MAHJONG MADNESS
By Denise Scott
Like many parents in Ashburn, life changed for Leigh Schoener after her children grew up and flew the coop. She missed the fun get-togethers with her Brambleton neighbors in evenings and on weekends while the kids ran around and played.
“Every Friday night, when the kids were little, you’re outside having cocktails, giggling around, ordering pizza, all that kind of good stuff,” said Schoener, 53. “As the kids got older, of course, it just kind of fizzled. And I really just craved neighbors getting back together now that a lot of us are empty-nesters.”
So, when she returned from a recent vacation with her mother and aunt where she learned how to play mahjong, an idea took shape.
In February, Schoener enlisted one of her mother’s friends to teach mahjong to half a dozen of her neighborhood friends, and she launched a weekly game in her basement.
“We’re not very serious. We just really have a good time, and it’s really bonded us,” she said. “A neighbor right across the street from me who I adore, I could go months – I mean, literally months – without seeing her. And we have seen each other every single Thursday since I started this. It’s just – it’s been so great.”
That sentiment is clearly spreading. You’d have to have been hibernating under one of the intricately carved mahjong tiles to have missed the game’s surge in popularity.
The National Mah Jongg League of New York City describes the game, which originated in China in the 1800s and came to the United States in 1920, as a “fascinating, rummy-like game played with tiles rather than cards.” It has millions of dedicated players around the world, and the numbers are growing.
Earlier this year, Yelp reported that searches for “mahjong clubs” had skyrocketed by nearly 4,500% between 2024 and 2025. Searches for “mahjong lessons” were up 819%.
And lessons are definitely advised for newbies.
“You want your tiles to match a line that is on your playing card,” said mahjong instructor Tori Rittinger, founder and owner of Talk Tiles to Me, based in Falls Church. “But there are rules that come with it, and it can be a very complicated game to understand if you are not taught the right way.”
Talk Tiles to Me offers private lessons and group classes across the region, as well as leagues, pop-up events, private parties and even mahjong-themed winery tours. Rittinger’s studio, which opened in 2024, has rooms themed to match each of the three mahjong tile suits – bams (short for bamboo), cracks (Chinese symbols) and dots.
“We have to be careful when we say ‘crack room’ to people if they don’t know mahjong because then they wonder, ‘What exactly are you doing over there?’” she joked.
Locally, the Mon Amie Amy gift shop in Ashburn’s Goose Creek Village shopping center has become a major hub for the mahjong craze.
“I carry everything mahjong,” said shop owner Amy Weisberg. “I have mahjong sets. I have the tiles. I have the racks and pushers. I have a variety of mats. I have mahjong notepads, mahjong jewelry, mahjong candles, mahjong serving trays, mahjong bags. Anything and everything mahjong.”
Weisberg holds mahjong events at her store, including “Mahjong 101” classes with an instructor and mahjong “sip and shop” evenings with drinks and munches and all things mahjong.
“It’s just gotten so huge right now and it’s so much fun,” said Weisberg, who admits to being a heavy mahjong player herself. “Usually, all I do is work, so now I feel like I finally have a hobby that I love.”
Reports say much of the interest in mahjong is being driven by Gen Z – primarily young people in their teens and 20s – seeking to reduce screen time and participate in more face-to-face activities. This has even led to something called the “granny core” movement – which includes taking up old-fashioned hobbies like crochet, knitting, pie baking and – yes – mahjong.
Karen Monton, 43, lives in the Village of Waxpool neighborhood and sees the interest firsthand. Three generations of her family members play regularly.
“Mainly, the fun is winning,” she said of the family competition. “A lot of strategy goes into it. When you win, it’s because you did something right … or because of the luck of the draw.”
Monton’s mother-in-law is the family’s reigning champion. She is so skilled that she can almost magically feel which tile she has drawn. “Everyone tells her she’s a cheater because she’s always winning,” Monton joked.
Meanwhile, her oldest daughter, Jada, 16, is teaching friends from Briar Woods High School how to play. “I’m just laughing … because in our [Filipino] culture, it’s typically seen as an older adult type of game, so to see the younger folks wanting to play is kind of funny.”
And that’s the magic of mahjong – that it brings people together from all different stages of life.
“It’s such a wonderful thing to see,” Rittinger said. “I think it just checks all the boxes that people want – health and community and relationships and being social.”