Mah Jongg is a game of Chinese origin rumored to date back to over two thousand years ago. It has also been spelled Mahjong and Mah Jongg and is thought to have originated in the court of the King of Wu by a lonely beautiful Chinese maiden who was bored.
It was, for many centuries, played only by royalty and the very high class of society and illegal for commoners to play. Any commoner found playing Mah Jong or Mahjong would face a penalty of decapitation. This penalty was lifted around 500 A.D. enabling everyone to play Mah Jongg.
With the game available to everyone, it quickly spread to Europe and Australia and eventually to the U.S.A around the 1920s. The popularity of the game in America was so great that makers of the game had thousands of orders for Mahjong that they were unable to keep up with. Eventually, like most crazes, the popularity of Mah Jong faded toward to end of the 1920s leaving many manufacturers with millions of dollars worth of unsalable Mah Jong games.
Although many people were still playing Mahjongg, it was not until the depression of the 1930s that the game had a revival when card, table and board games replace concerts and movies. People were looking for entertainment that didn’t cost money to do.
Mah Jongg is a game of concentration and intelligence and is very much a mental challenge and is still being played today centuries after it was first invented. So, the next time you think of cabbaging in front of the T.V or playing with your game console, think about improving your mind by playing a game of Mah Jong. |
