Our Favorite Things
Explore a curated collection of our favorite Mahjong sets and accessories. All things we have used ourselves and love (and our attendees rave about). We have discount codes for some so be sure to copy/paste those to get the best prices!
Tile Sets, Racks, and Mats
Oh My Mahjong
Oh My Mahjong has some gorgeous tile sets and mats that we use in our own lessons.
If you use SPARROWMAHJ as the promo code when you check out, you’ll get 10% off your order!
Tile sets, mats, racks, and storage
Bespoke Mahjong
Bespoke Tiles are a bit taller and less deep than Oh My Mahjong. They have fun collaborations and also offer travel sets!
If you use SPARROWMAHJ as the promo code when you check out, you’ll get 10% off your order!
Tile sets, mats, racks, and We get asked about our tablecloths all the time and these are our favorite. Handprinted and easy to clean!
Hosting Accessories
Our favorite table lamps. Three different brightness options, easy to charge. Great if you are playing at night.
Learning the History of Mahjong
Nicole WongMahjong: House Rules from Across the Asian Diaspora
For many third-culture kids in the Asian diaspora, the sight and sound of clacking mahjong tiles conjures deep-seated memories. Some learned to play alongside elders, while others watched from afar. Maybe you only distantly know of the game through movies or articles about pop-up mahjong nights. Whether you are looking to reconnect with the game, pick up a new hobby, or introduce others to a favorite pastime, Mahjong is a step-by-step guide for new and seasoned players alike.
With vibrant photography and detailed instructional diagrams, author Nicole Wong walks you through gameplay, just how her grandfather would have. In addition, Mahjong delves into the strategy, history, and design of the game and discusses various popular styles of play (American mah-jongg, Japanese riichi mahjong, and more). A bonus essay also breaks down the mahjong hands in the pivotal scene from the 2018 hit film Crazy Rich Asians, and snippets of the author’s family history are sprinkled throughout, telling a story of diaspora through mahjong and showcasing mahjong culture, past and present.
With Mahjong as your guide, learn the history and evolution of this beautiful game while you connect with friends, family, and culture. You may even write your own house rules—just don’t forget the snacks!
Annelise HeinzMahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture
How has a game brought together Americans and defined separate ethnic communities? This book tells the first history of mahjong and its meaning in American culture.
Click-click-click. The sound of mahjong tiles connects American expatriates in Shanghai, Jazz Age white Americans, urban Chinese Americans in the 1930s, incarcerated Japanese Americans in wartime, Jewish American suburban mothers, and Air Force officers' wives in the postwar era.
Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture illustrates how the spaces between tiles and the moments between games have fostered distinct social cultures in the United States. This mass-produced game crossed the Pacific, creating waves of popularity over the twentieth century. Annelise Heinz narrates the history of this game to show how it has created a variety of meanings, among them American modernity, Chinese American heritage, and Jewish American women's culture. As it traveled from China to the United States and caught on with Hollywood starlets, high society, middle-class housewives, and immigrants alike, mahjong became a quintessentially American game. Heinz also reveals the ways in which women leveraged a game to gain access to respectable leisure. The result was the forging of friendships that lasted decades and the creation of organizations that raised funds for the war effort and philanthropy. No other game has signified both belonging and standing apart in American culture.
Drawing on photographs, advertising, popular media, and dozens of oral histories, Heinz's rich and colorful account offers the first history of the wildly popular game of mahjong.