Mahjong is Sweeping Baltimore

It’s a Thursday night on the most ordinary of weeks and No Land Beyond is hopping. Weave your way downstairs and you’ll find folks packed into this board-game bar on North Avenue, four to a table, playing one particular game that’s recently had a massive revival. Maybe you can close your eyes and guess what it is just from that distinctive click-clack sound.

Yes, it’s Mahjong, and here, specifically, Riichi Mahjong, a Japanese multiplayer variant, hosted by Charm City Riichi, that’s like a mixture of poker and rummy, where you need to carefully navigate each draw and discard to stay alive.

These days, Mahjong is being played all across Baltimore in its many forms—there are over 40 distinct regional styles, each with unique rules, tile counts, and scoring systems—the most popular being American, Chinese, and Japanese. (There’s also a long tradition of Jewish women playing Mahjong—the American variety, spelled Mah Jongg—but that’s a story for another day.)

Now in their 60s, Leslie Lichtenberg and Randi Jacobson met as students at Pikesville High School. They both learned the American version when their kids were babies.

“We’ve been playing for well over 30 years, and what’s so cool now is that we feel like people are finally seeing what we’ve known for decades,” says Lichtenberg.

The two launched Mahj Mixers, now in its third year, and are booked months in advance for both private lessons and events. The Orioles recently hired them to lead a class with the players’ wives.

Back at No Land, Emma Spicknall explains she first discovered Mahjong through a video game called Yakuza: Like a Dragon. For others, it was through watching anime, or thanks to that famous Mahjong scene in Crazy Rich Asians, or out of a desire to connect with their Asian heritage.

“People are especially looking for things to do in third places,” says Spicknall, who moved here 18 months ago and used Mahjong to connect with new friends.

Finnigan Madison, who helps run Charm City Riichi along with Spicknall and Alisha De La Cruz, says it’s about the game, sure, but it’s mostly about the community. “I went from being a lonely, broken-hearted person in early recovery to being a supported, clean person with a core group of close friends.”

Lichtenberg and Jacobson know that feeling, too. Their purpose was always to share their love of the game and hope others start their own traditions.

“We’ve been playing together for so many years,” says Lichtenberg. “We’ve watched our kids grow up and get married and have babies, and we’ve been through all the ups and downs of life together around the Mahjong table. So, our goal is just that other people will have that same experience.”