The Current - Why is Mahjong having a moment?

Episode Date: March 6, 2026

It seems like everywhere you look, someone you know is playing mahjong. Played with tiles, the traditional Chinese game has been a staple among the Asian diaspora in the West for centuries. But recently, its reach has expanded — mahjong clubs are popping up around the world in cities like LA, London, and New York, and celebrities like Meghan Markle and Julia Roberts are promoting the game. We speak with Sandy Gunn, the co-founder of Lucky Tile, a mahjong events group based in Vancouver, and Connor Wan, the co-founder of Allflower mahjong in Toronto, about the game and why it's so popular right now.

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N-E-T-H-R-I-S dot com. Nethris, much more than just a payroll software. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. It is a beautiful Saturday afternoon at an art gallery in North Vancouver. You can see the harbor and the downtown city skyline, and about 30 people are here in this room sitting around small folding tables, but none of them are looking at the view.

Instead, they're looking down at dozens of small white tiles piled up on the table in front of them. The people are here to learn how to play. Ma Zhong. At your table, I'd like each of you to find the three, the four, and the five of balls, sticks, and characters, and put them in front of you. Mahjong is a traditional Chinese game played with tiles. Vivian McCormick and Sandy Gunn started Lucky Tile last year after noticing a big spike in interest in this game.

My name is Vivian McCormick, and I am one of the Majong aunties at Lucky Tile Mahjong events. We do a couple of things, but mostly we do these introductory sessions because so many people want to learn. Our introductory sessions sell out like within a few days, almost consistently every time. As you can see in the room, we have a mix of Chinese people and, you know, non-Asian people. Everybody coming together and some will say, we had Majong in our house, but we were never allowed to play. And then there are non-Asian people who are saying, I can see that Julia Roberts plays this game. And I find it really interesting and I want to come and play. So, yeah, it's wonderful.

Locky Tile hosts weekly introductory classes like this one, and people have come from all over BC's Lower Mainland to be here. I'm Bethany Duick. I'm from Abbotsford, and I'm 42. There's no mahjong near me. So I found this and said I'm in. I had heard about it and that it was really good for building community. It's very important to me that as I age, I keep my brain health and just keep community and connections.

It's going so well. It's so much fun. Hi, I'm Janice Quo. I'm 38, and I came from East Van. I came today because I was really excited to play some mahjong. I grew up with my dad and my grandma, always playing mahjong in the basement with their friends. But I never really learned when I was a kid. And yeah, this kind of just this event popped up, and I thought it would be super exciting to play mahjong with people. Hi, my name is Dorothy Chen. I am 55.

I've been to one other event in Vancouver, and it was similar to this, but I like this because they break it down very easily for beginners. I definitely want to get a set for home, and then this is a great way because I'm pretty new to the city to get to know people. And so, yes, I would want to meet other people who want to play. What a great way to spend an afternoon. Majong clearly is having a moment. Its popularity is soaring. Clubs are popping up all over the country. Once something maybe your parents or maybe your granny played, this game is now, being embraced by younger people as well.

So what is it about this game that people love? And why now? Why is it having this moment right now? Well, we have brought two people together today to talk all things, Mahjong. Sandy Gunn is one of the co-founders of Lakitao, one of the Mahjong events that we heard about earlier. She's in Vancouver. And Connor Wan is co-founder of all flowers, Mahjong.

It's a social club in Toronto and Four Winds Mahjong, which is a club in London, England. And he's with me in our Toronto studio. Good morning to you both. Good morning. Good morning. Sandy, this is a thing, but for people who don't know what the thing is, can you explain this game to me? Sure.

So this game is actually played all around the world. The version I think that we teach and that I think Carly Connor does as well is a Hong Kong style Mahjong. It's a game, it's like a card game similar to Gin Rummy. There's four players sitting around a table. And the goal is to build a winning hand, which is four sets of three and one. pair if you're a card player. And you're playing with these tiles?

Tiles, exactly. What do you love about the game, Sandy? Oh my gosh. I love so many things about the game. I think I heard some of it in the tape, which was really lovely to hear back. I think I love it for the connection standpoint, just getting together with people on a regular basis. There's a lot of laughter and stories that come across the table. And I think the other thing that's really special for me is just that cultural connection.

Yeah, I feel like I'm able to connect to my culture in a way that I never really have been before. And so that's really special as well. Did you grow up playing it? I didn't grow up playing it, but my family played it. And pretty often, I would say weekly. But it was one of those things that we were just never really either included or maybe even not that interested. So I actually only played, started playing a couple of years ago. And now you're obsessed.

That is fair to say, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ask me how often I play, yes. How often do you play? At least once a week, sometimes more. It depends how often I'm also teaching. Connor, are you also obsessed? Obsessed, I don't know if there's the right word, because I feel like there's an inside joke amongst Marjong

I don't know if Sandy can corroborate, but you organize Marjorie, but you never play because you're making sure everyone else plays around you. You're too busy everyone else. Yeah. And everybody else is having a good time. People were always like, Colin, you must play like all the time. I'm like, I haven't played in like, properly in like a year at least. Luckily, we just got off a break.

