478: Lauren Ulrey – The Queen’s Mahjery

So before we dive into this, explain to us really what Mahjong is, right? Like, so my children, I have a six and eight year old, and they're so funny because they'll be like, mom's playing Mahjong.

And they like do this whole thing.

But like now when we go, like we live in Camberwood, so it's a neighborhood that has kind of transformed into this kind of young neighborhood.

And so everybody now have golf carts and the best weekends are that we don't even leave the neighborhood, right? Sure.

All the guys were out watching sports and the women somehow run away from the children and all the dads are watching the kids and they're all playing Mahjong.

But explain to us kind of what the game is and if people that have never played or maybe there are some people out there that have seen it, but they don't really understand.

They're like, is it advanced dominoes? Like what is Mahjong?

So it is a very, you know, like an ancient Chinese game that has kind of come up through the centuries and been played.

If you've watched Crazy Rich Asians, that's really, I think, I don't want to, you know, say that it is where it gained popularity.

I think there's, you know, my...

Ant, who lives in Florida, has been playing Mahjong for 30 years.

Oh, wow.

So it's been around a lot longer than I think the Charlotte, to your point, mom population would give it credit for.

There's a ton of culture in the game.

The rules are very important to the gameplay.

People do certainly make house rules.

We're open to however you want to play.

But there's a lot of kind of... ritualistic play that goes along with really respecting the game.

And, you know, those tiles, a lot of them have been handmade forever.

Obviously now there's all sorts of new and cool local companies doing it, but it's a highly respected game.

And there's a few different versions, obviously.

There's original Chinese mahjong.

There's American mahjong, which is what probably most of the people that you're playing with locally are playing, just because that's what's kind of been adopted in these lessons and traditions.

Boot camps and things like that.

But it is a tile game.

So before we dive into this, explain to us really what Mahjong is, right? Like, so my children, I have a six and eight year old, and they're so funny because they'll be like, mom's playing Mahjong.

And they like do this whole thing.

But like now when we go, like we live in Camberwood, so it's a neighborhood that has kind of transformed into this kind of young neighborhood.

And so everybody now have golf carts and the best weekends are that we don't even leave the neighborhood, right? Sure.

All the guys were out watching sports and the women somehow run away from the children and all the dads are watching the kids and they're all playing Mahjong.

But explain to us kind of what the game is and if people that have never played or maybe there are some people out there that have seen it, but they don't really understand.

They're like, is it advanced dominoes? Like what is Mahjong?

So it is a very, you know, like an ancient Chinese game that has kind of come up through the centuries and been played.

If you've watched Crazy Rich Asians, that's really, I think, I don't want to, you know, say that it is where it gained popularity.

I think there's, you know, my...

Ant, who lives in Florida, has been playing Mahjong for 30 years.

Oh, wow.

So it's been around a lot longer than I think the Charlotte, to your point, mom population would give it credit for.

There's a ton of culture in the game.

The rules are very important to the gameplay.

People do certainly make house rules.

We're open to however you want to play.

But there's a lot of kind of... ritualistic play that goes along with really respecting the game.

And, you know, those tiles, a lot of them have been handmade forever.

Obviously now there's all sorts of new and cool local companies doing it, but it's a highly respected game.

And there's a few different versions, obviously.

There's original Chinese mahjong.

There's American mahjong, which is what probably most of the people that you're playing with locally are playing, just because that's what's kind of been adopted in these lessons and traditions.

Boot camps and things like that.

But it is a tile game.