🧨️ Happy Mah Jongg Monday!️
AROUND THE TABLE by Dottie
Nineteen of us in the backyard on Saturday, same as every Labor Day weekend.
Hal lit the grill and worked it himself the way he has since we first met. Both our sons offered to flip burgers. He thanked them and didn’t hand over the spatula.
Marlene arrived with the pies she bought and started in with an eleven-minute monologue on the young man who helped her. The badminton set came out of the garage and two of the grands were injured before dinner. Marlene never lost her place.
Patty came early and had the potato salad, baked beans, fruit, and veggie platter ready before anyone else pulled in.
Our daughter Kate got there last. She brought her famous pasta salad. She didn’t bring her husband. I didn’t ask.
Four people needed me at once for most of the afternoon, and one of them was the dog.
Hal and I sat on the porch after the last car pulled out. He said, “Good day.” I said, “Good day.”
I’d like a good many more of these.
Pour the coffee. Let’s go.
— Dottie
Here’s a quick preview of today’s issue. Scroll down to read each section in full.
⬇️ Everything for $39 — Join the Association.
💡 Table Wisdom — Stop hunting for a hand.
🖐🏻 A Hand to Play — Read their exposures.
🛒 Winning Picks — Ready the table for fall.
🎥 Max’s Minute — Can you call a tile for a Joker?
🍯 From Mahj Club — Shanah Tovah.
🎟️ Featured Events — Play in nearly 90 cities.
🥠 Ask Auntie — Turned away from a table.
📸 Spotlight — Every pattern on the 2026 Card.
🎂 Birthdays — This week’s AMJA members.
🙋🏻♀️ Free Practice Sessions — See if we called your name.
🏁 Milestones — Progress inside The Winning Hand app.
… and more!
Charleston & Hand Selection
You flip up your tiles, look at the Card for a hand, and don’t see one. So you spend the whole first Charleston hunting for it.
Here’s the shift. During the first Charleston, stop asking which hand you’re playing. Ask which Section.
One question gets you there. What dominates your rack?
Even tiles
Odd tiles
A particular number
Winds
Pass anything that doesn’t work with the dominant tiles. You don’t need the hand yet. You only need the direction.
That’s where the speed comes from. When you’re collecting toward a Section, what belongs and what doesn’t is obvious, so you pass without deliberating.
Carry it through the second Charleston, gathering matching tiles and noticing what’s being passed. Most of the time a hand starts to reveal itself on its own.
When it doesn’t, and you reach a point where there are too few tiles you want to pass, that’s your signal. Find the hand or hands that fit your rack most closely and drill down, passing anything that doesn’t support that direction.
Last Week’s 🖐🏻 Hand to Play Results:
6,150 Insiders played, 76% chose right.
👉 See the correct answer & explanation here.
Once an opponent has two or more exposures on the table, you have enough to start narrowing down which hand they’re building, and that keeps you from throwing the tile that wins it for them.
Your opponent has made the exposures shown below. Which of the hands listed are they playing?
Check the exposures against the Card and decide which hand fits.
Cast your vote and see how your read compares with other players. 👇
What hand are they playing?
Back to the Table
Summer is over and the weekly game is back on the calendar. This week is about the table itself, before your group walks in.
🀄 American Mah Jongg Playing Mat Tiles shuffle quietly and stay put instead of sliding across bare wood, and your table stays scratch-free underneath. It rolls into its own bag when the game breaks up. Roll one out →
✨ Depuffing Eye Cream A late game shows around your eyes first, and peptides plus resveratrol firm that thin skin instead of sitting on top of it. Smooth it on before anyone arrives and look like you slept. Wake your eyes up →
🍽️ Acacia Lazy Susan Snacks reach all four seats without anyone stretching across the tiles. Solid wood, wide enough for a real spread, and good-looking enough to leave out between games. Give it a spin →
🧺 Tile Storage Case Your set travels to anyone’s house without loose tiles rattling around the bottom of a bag. Padded, organized, and easy to carry with one hand. Pack your set →
🥣 Snack Bowl Set Nuts, pretzels, and candies each get a bowl instead of one picked-over dish. They nest for storage, so your cabinet does not pay for it. Fill them up →
Set the table once and enjoy the whole season.
(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 the suit of the consecutive numbers need to match the Kong of Dragons on Winds-Dragons Line 2?
2️⃣ Can someone call for a discarded tile to use it as a Joker exchange?
🎥 [Click to watch]
Have a question for Max?
🎤 [Click to leave a voicemail]
A Rosh Hashanah Note From Mahj Club
As Rosh Hashanah approaches, Mahj Club sends warm wishes to everyone celebrating the Jewish New Year.
May it bring connection, joy, and belonging.
In our family, Rosh Hashanah cards are as much a tradition as Christmas cards: a chance to reach out to the people who matter most. Consider this ours to you. Shanah Tovah!
From Sara Linden, Mahj Club
www.mahjclub.com
IG @mahjclub
Facebook @MahjClub
Play More Mah Jongg This Fall With the Bambird Scramble
If your weekly game is the only Mah Jongg you get all week, this one’s worth a look, and you have a few days left to get in.