We got, yeah, I know. I know. It's a tragedy. But we just got off a break in around Christmas and New Year's end. Luckily, I got to play for once. I think I spent all my New Year's luck. because my first game back, I won big. And then since then, I've just been losing.

So, you know, I think I'll stop here for now. When did you start playing? Honestly, kind of like Sandy, I recently, I think 2018 is when I learned properly. And it was just kind of around Christmas and was bored. And I asked my parents, can you teach me, like, properly how to play Marjong? You'd seen them play? No. Because by the time me and my sister were born, them and their friends kind of stopped playing at

parties and stuff. They were just chatting. I actually don't know how to play card games. There's like Chinese card games called like Big Tour and stuff that are on beforehand. So we played stuff together but it was never Marjong, especially because their equipment is way more hefty. You know, you play card games, you need a pack of cards, it's 52, you can fit it in your pocket. You ain't fit in any Marjong sets in your pockets. It's heavy. You need muscle to bring it around. You know, you need a table at least that's big enough to sit around four people. So I kind of went to Hong Kong and I saw my auntie playing it. And my cousin was like, oh, do you know how to play Marjan?

I was like, eh, sort of, not really. So she taught me then. And then when I came back to the UK at Christmas, we just played with my family. But it was really in 2021 when I started the club in London when I properly, like, got into it, you know, and started playing it regularly with friends. And, you know, then the club kind of like grew out of that, you know. And what do you love about it? I like the social aspect of it, you know?

I like that. You can sit around with at least three other people, and you get to a point where you don't have to actively think too much when you play. You can just use it as a vehicle to chat or catch up or, you know, mess about in the middle of the day. And you're not on your phones. You're actually with people. Yeah, no.

If you're on your phones, you will mess up your hand for sure, because it's not just a game about knowing what you will. want. It's also a game about Furing and what everyone else needs. Because the thing about Marjong is that you can be petty playing it. You know, if you're not going to win, you can also make sure no one else does. So it's a, it's a fun way for that. That's kind of, I mean, there's, there's something about that that is also intriguing. It's, it's a fun, you know, it's, it's a reason why Marjong is so, uh, film and TV, like, appropriate, because it's great for just having scenes of people talk because it's something for your hands to do, you know,

and your brain to kind of do in the background while you talk about something super important or just catch up with old mates. At Nethris, we are Canada's payroll experts. For more than 45 years, we have proudly supported local businesses. Powered by CGI, we provide a robust and secure technological infrastructure. Let our specialists handle your payroll so you can maximize your efficiency and focus on what truly matters. Try Nethrists now.

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I think there's a lot of reasons. I think post-pandemic, people are looking for ways to get together and still in real-life connection. I think sort of that either cultural or reconnection or introduction. Once people start playing, so this is what I think surprised me and maybe surprises a lot of people

when they first come out to play. It's something that you didn't really know that you needed. It's kind of like this delightful little surprise. It's this tactile game. You're touching the tiles. It sounds really nice. And just to sort of build on what Connor was saying, I think that, you know,

once you sort of pass the initial learning phase and you're connecting with other people, I call it kind of that perfect. sort of introverts social activity because you don't have to think too hard about what you want to say small talk wise, but you're still having some conversation and seeing people. And so I think, yeah, I think it's popular for so many reasons. The tiles are a big part of that, right? I mean, and people will talk about touching the tiles and the feel of the tiles. What is that about, Sandy? Yeah, I mean, I don't, I just think it's, I don't know, it's like maybe just something

that's in our hands. It just feels nice. Like, it's, there's some substance or I think it's what the touch and the sound. And the sound, yeah, yeah, and the sound is kind of, I mean, for a lot of people, again, we grew up around it, it's so nostalgic. Like, you're just like, oh, I fell asleep to that sound all the time. I could not fall asleep to that sound now. But like, for sure as a kid, that was something that It was just so almost comforting. You have seen the popularity of this firsthand, Connor. You started All Flowers, Majong, in Toronto, what, in 2024? 2024, yes.

What has the response been like to this club? How many people come out? I mean, you know, we thought it would build gradually and it kind of grow slowly. But from the get-go, we've had like eight tables, I think, from the beginning. And it's eight times four. So it's at least 32 people coming. And now we're at a point. where, averagely, it was mid-60s, come to our weekly club.

60 people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Every week to play this game. Yeah, around like last night, we came back after a hiatus, and 82 people came through, and that's just our weekly, like, club event. You know, we have events that guard upwards of 100, 100 people. What do you think that's about? Like Sandy said, it is a community, you know, post-COVID, I think, especially in the

East and Southeast Asian community, where a lot of it, for the maybe not the first time but for a very international stage kind of experienced hardships and you know racism through COVID and stuff and coming out of that you really want something that is not just community but it's something that you can be proud of culturally and mahjong's this international thing that is so inherently Chinese and so inherently Asian because the tiles themselves are related to you know things of that culture so something social and something cultural and the fact that how we do it is we make it really accessible. That's our most important factor of running the club.

