| 🧨 Happy Mah Jongg Monday! | AROUND THE TABLE by Dottie | You may have seen, Patty's set on us going to the senior center on Friday to up our competitive game play. | The senior center that I've been playing at for over a month now. The one where the host already knows my name. | If I say nothing, we'll walk in Friday, Helen will look up from the sign-in sheet and say "welcome back, honey." Marlene will lose her mind. Knowing Patty, she probably already suspects. | If I do say something, it'll be at Wednesday's game. | I’ve been going back and forth all morning. | The mature thing is to tell them. The funny thing is to let them find out in real time. | I'm leaning mature. I think. | Tell me what you'd do. I'm curious. | Pour the coffee. Let's go.
— Dottie | | Here’s a quick preview of today’s issue. Scroll down to read each section in full. | 🦻🏻 Hear Every Tile Called: A hearing tip worth knowing about.
⬇️ Learn Your Best Hand Faster — Join the Association + 40% off Bootcamp.
💡 Table Wisdom — What regular league play changes.
🖐🏻 A Hand to Play — What’s this concealed hand worth?
🍂 Winning Picks — Easing the house toward fall.
🎥 Max’s Minute — Whose turn after a Mah Jongg in Error?
📰 In the News — Uno, played like Mah Jongg.
🎟️ Featured Events — Seven nights on the Rhine.
🪑 At the Table — An end to “whose pass is this?”
🥠 Ask Auntie — When a player keeps saying she’s dead.
📸 Spotlight — Twelve tables in the Mall of Georgia.
🎂 Birthdays — This week’s AMJA members.
🙋🏻♀️ Free Strategy Sessions — See if we called your name.
🏁 Milestones — Progress inside The Winning Hand app.
… and more! | | | | | | | ⬇️ Ever Wonder How Some Players
Always Know What to Go For? ⬇️ | Join the Association and open The Winning Hand app, where our Hand Hint counts your matching tiles for every Line on the Card, so that you’ll know exactly which hands you’re closest to before your next discard.
Plus, get Bootcamp for 40% off. | |
| |
| |
| | |
| | | | | | | | Join a League | Regular play is one of the fastest ways to improve your Mah Jongg skills. Whether you’re looking for a game or already have one, joining a league or organized play group can help you grow. | Improve Your Game | The more often you play, the more confident your decisions become. Regular games give you repeated opportunities to practice passing, reading the table, and pivoting between hands. You learn which Charleston decisions work and which ones create problems later. | Playing with the same group also strengthens your ability to recognize patterns. Over time, you’ll become better at reading exposures, tracking discards, identifying likely hands, and recognizing an individual’s “tells.” | Those skills carry over whenever you sit at a new table. | Experience Stronger Competition | League play often places a greater focus on results and standings. | Players tend to defend more carefully, make smarter discards, and manage end games more effectively. Competing against strong players pushes you to improve your own decision-making. | Playing for points also gives you useful feedback. You can track wins, wall games, successful defensive play, and risky calls. Those results can help identify areas for improvement. | Enjoy Consistent Rules and Community | Organized play creates a more consistent experience. | Everyone follows the same rules, which reduces confusion and limits table-specific rule variations. That consistency allows you to focus on strategy instead of procedure. | Just as important, leagues create community. You’ll meet players at different skill levels and learn from their experience. Many lasting friendships begin at the Mah Jongg table. | Key Takeaway | If you want to improve faster, find a league or organized play group near you. Regular competition, consistent rules, and experienced players will help strengthen every part of your game. |
| |
| |
| | |
| | | | | | | | Last Week’s 🖐🏻 Hand to Play Results:
7,666 Insiders played, 25% chose right.
👉 See the correct answer & explanation here.
