Mahjong Has Built Community Among Diaspora—But Is AI Threatening Its Rise?

Four Winds Mahjong are featured as part of Assemble, our collaboration with Hinge's “One More Hour” — an initiative to foster IRL connection, one hour at a time.

On a Saturday morning in Hackney’s ESEA Community Centre, the room bristles with the static of clicking acrylic tiles. Spectators gather around several flatpack tables, scanning the table as players sit locked in concentration: this is mahjong.

Every Saturday morning, the Four Winds Mahjong Club gathers here, a tradition born from a one-off introductory class that was so popular, it grew into a weekly event.  “Mahjong is a mix of strategy and luck,” says Christy Ku, a London-based writer and performer who teaches at the club. “It has to be played with four players, it’s a lively, complex game.”

Mahjong’s origins lie in mid-1800s China, yet it continues to inform contemporary culture—from fostering real life connections, to being used as a testing ground for artificial intelligence. It’s highly important among the Chinese diaspora, played at weddings, family gatherings, and Lunar New Year celebrations.

However, with the arrival of Microsoft Suphx, an AI software that outperforms human players, these real-life spaces are at risk of being overtaken by digital alternatives, as computer and phone versions continue to develop and gain popularity in the wake of COVID-19.

“The sound of the tiles is quite nostalgic for people”

The game consists of 144 tiles featuring Chinese numbers, symbols, and characters—from the dragon to the chrysanthemum. Players draw and discard, building sets and pairs, a process that has earned comparisons with the Western card game Gin Rummy. “The sound of the tiles is quite nostalgic for people,” adds Ku. “It’s linked to lineage and personal history. A lot of us will have memories of it, as it’s often played by our grandparents’ generation.”

Mahjong first arrived in Britain in the 1920s, during its global boom across Europe and the US, where wealthy elites were drawn to its “exotic” appeal. While its popularity in these circles faded, it remained a constant in Chinese immigrant communities.

“Few parlour games have left a larger global imprint than mahjong,” wrote Claire Wang in a 2023 essay for National Geographic. “It’s at once a mainstay at immigrant family gatherings, a safe haven for outcast communities, and a source of political consternation.”

Yet, in recent decades, mahjong has been perceived as the domain of the elderly. In Hong Kong, once a hub of mahjong culture, daily games were a social norm. But an Ipsos survey in 2018 found only 6% of people played weekly, down from 10% five years prior.

Winning has long been tied to luck and prosperity; and across China and Hong Kong, the game became popular amongst gamblers. Ku says that her parent's generation often prohibited their children from playing the game because of its negative connotations.

Organisations worldwide are working to revive its presence across generations. From Green Tile Social Club in New York and East Never Loses in LA, to the Four Winds in London, these spaces serve as both cultural preservation hubs and community bridges.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, games like Mahjong Solitaire surged in popularity, which is drastically different from the four-player original. For members of Four Winds, the major pull of the game lies in its social aspect. 'We play it very much with the social aspect,' says Ku. 'It’s a weekly space for everyone to come to, catch up, and maybe meet new people.

'Paradoxically, these digital versions have introduced new mobile-first players to the game—but it also threatens to erode the in-person community that Mahjong fosters. “New York is a very lonely place,” Sarah Teng of New York’s Green Tile Social Club told the Smithsonian Magazine. “The reason why the club has grown so quickly is because there was a gap in New York culture in terms of ways to meet people.”

AI has long used games as a training ground —from backgammon and bridge, to chess and poker. “Virtual environments and games are the perfect platform for developing and testing AI algorithms,” said Demis Hassabis, CEO of AI software DeepMind, in the 2017 documentary AlphaGo. Through the learning of the ancient Chinese game, Go, DeepMind company pioneered reinforcement learning, an AI approach that allows systems to learn from themselves.

In 2016, DeepMind’s AlphaGo defeated Go’s world champion Lee Sedol, proving AI could develop strategies beyond human imitation. Yet the victory came at a cost—Sedol retired soon after, stating: “It was an entity that could not be defeated. I could no longer enjoy the game.”

Sedol is considered a rockstar in the Go world, and the game is objectively less exciting without him. On a human level, the software sucked a widespread sense of passion from the game.

Mahjong has presented a different challenge for AI. Unlike Go or chess, it involves four players and an element of luck—tiles are unseen, and decisions are based on unpredictable draws. Microsoft’s Suphx is currently the leading AI mahjong software, boasting that it has “demonstrated stronger performance than most top human players.” Dr Hsiao-Wuen Hon, the mind behind Suphx, calls mahjong “an art as well as a science,” requiring observation, intuition, strategy, and chance.

Mahjong, once known as a staple of elderly Chinese social gatherings, is now the unlikely subject at the crossroads of AI development. But, while the software outperforms human players, it cannot replicate the experience of sitting across the table, tiles in hand, engaging in conversation.

"While AI software outperforms human players, it cannot replicate the experience of sitting across the table, tiles in hand, engaging in conversation"

Back at the community centre in Hackney, players aren’t concerned about an AI’s ability to “beat” them. “Who cares if a computer plays mahjong better?” laughs Ku. She doesn’t feel like the game is threatened in the slightest. They don’t play here to win, or gamble, and don’t tally up scores.

“A big part of mahjong is very much the face-to-face aspects. There's humor that can come out when certain tiles are played,” says Ku. “Some people make decisions based on vibes! AI just can’t do that.”

This article is part of Assemble a collaboration with Hinge's One More Hour — an initiative to foster in-person connection, one hour at a time. Assemble is a digital-meets-physical space to get you up, out and doing stuff IRL.