Local MahJongg Enthusiasts Play in Bristol, Tiverton

Each week a group of people from all over the region congregate at the Game Room in  and every first Friday of the month, they gather at . Like clockwork, people gather to spend the afternoon highly engaged in what has brought them together: the Chinese game of MahJongg.

MahJongg is a complex yet simple game. It is played with small, rectangular tiles marked with different distinguishing symbols. Like the popular American game Scrabble, a person’s tiles are placed on a rack, simultaneously presenting one’s own tiles to them, like a hand of cards while hiding their “hand” from other players.

Each participant also has a card in front of them with the current year’s playable hands, which is necessary because this is updated annually by the National MahJongg League (NMJL). 

Generally played with four people at a table, the participants take turns in a circle, discarding one tile each turn as they attempt to form one of the hands detailed on the card with their tiles. Discard tiles can be claimed by other contestants.

MahJongg, which translates roughly to "Sparrow," originated in China, where it is still an immesely popular form of gambling. The game was introduced to the United States in 1920. In 1937, the National MahJongg League was founded to curb the wide variety of versions and rules circulating in the country. The current rules, as mandated by the NMJL, differ a bit from the version played in China.

What started as four friends (Gretchen Mersey, Pat Medeiros, Pam Cyr and Karen Gabriel) getting together every week or so to play, has gradually evolved to become a weekly occurrence attended by people throughout the area. The group grew by giving lessons at .

Interest gradually increased, and the steadily growing number of players led to the group moving their games from people’s homes to the . When the group moved again to its current home in Sakonnet Bay Manor, they dubbed themselves Dragon-Flowers, referencing the different kind of tiles used in the game.

While the game is competitive, there is a palpable sense of community among group members. There is a communal pot which members make minor contributions to, which are used to pay for whatever supplies the group needs (such as card tables). Participants wear name tags, helping to get them acclimated to people they likely would not have met otherwise.

“We have people from all over” said Gretchen Mersey, one of Dragon-Flower’s founders. “Tiverton, Little Compton, Portsmouth, Bristol, Warren.”

This was confirmed minutes later when a new player showed up, hailing from Westport, MA.

The group is constantly looking to expose more people to MahJongg. They provide a series of classes four to five times a year. Each class consists of four lessons, each of them being two hours long. According to co-founder Pat Medeiros, they hope to have their next class “sometime in August or early September.”

Perhaps no one was more enthused about the game than June Miller, the only resident of Sakonnet Bay Manor who is a regular participant. “We have a wonderful time” she said, positively beaming with excitement. “This group is a most wonderful thing.”

In addition to the weekly Tuesday sessions at Sakonnet Bay Manor, Dragon-Flowers also host a game on the first Friday of every month at Blithewold from 1 to 3 p.m.