Why the world went mad for mahjong

“People just look cool playing it,” says Angie Lin, when asked what drew her to mahjong. As one of the quartet of women known as the Mahjong Mistresses, Lin helped bring the game to the LA party scene in 2022. She’s since quit her “cushtie” job in tech to start her own club, East Never Loses, which specialises in private mahjong nights, tutoring and events across the city, from music venue Jianghu to Hauser & Wirth.

Mahjong, loosely translated as “sparrow” in southern Chinese…