On a drizzly Saturday afternoon, hundreds of mahjong enthusiasts gathered in Downtown Brooklyn to play the 19th-century Chinese game of strategy and luck.
As attendees entered the Korean food hall Hana House, they spread out over some two dozen tables. Upbeat electronic music from a live D.J. played throughout the space.
The afternoon marked the second birthday of Green Tile Social Club, a New York-based mahjong community that was hosting its first tournament. Four Asian American alumni from the University of Texas at Austin — Ernest Chan, Grace Liu, Joanne Xu and Sarah Teng — started playing together about two years ago, and it grew into the club.
“We created the community that we wanted because it didn’t exist yet,” Ms. Teng said.
Although many young Asian Americans grew up with mahjong at home, the game is frequently associated with watching older generations play rather than participating themselves. Now, the Green Tile community is hoping to rejuvenate the table with a younger crowd.
