Mah Jongg, Scrabble and friends

Everyone likes games. That's why the Nanuet Public Library started offering open play for Mah Jongg and Scrabble several times a week.

Mah Jongg is similar to the game Rummy but played with tiles instead of cards. To learn how to play the game, the library also offers beginner classes on the game. Bill Jankun and his wife Kathy learned the game by going to one of the classes summer 2009. There they met Grace Matarese and Pat Zuppe.

"There are also Mah Jongg books you can check out," Kathy Jankun said. Some are not as new to the game as the Jankuns are. Zuppe has been playing for 30 years, but only discovered the Mah Jongg open play at the library a year ago. Same goes for Matarese.

"I began playing when I was 12. My mother used to play this game," Matarese said. She took the class twice April 2009: once to learn and brush up on the game and the second time for fun.

There's a card of standard hands that shows the winning combinations. This card and the combinations change every year by the National Mah Jongg League, who also supplies the cards.

Matarese said the game's very fun and easy to learn and encourages everyone to join. The library provides the hot water, tea and coffee while the players bring refreshments.

Some of the open play sessions also offer Scrabble. Rose has been coming with her two friends for a few months to play scrabble. All they bring is their dictionary and themselves; the Nanuet Library provides the Scrabble boards. Rose added that there are more people that come for Mah Jongg than Scrabble. 

Here is a list for the September Open Play dates:

('Up' means upstairs in the community room and 'down' means the main floor of the library in the conference room in the Children Books area.)

• Sept 8: 6pm up
• Sept 10: 10am up
• Sept 13: 6pm up
• Sept 15: 6pm up
• Sept 17: 10am up
• Sept 20: 6pm up
• Sept 21: 10am up
• Sept 22: 6pm down
• Sept 24: 2pm up
• Sept 27: 6pm down
• Sept 28: 10am up
• Sept 29: 6pm down