International Mahjong Day is celebrated every August 1st in honor of a board game that originated in China and spread around the world.
History, features and types of Mahjong
Mahjong is a tile-based board game that requires strategy, special skills, as well as luck to play. The game usually requires four players, although there are other variations of the game. Mahjong is played with a set of 144 different types of tiles.
In addition to the tiles, a mahjong set usually includes dice, counters for scoring, and a marker indicating the croupier and the round of the match.
The most popular version of mahjong is old Hong Kong mahjong, which is also called Cantonese mahjong. Other variations include Chinese classical mahjong, local Chinese variations, American mahjong, Japanese mahjong (riichi), Korean mahjong, Singaporean mahjong, Western classical mahjong and many others. They may use more or fewer tiles, have different scoring systems or criteria for winning, and so on. Sometimes groups of mahjong players even introduce their own rules of the game.
Mahjong game and solitaire – differences
The mahjong board game should not be confused with the mahjong solitaire of the same name. The mahjong solitaire borrowed its name from traditional mahjong, but the only thing these two games have in common is that both use mahjong tiles.
International Mahjong Day
International Mahjong Day is celebrated annually on August 1st since 2018. The holiday was initiated by Riichi Mahjong Central, a group that focuses on creating content about Japanese mahjong, also known as Riichi mahjong, for an English-speaking audience. It aims to raise awareness of mahjong and its many variations.
How to celebrate International Mahjong Day? Of course, by playing a game or two of mahjong. You can try to find a mahjong game group near you or just invite friends and learn to play together. If you already know how to play mahjong, take the time to teach someone or learn a new variation of the game that you have never played before.