According to the rules of Mah Jongg, the winner must announce the total value of their hand. | Another player has just discarded the winning tile for this concealed hand. You completed it without using any Jokers, which is an important detail when calculating the score. | Now the question is simple and important: | What is the total value of this hand for all players at the table? | Review the answer choices carefully. Then select the one you believe is correct and vote to see how your answer compares with others. | | What is the total table payout for this hand? | |
| |
| |
| | |
| | | | | | | | Ease Into Fall
Summer is winding down and the evenings are pulling in a little earlier, so this week eases you toward cozy with a skin-and-body reset after a long season in the sun. | 🀄 Mah Jongg Mug The mug you reach for on the first cool morning, tiles on the side and your favorite coffee inside. A small daily pleasure that feels like the season turning. Pour something warm → | 🛋️ Cordless Table Lamp Warm light right where the discard pile sits, no cord to trip over, so the game plays on comfortably as the evenings darken. Charges up and sets anywhere. Light the table → | 🌙 Overnight Repair Serum The step that works while you sleep to undo a summer of sun, so you wake to smoother, brighter skin. Recovery made effortless. Repair overnight → | 🦶 Collapsible Foot Spa Warm water, gentle massage, and a soak that melts a whole day out of your feet, then folds flat to store. The reward your feet have earned all summer. Soak away summer → | 🕯️ Fall-Scent Candle The first warm, spiced note that turns the room toward autumn the moment you light it. Cozy, giftable, and the easiest way to mark the season. Set the mood → | Ease into the new season gently. A little warmth goes a long way this week. | (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 Can you play 13579 Line 6 like this? 33 55 333 555 7777
2️⃣ Whose turn is next after a player calls a tile for a Mah Jongg in Error, and is then declared Dead?
🎥 [Click to watch] | Have a question for Max?
🎤 [Click to leave a voicemail] |
| |
| |
| | |
| | | | | | | | 🌟 A new video imagining what Uno would look like if it were played like Mah Jongg is making the rounds this week, and it is very, very funny. Click here to watch on Instagram. |
| |
| |
| | |
| | | | | | | | | Six countries' worth of scenery and you unpack one time. No suitcase up a hotel staircase, no train platforms, no repacking every other morning. Crak Your Bags is running seven nights on the Rhine from Amsterdam to Basel, April 7 to 14, 2027, past storybook villages and Jewish heritage sites.
Wander a town before lunch, then be back on board by evening playing Mah Jongg while castles slide by the window. New this time, Canasta players are welcome too, so the friend who has spent years telling you she doesn't play Mah Jongg has officially run out of excuses. Click here for the full itinerary. |
| |
| |
| | |
| | | | | | | | Daron Barness is a Mah Jongg player and instructor, and the Mah Jongg Charleston Assist sits in the middle of the table with a pointer that one player, usually East, moves clockwise through each step. | | “Whose pass is this?” If somebody at your table asks that every single week, Daron has the fix.
Everybody can see which pass is in progress, when a Blind Pass is allowed, and when the table is free to stop passing. Instructors are using it to keep a whole class on the same step instead of answering the same question nine times. |
|
|
| |
| |
| | |
| | | | | | | | ⬅️ Last Week’s Question
Auntie, There is one player in our group who is very negative. She constantly complains about the hand she is dealt, and she's loud. I would like to leave the group, but I don't want to leave the other players (two regulars and one intermittent player) in the lurch. How would you handle this?
- Anonymous |
|
| 🥠 Auntie’s Advice 🥠 🗨 My friend, it sounds like this group is already fragile. If you leave, it may fall apart. If you stay silent, it may only be a matter of time before someone else does. That means the real choice is not simply stay or go. The group needs either more players, so one person’s mood carries less weight, or more honesty. You might say, “The negativity around the hands is making the game less enjoyable for me.” Then pause. It is possible the others feel the same way. It is also possible they are not bothered by it. Either way, you will know what you are choosing. 📢 Readers’ Responses 📢 🗨 There are three choices for dealing with the loud and negative player:
Ignore it and keep playing. Or pull her aside privately and explain to her how you feel. She may not even be aware. Or lastly, make a lighthearted joke every time she says something negative. That usually spotlights it for the person without hurting their feelings.
