Kasey Bodine, owner of The Edge Travel, recently moved from Birmingham, Alabama, to Pensacola, Florida. Of all the challenges inherent to a big move, making new friends felt especially daunting.
“I’m in my mid-30s, and in today's culture, that puts me in the middle,” Bodine said. “I don't have kids yet, so I’m not in the moms’ circle, but I'm not of the older generation, either. And the young moms aren’t as available to do the things that I want to do.”
Turning to social media for inspiration, Bodine started following a few locals in her area, including author Dawn Barton. When Barton shared on Facebook that she would be hosting a mahjong event in her home, Bodine jumped at the opportunity.
“I thought, ‘What better way to force myself into friendships than to go and be present?’” she said. “I was most definitely the youngest person in the room. But what's amazing is that I've learned to play the game, I’ve made friends and Dawn has become one of my most valued clients. Through that trust, we’ve started to put together mahjong groups and trips.”
After attending a mahjong social as a way of making friends, Kasey Bodine of The Edge Travel ended up making the game part of her business.
Credit: 2026 Mahj & Away
Even before meeting Bodine, Barton was experienced at curating “friendship getaways.” Now, the pair are building mahjong retreats together, and Bodine is planning additional trips for referred clients and with community mahjong clubs such as Mahj & Away. These retreats are taking place near and far, from all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean to Beaver Creek Resort in Colorado and a Princess Cruises sailing in Alaska.
Ultimately, Bodine believes that mahjong is an ideal conduit for forging meaningful human connections.
With mahjong, you can come as you are.
“I was desperately looking for friendships, and that’s what I found around the mahjong table,” Bodine said. “Listening to the stories of the moms who are overwhelmed but setting aside a couple of hours to play this game — it’s a respite for them. With mahjong, you can come as you are. You don't have to know anybody, but you can walk away with those friendships. And I think today's culture wants that place and that connection.”
Mahjong clubs and events have proliferated rapidly in the last few years.
Credit: 2026 Mahj & AwayA Short History of Mahjong
Dating back to mid-19th-century China, mahjong is a tile game played by four people at a square table. Similar to the card game gin rummy and the tile game Rummikub, players draw and discard tiles strategically until they’ve assembled a winning group of sets (what makes a winning hand and how points are counted depends on the version of the game being played). Translated, mahjong means “sparrow” — a nod to the chirp-like sound the tiles make when being shuffled together on the table between games.
Mahjong came to the United States in the 1920s. Then, in 1937, the National Mah Jongg League was founded by a group of Jewish women in New York City who wanted to create a set of rules and hands for American players. A major departure from Chinese mahjong is the fact that American mahjong players adhere to National Mah Jongg League game play, and the league announces a new set of winning combinations every spring.
The Mahjong Boom
In recent years, a mahjong boom has swept across the United States. According to October 2026 data from mahjong community Bam Good Time (bam refers to the bamboo suit in the game), there are more than 1,300 mahjong clubs in the U.S. today, with Texas (127 clubs), Florida (104) and California (91) leading the pack. Most are teaching and playing American mahjong, though some play Chinese variants. And the proliferation of clubs and lessons (some of which provide game time or instruction at little to no cost) equals access; anyone interested in learning the game can likely find a way to do so, and not too far from home.
Camp Lucy in Texas is one of many hotels and resorts offering mahjong lessons and retreats.
Credit: 2026 Camp LucyNumbers from event marketing platform Eventbrite help demonstrate rising demand. Searches on the site for in-person mahjong events in major U.S. cities were up 365% from 2023 to 2024. Yelp’s 2026 Trends Forecast, which analyzed consumer data from September 2024 through August 2025, found that searches for mahjong clubs jumped 4,467% and searches for mahjong lessons leapt 819%. Mahjong content on TikTok covers everything from game play tutorials to tile set unboxings; third-party TikTok viewing platform UrleBird estimates that the posts marked #mahjong have garnered 4.1 billion views.
But why is the game riding a wave of mass interest now? As the world gets louder — with app notifications, text message alerts, email inbox dings, Slack messages and more dividing our attention constantly — many people are seeking refuge in the analog and in face-to-face experiences. Hilton’s 2027 Trends Report uses words including “rebalance” and “recalibrate” to describe what people want to do while traveling, adding that we’ve entered “a new era in travel where people are consciously seeking balance between work and rest, planning and spontaneity, adventure and restoration.” Mahjong is faring very well in an age of digital fatigue. And people aren’t just playing mahjong at home. They’re playing on vacation, by land and sea, and with friends and strangers.
