Brian Lairer on WNYC, and now we wrap up our membership drive series about hobbies,

and we wrap it up with a game, Mahjong.

It's a game that made its way from China to the United States along some different pathways, and we wrap it up with a game, Mahjong. It's a game that made its way from China to the United

States along some different pathways, and we'll hear about that with my guest, David Bresnick. He's

the president of the U.S. Professional Mahjong League and a founder of the Mahjong event space, Sparrow's Nest

Studio in Manhattan, where you can play Mahjong like your grandmother taught you,

or learn a new version of the game. David, thanks for coming on. Welcome.

It's my pleasure to be here. Okay, first, pronouncer. Mahjong or Ma Zhong? Generally

speaking, Ma Zhong. When the game was brought to America, the phrase Mahjong, M-A-H-J-O-N-G-G, was actually copyrighted.

But usually Ma-J-J-Gong is how it ends up being pronounced.

And I've seen it described as a card game except with tiles, correct?

Yeah, yeah. Fundamentally, the game uses a lot of card game concepts,

but instead of playing cards,

you're manipulating these larger sort of tiles

that are very pleasant to handle.

And I see there are three main types of Mahjong in the U.S.

Chinese, where it started,

that version came with immigrants from China,

or Taiwan or Hong Kong, American,

which is probably what I've seen my mother play, or Japanese.

What's the difference?

So the difference mostly has to do with a rule set.

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