The Bambird Scramble is a nationwide ladder league that runs in nearly 90 cities. The fall season runs September 14 through November 15, and registrations submitted after this Thursday, September 10, pick up a $5 late fee.
Here’s how it works. There’s no fixed league night. You register for your city, then propose or accept matches through the Scramble platform on the day, time, and location that suit you. Coffee shop, clubhouse, someone’s dining room table. Each match is four registered players and four games. Scores go into the platform and the live leaderboard updates as the season goes on.
All levels play. You self-rank by experience when you register, so nobody’s first match is against the woman who wins every single week. Registration fees are set locally, so check your city’s page for the details.
Questions about how it works, whether your city is on the list, or how to get one started? Email [email protected] and they’ll walk you through it.
⬅️ Last 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
🥠 Auntie’s Advice 🥠
My friend, this sounds less like a manners issue and more like a communication style that simply doesn’t match the needs of the table.
At a senior table especially, hearing the discard clearly is part of keeping the game moving smoothly. If repeated gentle reminders are not sticking, then the request likely needs to become more matter-of-fact and less apologetic.
Instead of “Could you speak louder?” try something simpler and more direct: “We need to be able to hear the discard clearly.” That keeps the focus on the table’s need, not on her personality.
And if she is annoyed by the request, let her be annoyed for a moment. The alternative is three people straining to hear throughout the game.
A game works best when the table adjusts to reality, not the other way around.
📢 Readers’ Responses 📢
🗨 I played with a woman who was diagnosed with ALS and was slowly losing her ability to speak. She would quietly name her discard and then someone else at the table would repeat it a little louder for the rest of us to hear. We didn’t have a big discussion about it, it just evolved.
- Michelle G.
🗨 We also had a player like that. I am deaf in one ear, and if she sat to my left it was extremely hard for me to hear what tile she was discarding. I continually had to ask “what tile was that?” The other players found it equally frustrating. It got to the point that some of the gals did not want to play with her. After many weeks, she finally got the hint. Personally, I feel it is inconsiderate and a strategy, since it can cause a player to miss calling a tile that they need.
- Anonymous
🗨 Give her some grace. Speaking louder than your natural voice for an entire game can be tiring, and repeated reminders may simply make her self-conscious.
You might say privately, “I know we sometimes have trouble hearing you, and I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable about it. If we miss a discard, would you be okay if we just ask you to repeat it?”
That takes the pressure off her while giving everyone a simple, friendly way to handle it.
- Ailona D.
Whose response do you like best?
➡️ This Week’s Question
I have been attending an open Mah Jongg group once a week by myself. Many times I ask to join a table of two or three, and am told they are waiting for friends to join. I am an experienced player. What is the best way to handle this?
- Diane F.
🤗 Want to share your advice?
🤔 Have a Mah Jongg manners or table moment dilemma?
📩 Send it to Auntie: [email protected]
Two years ago, I taught about 7 ladies in our neighborhood how to play Mah Jongg. We had a great turnout of 15 ladies. Two came to observe and want to learn. We had lunch and prizes. Beautiful afternoon in Loomis, CA!
- Linda B.
I have been playing Mah Jongg since September 2024 here at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, GA. There are 7 groups that I play with so I could play every day if I wanted, but some days call for golf or Canasta. When the 2026 Card came out, I decided to challenge myself to mahj with every pattern, and only once per pattern. I started on March 27th and on August 31st I mahj’d my last pattern, the concealed consecutive pairs. It was an exciting moment! Of course, my girlfriends took the attached pictures and shouted “you must email these to The Insider.” Then I immediately got out a new 2026 Card and decided to start all over again. My goal is to get all the patterns, only once, before the new 2027 Card comes out. Wish me luck!
- Christine Huntzinger
The Girls: Andrea, Renee, Lenore, and Pam at our Sunday afternoon Mah Jongg!
- Pamela S.
📸 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!
September 5
Elizabeth R. (NY)
September 7
Joyce G. (NJ), Linda M. (CA), Lisa H. (AR), Mikki T. (CA)
September 8
Kathleen M. (MI), Linda R. (MO), Shirley H. (NE), Victoria W. (PA)
September 9
Carol J. (MN), Gretchen B. (TX), Mia D. (GA), Natalie H. (SC), Rachael W. (FL), Samantha L. (CA), Helen C. (LA)
September 10
Beth Y. (NJ), Ginny C. (MD), Jeanne C. (WI), John P. (VA), Marni E. (MT), Tara M. (CT)
September 11
Ashley B. (SC), Carolyn S. (NC), Delphine J. (MI), Diane B. (CA), Donna E. (IL), Jan L. (CO), Kate C. (PA), Michelle H. (VA), Terry N. (NJ)
September 12
Amy B. (CA), Anna B. (TX), Dana C. (CA), Debi T. (TX), Evangeline C. (VA), Linda R. (IN), Maryellen H. (TX), Michal K. (MI), Mindy L. (RI)
September 13
Barbara A. (MA), Jean H. (NY), Kimberly W. (CA), Madonna K. (MN)
If your name is Heidi, enjoy a FREE Strategy Session 🙋🏻♀️ on us!*
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