Mahjong Almanac

Mahjong is a Chinese game that traveled the world, and the people who love it deserve a home that is as careful and welcoming as the game itself. Right now that home is scattered: across dead blogs, out-of-print books, closed museums, and shops that only want to sell you something. Mahjong Almanac is the reference that should already exist.

We do three things. We teach you how to play, on each game's own terms. We decode this year's annual card, the ritual the American game turns on. And we help you figure out which set to buy.

We lead with China. We name every layer of the game's history, including the Orientalism that rode along with the 1920s craze.

We don't sell sets. That is the point: it lets us tell you which one is actually worth buying. Some outbound links earn us a small commission, always disclosed.

The game belongs to its players. We're just keeping the record.