speech clarity with minimal background noise. And you get it from a device so small, it hides completely behind your ear.
Ready to join the 540k+ who can hear with crystal clarity thanks to these game-changing hearing aids? Take advantage of hear.com’s 45-day no-risk trial.
👉 Mah Jongg is more fun when you can hear every call.
[CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE]
(This section is sponsored by hear.com.)
Max takes two questions from Insiders and answers both in a quick 60-second video.
🕔 This week’s questions:
1️⃣ Is there a rule about whether or not you’re required to have a tail on your wall?
2️⃣ What is the direction of the East (dealer) position as it rotates?
🎥 [Click to watch]
Have a question for Max?
🎤 [Click to leave a voicemail]
⬅️ Last Week’s Question
We have a player who forever tells us she’s probably dead during a game. We have told her she shouldn’t tell us and should either pivot or keep playing. What should we do?
- Donna
🥠 Auntie’s Advice 🥠
My friend, everyone has quirks. This one is likely less about the hand itself and more about wanting reassurance before the hand is over.
You have already given good advice: pivot and keep playing. At this point, consistency matters more than convincing. No rescuing, no debating. A simple, “Keep playing, you never know,” and move on.
Being annoyed is sometimes the price of community. If you want a regular group, you will occasionally sit with habits that test your patience.
📢 Readers’ Responses 📢
🗨 In Mah Jongg, as in life, you cannot declare yourself dead.
- Barbara B.
🗨 We have a player like that. We just ignore her.
- Jackie McG.
🗨 A hand you can’t win isn’t a hand that’s over. She still picks, she still discards, and what she throws decides whether someone else wins. Most players who announce a bad hand were never taught that part. Tell her.
- Anonymous
Whose response do you like best?
➡️ This Week’s Question
Greetings! I would like your advice. We play with a gal who is a great player and very bright, but whispers when she discards. It’s very hard to hear her. After we ask her to speak a little louder, she might improve for a minute, but then goes back to whispering. She leans toward being sensitive, so it’s hard to know what to say delicately when the situation doesn’t change. It seems to annoy her when we ask. We are a senior group, and the rest of the folks discard at a volume we hear just fine. Any suggestions on how to make this a more consistent game, and always a friendly one, where we can hear the discards without repeating our requests?
- Anonymous
🤗 Want to share your advice?
🤔 Have a Mah Jongg manners or table moment dilemma?
📩 Send it to Auntie: [email protected]
Our group Mahj Mania Club from Mt. Pleasant, SC, held two small tournaments to help raise awareness and funds for Blood Cancer United (formerly known as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) in honor of one of our members who is in remission from leukemia. We raised a little over $3,000!
- Adrian Sanchez
For my birthday, my son gave me the best gift. He played Mah Jongg with me! 🎉
And guess what? He won the very first hand. Total beginner’s luck, but he acted like a pro. By the third game, he was sitting there deep in thought, studying the tiles as if he were back at a chess tournament (yes, he used to play chess competitively!).
It was the most fun birthday gift: a little luck, a lot of laughs, and maybe the start of a new family rivalry.
- Sabina Lee
📸 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!
August 31
Debby R. (NY), Donna W. (MO), Linda L. (ND), Sharon S. (VA)
September 1
Dona G. (NC), Jane R. (FL), Kathy Z. (WI), Kathy P. (VA), Lynn P. (AZ), Michelle D. (GA), Patricia S. (IL)
September 2
Brenda R. (NC), Janet A. (SD), Kirsten K. (AL), Marguerite B. (NJ), Patricia K. (OR), Rita Z. (TX)
September 3
David A. (MI), Karen A. (AZ), Nancy A. (CT), Rose S. (AR), Sarah V. (MN), September T. (SC), Susie B. (TX), Teri O. (MO), Wanda M. (TX)
September 4
Catherine R. (NY), Cathy A. (TX), Lisa D. (FL), Regina L. (NH), Ruth B. (IL)
September 5
Ann L. (NJ), Anne Marie L. (NY), Judy M. (NY), Judy J. (TX), Melissa H. (IL), Rebecca F. (MS), Sarah A. (SC), Susan T. (GA)
September 6
Catherine B. (CO)
If your name is Marjorie, enjoy a FREE Strategy 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]
15,000+ 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
Nancy Mendell
Linda Nuber
Sugie Poteet
🔥🔥🔥🔥 400 games played
Marsha Jenkins
🔥🔥🔥 300 games played
Kate Durst
Mary McCoy
🔥🔥 200 games played
Debbie Hart
🔥 100 games played
Linda Bailey
Catherine Bosher
Randi Brooks
Gale Houvener
Susan Johnson
👏 The more you play, the better your game gets.
🎥 New to The Winning Hand app?
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➕ Hand Builder | ☑️ Finish the Hand | 🔃 Scrambled Hand | 💃🏻 Charleston
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5 → AMJA Sticker
10 → 30-Day Practice Plan PDF
15 → Free Strategy Session w/ Max or Phyllis
25 → Large 2026 NMJL Card
50 → Virtual Bootcamp Access
100 → Mahj Insiders Club Membership
1000 → Self-Shuffling Table
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