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MAH JONGG CRUISES
Mah Jongg Madness - Devotees take to the seas.
By Clark Norton
In the spring of 1986, Sharyn Poders, then a Chicago mother of three small children, decided to go on a first-of-its-kind cruise called Mah Jongg Madness, the highlight of which would be a tournament featuring the exotic-sounding game she had taken up in a local league. “It wasn’t easy for me to get away, and finances were tight,” Poders recalls. “But I’d always wanted to go on a cruise, I loved playing mah jongg, and I jumped at the chance. My husband said, ‘Go and get it out of your system.’ So I went.”
Twenty-six annual Mah Jongg Madness cruises later, Poders still hasn’t gotten the game out of her system. “It would take something monumental for me not to go,” she says, adding that she once jeopardized a high-paying assignment when a client asked her to work during the week of the cruise, and she said no. “It was a dream job, but I told them if they want me, they’ll have to wait.” And they did.
Mah Jongg 101
So what exactly is this game that inspires such a high level of “madness”? While it’s most often compared to the card game gin rummy, “maajh” — as it’s affectionately known by aficionados — is played with tiles bearing Chinese characters and symbols representing things like dragons, flowers, and winds. Through a series of moves including deals, passes, draws, and discards, the four players try to collect groups of sequential or identical tiles. The first player to do so wins and gets to proclaim: “Mah jongg!” While the basics can be learned in a day, mastering the nuances can take a lifetime. As in many games, victory often requires a combination of luck and, far more, deft strategic skills.
Some sources claim that mah jongg — which originated in China and is now played widely in Japan and Korea as well — stems from ancient Confucian times, while others insist it dates only from the 19th century. The game first migrated to the United States around 1920, where its popularity has waxed and waned over the years, but is now undergoing another revival. Estimates put the current number of American players at a half million or more, partially thanks to the influence of Mah Jongg Madness cruises.
“Mah Jongg Madness started the evolution of the game from strictly social to tournament play,” says Gladys Grad, a Sarasota, Florida, resident who was a friend of the original “Madness” founders (who are now deceased) and has recently taken over ownership and organization of the cruises. The tournaments, in turn, have helped standardize the rules and scoring of the game, which has long been entangled in confusing multiple variations in Asia and America.
While many land-based and a few other cruise tournaments have followed in their wake, the sanctioned Mah Jongg Madness Annual Tournament at Sea competitions remain among the most prestigious. “They have the tournaments down to a science, with the best rules you could possibly get,” says Wisconsin resident Lisa Weinstein, a retired attorney, mah jongg player, and longtime friend of Poders. Weinstein, who attended the first seven “Madness” cruises and eight more since, notes that some players can get very competitive on board. “They’re nervous at first, their hands are shaking. They take it seriously — some very seriously.”
This is an excerpt only. To read this article in its entirety, pick up the current issue of Porthole Cruise Magazine.