- Nancy S. 🗨 Keep it light and announce to the table, “There’s no whining in Mah Jongg.”
- Jamie B. |
|
| | | ➡️ This 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 |
|
| 🤗 Want to share your advice?
🤔 Have a Mah Jongg manners or table moment dilemma? | 📩 Send it to Auntie: auntie@themahjongginsider.com |
| |
| |
| | |
| | | | | | | | | Siamese Mahj... a good day to play inside at Lake Michigan camping @ 39 degrees.
- Denise and Robin | | Four of my students and I attended the event at Mall of Georgia last week. It was a huge success: 12 tables right in the middle of their beautiful home department. In the last year, Mah Jongg in our corner of north Georgia has mushroomed as word of mouth has spread the enthusiasm and excitement.
- Dede | | 📸 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: hello@themahjongginsider.com |
| |
| |
| | |
| | | | | | | | The American Mah Jongg Association would like to wish these members a very Happy Birthday! | August 24
Connie A. (DE), Mary Beth M. (TX), Michael H. (KS), Shelli D. (AZ) | August 25
Marlene G. (MA) | August 26
Carol M. (NC), June V. (IL), Lois S. (MO), Sharon F. (CO), Vonnie E. (PA) | August 27
Ginger G. (OR), Jill C. (AZ), Kathleen N. (FL), Richard C. (GA), Sarah B. (CT) | August 28
Diana G. (MA), Linda H. (SC), Michelle M. (CO) | August 29
Cari L. (IA), Charlene M. (IA), Jinna C. (MN), Jo L. (TN), Joann B. (TX), Kimberly O. (IN), Lois M. (CA), Peggy B. (NE), Regina M. (DE), Sherrill G. (QC), Tanya B. (PA) | August 30
Charlotte H. (DC), Jane B. (NJ), Janet W. (WA), Linda R. (ON), Sheri N. (AR) |
| |
| |
| | |
| | | | | | | If your name is Carmen, 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
Erin Beuka 🔥🔥🔥🔥 400 games played
Nancy Mendell 🔥🔥🔥 300 games played
Susan Huhndorf
Keiko Marsh 🔥🔥 200 games played
Bobette Enderson
Eva Klawinski
Regina Younger 🔥 100 games played
Vickie Babcock
Anne Chodorow
Sherri Glidden
Susan Hansborough
Betty Harpol
Barbara Kramer
Bonnie Merrick
Tracy Penwell
N Robles
Ann Tefft
Suzanne Tomalski
Lucretia Zollars 👏 The more you play, the better your game gets. |
|
| 🎥 New to The Winning Hand app?
Short videos walk through each game mode:
➕ Hand Builder | ☑️ Finish the Hand | 🔃 Scrambled Hand | 💃🏻 Charleston |
| |
| |
| | |
| | | | | | | 📲 Want a backup for the weekly email?
Add your phone number to get a short text when new content is published, just in case you ever miss it. 👉 [Notify Me] |
| |
| |
| | |
| | | | | | | | Share the Insider with your Mah Jongg friends 👇 | 3 → Winning Mah Jongg Strategies PDF 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
| | You currently have 0 referrals, only 3 away from receiving Winning Mah Jongg Strategies PDF. | 📧 How to Share The Mah Jongg Insider
1️⃣ Copy the message below.
2️⃣ Paste it into an email.
3️⃣ Add your friends’ email addresses in the “To” field.
4️⃣ Hit send! | | ✂️ Message to Copy:
Have you checked out this fantastic weekly newsletter all about American Mah Jongg? I think you’ll love it! Click this link to join for FREE:
👉 https://mahjong.beehiiv.com/subscribe?ref=RTGXidUb4C | | That’s it! 🎁 When your friends subscribe, you’ll earn free gifts as a thank-you. |
| |
| |
| | |
|
|