So our weak club is pay what you can so anyone can come down. The fact that all these marginal clubs around the world are in pretty major cities is a fact that people need third spaces in cities to hang out. Somewhere between home and work where they can be. So between home and work and be with people and not have a pressure to spend money or to be a certain way, you know, people can just come down and enjoy the atmosphere. of all. Is your sense that people who are coming to play in the club,

do they know the game? Do they know how to play the game? Or are they just are many of them beginners? I mean, strange enough, I actually do have a figure on this that about 30 to 40% of people who come for us are new and then the other 60 to 70 are returning members.

So a lot of people do come to learn, but a lot of people also, like Sandy said, on that kind of know level, like maybe played when they're younger or played ages ago but when a refresh or one to get into it regularly. It's kind of an all-levels welcome type situation. Sandy, what have you seen in terms of people across generations coming together to play this?

It's been nice to see intergenerational playing. So whether it's adult children and their parents or in some situations we've seen children are people with their young kids and their grandparents. So last year we were at a space where we were. they're monthly. And so there's a family of four, two little girls, they were 10, and the parents came. And then they came the following month. And the parents said that the two girls had been waiting all month to come back and play. And this time they brought four other families with them. And so there was like a group of little girls, you know, around the table, cheering each other on

and also trying to win at the same time. It was really, it was really nice. And then the parents were kind of just basically, where they're like, I guess we could sit down at the next table and play too. So it was great. What does that tell you? But, I mean, again, we spent a lot of time just looking at our screens, being in our little universe. And this is the opposite of that in so many ways. Yeah, I think there is a real, I don't know, appetite maybe or need for this real life connection. And then, again, when people experience it, I think it surprises them a little, that they're just like, oh, what is this feeling?

that maybe we all had growing up, but some people aren't getting now as younger people. And so it's been, I think, just a really nice response to that, just sort of, yeah, being on our phones all the time. You said it's always that this was something that you didn't know you needed, that it gave you something you didn't know you needed. What is the game given you? Yeah, I think it's just been giving me.

I mean, I probably, I would say, grew up either both consciously and subconsciously, kind of just muting this part of my my identity. Which part? Which is my Chinese part, my heritage, my culture. And now I'm just like, you know what? I'm really proud. And so it's giving me that. And I think the other sort of, it just feels like a real gift to be able to create the

space. And kind of like what Connor was saying, accessibility is a big thing for us to you, and inclusion. And so I just, yeah, it's sort of nice to be part of something in the world right now that's counter to all the effects of all the sort of the digital aspect of our lives. That it's real people sitting across a table. Yeah. Trying to beat each other or make sure that the other person doesn't win.

Yeah. And at the same time, you know what? I'll also say the universal response that I will say to every single intro class that we've taught is that when people win their very first hand, there is clapping. Clapping around the table. That would not have happened with my parents, for sure. but like with every session it's been amazing and I think again that just sort of witnessing that connection and action is so neat as well you spend a lot of time Connor with this game I mean

you have two clubs that you started up yeah one in London and the other here in Canada yeah why are you doing this I guess the question of what it gives you that I asked sandy I mean I think and for me an important note is that they're all co-founded like in London was co-founded of three others and in Toronto was co-founded by Hanya, one other. And I think it's sort of, my friend's joke about this because I'm a massive introvert who's not really people inclined. And they're like, kind of, your own community organiser. This is the opposite.

And I don't know, it's something about kind of growing up in a space where there wasn't a lot of access for, that's like culturally irrelevant to you. And I think allowing that to grow for others feels good, especially like Stanley said, when little kids come through or teens or, you know, people who I look back on and I'm like, you're never going to question your heritage or want to be something else, you know, because you like being here, you know, you like kind of part of the identity that some might try to put you down for. That's a really powerful thing. I mean, yeah, but at the same time, I'm not that earnest all the time. I'm really, really dry and sarcastic. So some others say that Connor, you don't believe anyone else could do it.

You're just doing it because you think other people are incompetent to do it for you. You know, it's a scale of it, I suppose. There are people who will be listening who want to get in on this. Can anybody learn how to play this game? Oh, anybody. I can. Yes. 15 minutes.

You got 15, you got spare 15 minutes. I'll teach you the basics of mahjong, easy. Really? Yeah. 15 minutes, Sandy? Yeah. I mean, it depends. 15 minutes, I think, in a smaller group, when it's a bigger group.

Yeah, we sort of say maybe 30 to 45. But then they're playing. They're playing immediately. But anybody can play this? Yes. 100%. Fantastic. Thank you both for telling us about what you're doing to spread this game and why it matters to you.

Thank you. Thank you. Sandy Gunn is co-founder of Lucky Tile. It's a Mahjong events group in Vancouver. Connor Wan is co-founder of All Flowers Mahjong. It's a social club in Toronto. And Four Winds, which is a club in London, England. and he was with me in our studio in Toronto.