Mahjong is a popular four player game with origins in China. Like gin rummy, mahjong is a game of skill, strategy and luck.

Now, there’s a new party in Los Angeles called East Never Loses that is teaching younger generations of Asian-Americans how to play the game. The party is hosted by four friends known collectively as Mahjong Mistress. They shared their story with “LA Times Today.”

Mahjong Mistress co-founder Angela Lin explained the roots of mahjong in America. 

“It’s very much an immigrant story,” said Lin. “Just because we are all Asian in Mahjong Mistress, and we are all immigrants here as well, or our parents were. The game was really used to foster community and to foster a sense of home. It’s a distinctly Asian-American story and an Asian-American game, because we’re not playing the traditional game of mahjong that maybe our parents played.”

Mahjong Mistress uses simplified rules in order to give players a chance to talk to each other and connect during the game. 

“The entry point for the gameplay is so much lower, so that you can just get straight to it and learn it,” Lin said. “Mahjong Mistress is a place for people to have their interests in mahjong sparked, and then you go home and you learn all of the things about it if you want to. You buy your own set and then you can delve deeper. This was really supposed to be a way to make the game as mainstream as possible.”

Zoe Blue M., who co-founded Mahjong Mistress, explained the cultural significance of the game. 

“It is something that is an undercurrent culturally through a lot of Asian Americans. It’s definitely in Los Angeles, which is the demographic that we work with. There’s definitely been a resurgence of reclaiming a culture that may have been lost, or finding your new relationship with your Asian American culture,” she said. “Mahjong historically has been a space that women got to share over a table... It works today, where people get to share these stories about being Asian-American and sharing different parts of their culture, and creating a community.”

Mahjong Mistress recently threw a party where they helped single players find love at the mahjong table. 

You can follow all the fun on Instagram @MahjongMistress, where you’ll find all the latest information about upcoming mahjong parties.

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