Mah-Jong Clubs, Organisations and Contacts
This section is for those who are looking to play Mah-Jong with people other than their family or friends, or just wish to contact others who are interested in Mah-Jong.
The references are only to English language web sites and, to some extent, take a UK viewpoint.
give you more information about activities. If there isn’t a local Mah-Jong group you would have an opportunity to start one yourself.
There are over 700 local U3A groups in the UK with a total of over 200,000 members. It’s run entirely by volunteers who organise educational, creative and leisure opportunities. The site gives you an easy way to find your local organisation, a contact telephone number and (if present) its web site will
If you live outside of the UK this is a very useful list of U3A groups around the world.
It also includes links to institutes for “learning in retirement”, which are more strictly associated with academic learning.
Links to information about the U3A worldwide.
for all Australian and New Zealand U3As as well as facilities for their members to exchange ideas, resources and information about regional U3A events.
The U3A Online website provides up-to-date contacts
500 members. Activities are focused around special interest groups.
Cyprus U3A was founded in 2003 and has about
A group of loosely knit individuals - academicians and practitioners in the field of Ageing in India - who have come together for the purpose of spreading the U3A concept across India.
Members design their own programme of activities to suit their own interests. They meet in a place convenient to them, such as a community centre, local library, museum, church hall or even in somebody's house.
The first local example of the UK model was launched in Cape Town in February 2000. Greater Cape Town currently has over 2,000 members, and the current national membership of around 7,000 comprises fourteen independent local U3A's in Gauteng, Kwazulu-Natal, and Western, Southern and Eastern Cape. Courses range from Afrikaans to Yoga.
There are two British U3A organisation in Spain - Costa Brava and Costa Del Sol. Both have Mah-Jong groups. The Costa Del Sol group uses BMJA rules.
U3A membership is not related to a specific age but to a period in one’s life (the third age) after the second age of full-time employment and parental responsibility. Anybody in their third age can join the U3A and this includes people who are working part time. There is no lower age for membership.
If you are retired (or semi-retired), one of the first places to look is your local University of the Third Age organisation.
Local Government Information
Local leisure activities can sometimes be found in Local Government web sites.
If you are in the UK, visit the Directgov web site, where you can find the web site run by your local council.
Other Contact Information
Other information about contacting Mah-Jong groups and meeting other players can be found (in this web site) here.
© 2008 Peter Gregory
Meeting People Online
News Groups
A news group is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations.
Searching for a group in Google Groups using Mah-Jong will turn up other online groups.
Internet Forums
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site.
MAH-JONGG-FORUM is an example
The Mah-Jong Q & A Bulletin Board is run by Tom Sloper. He will usually give you an answer on the same day. But first check with his long list of already answered questions.
Social Networking Sites
These are online communities of people who share interests and/or activities. Here are a couple of examples:
Allows you to contact people who are interested in Mahjong. Or you can discuss it in a Forum.
Social networking site with over 40,000 communities. Contains a community called “The world of Mahjong” which gives you links to various Mah-Jong web sites.
A list of the major active social networking sites can be found in Wikipedia.
Blogs
A blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events or other material such as graphics or video.
There are specialised Blog Search Engines. Here are a couple of examples:
If you want to write your own blog, try using WordPress.
It will host your blog for free.
WordPress blogs about Mah-Jong can be found here.
There are different types of sites: News Groups, Internet Forums, Social Networking Sites and Blogs.
A Mah-Jong Question & Answer Bulletin Board run by the Mah-Jong expert, Tom Sloper, is worth a look.
There are places on the Internet where you can discuss and find comments about Mah-Jong, but the plethora of Mah-Jong rules may make this rather frustrating for someone who is only experienced in one particular version of the game. Also, the comments are not always very informative. It’s something to sample then decide on.
Is a web site devoted to blogs about Riichi Mahjong (modern Japanese rules)
Established in 1978, it was responsible for the BMJA rules set out in “Mah-Jong, Know the Game” by Gwyn Headley and Yvonne Seeley.
The EMA was founded in June 2005 during the Open European Mahjong Championship, and Is linked to several member organisations.
It organises tournaments based on the rules published by the World Mahjong Organization (“Chinese Official” rules) and Riichi (modern Japanese Mahjong) rules.
An association of Danish Mahjong players founded in 2000 who play by the World Mahjong Organization and Riichi rules.
Formed in January 2001 as the World Mahjong Players Association (WMPA) with the objective of “Promoting a Renaissance of Mahjong”. Changed its name to World Mahjong Federation (WMF) in January 2007.
More information in Mahjong News.
American Mah-Jongg Association
The AMA was formed in October 1999 to promote the American rules of Mah-Jongg, similar to those of the NMJL.
The NMJL was founded in 1937 and claims to produce the “Official” American rules, which it makes changes to each year.
North American Mahjong Federation
The NAMF was formed in October 2007 by MahjongTime in conjunction with World Mahjong Organization (WMO) and European Mahjong Association (EMA).
The World Mahjong Organization
The WMO was founded in Beijing, China, in 2006 with the cooperation of the Japan Mahjong Organizing Committee, the European Mahjong Association and others. It uses “Chinese Official” rules and held its first World Championship in November 2007.
Organises games based on Hong style Mahjong
