møm jøñgg

story by ada lillie worthington

East moms, led by Jane Emley and Leslie Blair, have created a Mah Jongg company that helps women learn Mah Jongg and socialize

After Emley learned the niche, strategy tile game Mah Jongg from former East parent Sarah Clark, she knew she had to share it with her friends. Now, the group offers private lessons to Kansas City women through their Mah Jongg company, Mahj and More, that they started in November 2022. The four still meet at Indian Hills Country Club every Monday at 1 p.m. to play, however their conversations now are less about pandemic and more about business strategies.

“[Emley] and I were actually thinking of opening a clothing business, but then we kind of refocused and decided that our passion was really playing Mah Jongg,” Blair said. “It’s just a great social thing to do.”

By word-of-mouth, Mahj and More grew to include about eight to 10 groups of women that Emley, Blair and Tetrick teach. Emley tells the beginnerlevel moms that in order to play on their own without a teacher, they must

WHAT IS MAH JONG of the game is to pick, swap and discard the intricately designed tiles until you obtain a winning hand, called a Mah Jongg. These winning hands are changed every April when the National Mah Jongg League releases a new card with various winning plays that you can arrange the 14 playing tiles into.

[MAH JONGG IS] defnitely a social game. I always correlate it to my mother’s generation who played a lot of bridge. That was their socialization, which is how we [now] socialize while keeping our brains sharp and active.

JANE EMLEY

PARENT

After discussing strategies of how to obtain a Mah Jongg, the second session is when the moms can finally do what they signed up for — play the game. Over the third and fourth sessions, Mah AoJongg can finally reach its true potential as a “social activity.” One that can become the main event in Super Bowl brunches or decadent 50th birthday parties, according to Blair.

“[Mah Jongg is] definitely a social game,” Emley said. “I always correlate

Chinese game that is played amongst 4 people with 136 or 144 tiles

The goal is to collect the winning tile sets takes a lot of time to learn and then eventually master

Mar. 1.

“There’s tiles and there’s mats and there’s bags, and then people for birthday parties and special occasions are getting cups and napkins,” Blair said. “We [think these] products are really cute and we’d love to get in on the ground floor of that here in Kansas City.” developed in the mid 1800s gained popularity in the 1920’s by Jewish American women

Although the moms hope to expand their business and launch a variety of products, Blair considers their main focus to teach as many women Mah Jongg as possible.

“[Mah Jongg has] allowed me to meet people that I wouldn’t have normally met, either through playing or people referring to [me, Blair and Tetrick] as teachers,” Emley said.

Each year a new Mah Jongg card comes out

Each line on the card represents a winning hand made up of 14 tiles

These four East moms play together and each have their own strategies

Ane Emley

Meet The Players The Guru

• has two different hands she can pivot between

Leslie Blair

The Fastest

• The amount of luck she gets in her tiles dealt is important

• She has a couple hands on this year’s card that help her out

Anessa Ree

Focused

• she remains fexible and patient before committing to a plan

• Grouping like tiles and suits, and hopes for many jokers

• She has only played four times, so no strategy yet

• She is working on getting a feel for all of the different suits