Although it is a bit off in the future, I wanted to let you all know that I will be back in Southern California again on December 8th, speaking at the Merage Jewish Community Center of Orange County. I hope you will join me for a day filled with Mah Jongg fun!
I am so excited to come to Las Vegas for my upcoming talk, dessert reception, and book signing on July 21st at the JCC of Southern Nevada. For reservations/information on this kick-off event, contact Elizabeth Bricker at 702-794-0090 or email Elizabeth at ebricker@jccsn.org or register here.
This is the kick-off event for the exciting 2016 World Championship Mah Jongg Tournament being held at the Westgate Hotel in Las Vegas from July 22nd – July 24th. The pre-event publicity has been wonderful and I hope all of you coming to the Mah Jongg World Championship will arrive on July 21st and join me at the “J” at 4:30pm.
The World Championship Tournament – where champions come to play – will be held on July 22-24, 2016 and will offer the largest prize purse in American Mah Jongg history with a minimum of $5,000 first place prize…don’t miss this opportunity to take part in Mah Jongg history! 
To register for the Mah Jongg World Championship, follow this link…
And, on Saturday, July 23rd, enjoy the tournament’s Happy Hour from 5:30 – 6:30pm, which will offer 2 drinks per person and where I will be signing the book, Mah Jongg: The Art of the Game from 5:30 – 6:30pm. 
From Anchorage, Alaska (get it? so cool…) comes this wonderful photo from our friend JoAnn. I am thrilled that our book, Mah Jongg The Art of the Game, can be found everywhere!!!
Our friend Diane G. sent me an email describing her artistic interpretation of the game. Love these photos and Diane’s explanation!
Diane writes: “Re: ‘The Art of the Game’: our group has taken to enhancing our mahj experience by using different sets, different mahj tablecloths, and even stacking the tiles in interesting ways, as if a centerpiece. Here is my latest; a vintage blue-backed tile set, with significant tiles displayed on each rack. We had not played with this set, and there could be confusion between flowers and one bam, so I displayed them ahead of time. We had a great day, but, alas, I was a Great Supporting Player, not a winner. In my book, however, any day of mahj makes me a winner.”
No truer words have ever been spoken!!! Enjoy Diane’s art work…
“Another fun way to greet our mahj friends.
Diane G”
Much thanks to the wonderful Tony (“Bony”) Watson for telling us about this rare Mah Jongg book:
Sweet set! Have a closer look, the all green painted bamboo tile has 6 pieces of bamboo, the bamboo pieces just are not separated. The bamboo tile with the red, blue and green has 9 pieces of bamboo, also no separation in the bamboo pieces. Just count the lines and you can tell the 6 bam from the 9 bam. In this case it is just a little bit harder to see, the different color in the paint sure helps.
Thanks, K!
There are no jokers, legal hands are listed in a book which generally does not change more than every 5-10 years. It is not played with flowers in the hands, but the flowers give bonus’ and the scoring system is like the complex Chinese scoring system. I believe WP is the game imported to the US originally – that first popularized mahjong in the USA – so it is probably mahjong American style about 1914-15.
Now, I believe it is quite popular with the various branches of armed forces because of its long length uniformity. Wherever one is stationed, you will play mahjong the same with very few changes occurring. (No new card every year). The problem with this style-no matter how interesting, is that few people realize it exists. No one really plays it unless you have some exposure to a base or are from the south. I learned it from a southern army brat because it was the game of the officers wives and she learned from her mother.
I began teaching WP, thinking it was a whole new undiscovered mahjong territory – to discover I had more requests for League mah-jongg. Everyone wanted to play what their neighbor was playing – not this exotic “not real” mahjong. So I became a League style teacher and it blossomed.”
Mah Jongg and Me 