Travel advisor Jenni Evans hosts mahjong cruises and often uses restaurant spaces as venues for games.
Credit: 2026 Jenni EvansThe Rise in Mahjong-Related Travel
From hotels to cruise lines, the travel and hospitality industries have boarded the mahjong train. The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe near San Diego, California, offers Mahjong Socials, with free game play every Monday night, plus guided instruction on select Mondays in collaboration with local organization OK Let's Mahjong Club. If guests can’t make those times, the luxury property has mahjong sets to borrow, so they can play at their leisure. In Florida, The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Great Lakes, offers mahjong and afternoon tea in partnership with Mahj & Away. Camp Lucy, set in Texas Hill Country, offers open play time, instructional sessions (with guidance from Mahj Social Club and River City Mahjong) and day-long mahjong retreats through its Folklore Spa. Back in California, Wente Family Vineyards is hosting instructor-led Mahjong gatherings that pair Wente wines with game play.
A group of guests playing mahjong at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe
Credit: 2026 Rach Decker Photo/The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe“We launched these events in response to growing interest from guests who were looking for opportunities to learn the game in a welcoming setting, and the response has been incredibly encouraging,” said Aly Wente, chief revenue officer of Wente Family Vineyards and a fifth-generation winegrower. “With minimal promotion, the offerings fill quickly, reinforcing the game's popularity and people's desire for meaningful connection.”
Mahjong-related travel businesses have proliferated, as well, from Crak Your Bags (crak refers to the character suite in the game) and Majh & Away to Destination Mah Jongg. The latter company, founded by Fern Oliphant in 2015, hosts mahjong cruises, monthly mahjong tournaments across the country and wellness retreats dubbed Spa Jongg. The sold-out 2027 Spa Jongg events will take place at Ixtapan Spa Mexico Yoga Fitness Resort; guests will play four mini mahjong tournaments and enjoy a staggering 16 spa treatments across one week.
“There’s something really special about mahjong, and I feel blessed to be a part of this community,” Oliphant said. “We are inclusive — when you walk into a Destination Mahjong tournament, you feel the warmth, even if there are 350 people there. And that's what we want. We want the big games, but we want that feeling that you belong, too.”
Connecting with strangers is part of what Jenni Evans loves about the game, too. A luxury cruise specialist and Virtuoso travel advisor with decades of experience, Evans felt inspired to launch MahJourneys in January 2026.
I heard the clack of the tiles, the gossiping, the laughter and the love — I call it ‘tile talk.’ And I learned that feeling of community.
“I grew up in Malaysia, and my grandmother took me to the mahjong halls, which was where the women got together,” Evans said. “She'd take her grandchildren and we'd run around under the tables. I learned by listening. I heard the clack of the tiles, the gossiping, the laughter and the love — I call it ‘tile talk.’ And I learned that feeling of community. So, that was hidden in the back of my mind all these years.”
When Evans’ business slowed down during the pandemic, she found her way back to the game.
Jenni Evans is both a travel advisor and an accredited American mahjong instructor.
Credit: 2026 Jenni Evans“I got a corgi, I started knitting and I learned American mahjong,” she said. “And I promised myself that if I got back into the travel business, I’d work smarter, not harder. I was trying to reinvent myself, and I wanted to combine my passions for cruising and mahjong."
Evans became an accredited American mahjong instructor and promptly put her affinity cruise hosting experience to good use. In September, she brought 38 guests onboard an Oceania Cruises sailing to Alaska. Another 50 guests will sail with her onboard Oceania in the Caribbean in January 2027. Additionally, Evans will be hosting and teaching mahjong onboard Oceania Vista on its January 2027 world cruise.
“Over our eight days in Alaska, we clocked in 40 hours of mahjong and more than 100 games,” Evans said. “Our guests would play until midnight.”
Of that group of 38, 28 were solo travelers looking to play mahjong and travel with like-minded people.
From where Evans sits, the mahjong trend continues to grow. She gets daily inquiries about mahjong cruises and travel, and she’s set to host multiple mahjong groups on ocean and river cruises over the next few years. Interest is high enough to fill her groups quickly.
“My guests are looking for connection and community, and we still get to explore amazing destinations around the world,” she said. “I think my next step for MahJourneys is to do land trips, like a tour of China that highlights the origins of mahjong. That's on my ‘wander list.’”