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The Tiles That Bind Us: What Mah Jongg Taught Me About the Power of Play

 

There’s a sound I could pick out of any room: the click and shuffle of mah jongg tiles being mixed across a table. I’ve been hearing it, and making it, for years now. And every time, it means the same thing is about to happen, connection.

I started playing mah jongg the way a lot of people do: someone invited me to a game, I didn’t know a “crak” from a “bam,” and a few rounds in, I was hooked. What I didn’t expect was how much that one table would end up giving me. It’s brought friends into my life I never would have met any other way. It’s gotten me out of the house on nights I would have otherwise stayed in with a to-do list. It’s bridged generations in ways I still find remarkable, I’ve taught my own children and grandchildren to play, and watching a teenager and a grandmother go head-to-head over the same rack of tiles is one of my favorite things in the world.

I’ve thought a lot lately about why something so simple has meant so much. It turns out, there’s real science behind it.

In his book Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play, makes the case that play isn’t a luxury we age out of, it’s a biological need, as essential to our wellbeing as sleep or nutrition. His research connects play across the entire lifespan to resilience, adaptability, and stronger social bonds. He wasn’t writing about mah jongg tables specifically, but he could have been. Everything he describes, the joy, the low stakes, the total presence in the moment- is exactly what happens every time four people sit down and build a wall of tiles together.

And I’m clearly not the only one who’s found their way back to a game table. Mah jongg is having a real moment in this country, and it’s not just a senior pastime anymore. NPR recently covered the wave of new interest among Gen Z and Millennial players who are showing up for exactly what Dr. Brown describes: joy, in-person connection, and a break from their phones. Yelp has reported an enormous jump in searches for local mah jongg clubs this year, and event platforms have tracked steep growth in mah jongg meetups nationwide. Walk into a game night today, and you’re just as likely to find a 25-year-old learning the rules for the first time as a 75-year-old who’s been playing for decades.

That’s exactly the point I want to make: hobbies built around play aren’t just good for older adults, even though that’s often where this conversation starts. They’re good for all of us, at every stage of life. A standing weekly game is a commitment to friendship that doesn’t need an excuse. It’s a reason to leave the house, put the phone down, and actually be present with people. It’s a skill you can pass down, the way I’ve passed mine to my kids, so it becomes a family thread instead of just a pastime.

At Senior Options, we talk often about the importance of keeping older adults engaged, social, and mentally active, because we see every day what happens when that fades. But the truth Dr. Brown’s research points to, and the truth I’ve lived at my own mah jongg table, is that this isn’t only an aging issue. It’s a human one.

Find the version of the mah jongg table that works for you: a card game, a puzzle night, a standing tennis match. It doesn’t matter what it is. What matters is that you show up for it, again and again, at every age.

So here’s my ask: find your table. Build your wall. And don’t wait until you’re “old enough” to need it, none of us are too young to need more play in our lives.

#SeniorOptions #AgingLifeCareProfessional #CareManagement #ALCA #MahJongg #PlayMatters