Properties from mountain resorts in Colorado to urban hotels in Washington, D.C. are adding beginner mahjong clinics, open-play nights, and multi-day retreats to their event calendars, often in partnership with local instructors or established mahjong groups. Some are structured as guided lessons for first-time players; others function more like recurring social gatherings that bring both hotel guests and locals into lounges and restaurants for hours at a time.
Mahjong itself, of course, is hardly new. "The game really dates back to the late 1800s in China," says Nicole Wong, author of Mahjong: House Rules from Across the Asian Diaspora. It's a game traditionally played by four players with a set of 144 tiles and combines elements of strategy, skill, and chance as players build winning hands by drawing and discarding tiles. Wong adds that it spread internationally in the early 1900s after Western businessmen learned to play during their Chinese work trips and brought the game home. Eventually it became a "craze" in the United States during the 1920s.
Over time, multiple styles of play evolved in parallel, including American mahjong (which relies on a yearly card from the National Mah Jongg League that outlines specific winning combinations; Chinese mahjong allows for more flexible hand-building and regional rule variations), that became embedded within Jewish American social culture after the National Mah Jongg League standardized rules in the 1930s. Today, American mahjong is often the focus of hotel clinics and retreats, Wong notes, although interest in other styles has also grown in recent years.
The timing of the hotel game nights and clinics aligns with a broader resurgence in the game itself (Yelp data shows searches for mahjong clubs are up almost 4,500 percent since 2025), particularly among younger players discovering-or rediscovering-mahjong.
"In our current state of prolific social media use, people are yearning for activities that create real human interaction and connection," says Lily Ho, founder of Mahjong Movement, a community-focused mahjong organization based in San Francisco. "With mahjong, you are forced to look across the table at another person and socialize within an arm's distance." The game's slower pace is part of the draw, she says: "It requires strategy, but luck is also a big factor-the unpredictability of chance makes it fun."
Social media has also helped fuel the game's recent swell in popularity. Over the past several years, platforms like Instagram and TikTok have introduced new audiences to mahjong through colorful tiles, custom mats, and videos explaining everything from beginner rules to advanced strategy.
"Social media is making people who might not ever have had a connection to the game more aware of it," says Wong. "And then you also see a lot of people reconnecting with the game that they may have grown up seeing their relatives play. So it's kind of feeding itself in that more people are playing."
The game has also experienced periodic surges of mainstream attention tied to pop culture moments, including after the release of films The Joy Luck Club and later Crazy Rich Asians, both of which prominently featured mahjong (the Hong Kong and Singaporean versions, respectively) as a cultural touchpoint.
"Hotels are increasingly focused on creating memorable experiences and fostering connection, and mahjong naturally brings people together," says Stacey White, founder of the Mahjong House, which makes mahjong tiles and mats.
For properties positioning themselves as gathering spaces for both travelers and locals, the built-in social interaction of the game offers a reason for strangers to sit down together.
Bailey Berg
