It’s a Tuesday afternoon at the Chilmark Library, and two dozen women are gathered in the meeting room. It’s completely quiet, except for the clicking of tiles moving between stacks, table, players and racks.

This is mahjong, the Chinese-originated, four-person tile game similar to rummikub and standardized in the United States in 1937. In the past few years, the game has taken the Island by storm, with teachers, community drop-ins and weekly mahjong hangouts popping up to keep both summer and year-round residents occupied. While typically considered a retiree’s activity, the game has been spreading down the demographics, providing a social outlet for players of all ages.

“[Mahjong is] really a way to do some community building, especially in the off season,” said Erica Dinerman, a retired therapist, year-round Islander and a regular mahjong player. “I feel like it’s a lifesaver for me. I just — I have some place to go.”

In the American version of the game, each of the four players attempt to make a 14-tile hand using pairs, triplets or runs with tiles they draw, exchange or substitute, using the set’s coveted jokers. The 70 successful hands are outlined in a yearly card from the National Mahjong League. The first player to complete a hand wins the game, which, in a group of skilled players, can be as quick as 15 minutes.

It’s “gobbledygook” the first time you see it, said Ms. Dinerman, who teaches groups on the Vineyard along with Susan Trani, a retired educator. Instead of diamonds, hearts, clubs and spades, the suits are bamboos, craks, dots, and the additional dragons, flowers and winds.

But the learning is as much an affair as the regular playing. Ms. Dinerman has taught mahjong at a bachelorette party and a family reunion, in addition to hundreds of people at the libraries over the past few years. Since Covid-19, young people especially have used the game to find meaningful social interactions, Ms. Dinerman said.

Learning the rules can be tricky at first. — Hailey McLaughlin

“The young people...found a way to gather,” she said.

“The craving for community and connection has come back again,” said Elizabeth Gosselin Koufflie, a seasonal Islander in her 40s and part-time mahjong instructor.

“I think it’s taken over drinking,” said Barbara Reynolds, a retired Edgartown School teacher and a mahjong player for 16 years. Mahjong has also become an alternative to book clubs, she added.

Ann DeWitt, circulation assistant at the Chilmark Library, compared it to the bridge craze of the ‘70s.

On-Island, libraries and community centers have been hosting drop-in sessions, beginner sessions and tournaments to fundraise for Island organizations. A July tournament, Tiles and Tea, raised $10,000 for Community Services, and a mahjong game with actress Kristen Wiig was auctioned off twice at Community Services’ annual Possible Dreams fundraiser in August for a total of $32,000 to benefit the nonprofit.

This October, Ms. Dinerman, Ms. Reynolds and Ms. Trani are hosting a mahjong tournament to benefit the Martha’s Vineyard Center For Living, a nonprofit which supports people with dementia and their caregivers. The fundraiser takes place on Oct. 17 and will be an all-day affair at the Grange Hall with breakfast and lunch, local prizes and a custom Martha’s Vineyard mahjong mat, which players lay on tables to blunt the noisy clicking of the tiles.

Ms. Reynolds, a member of the center for living’s board, said the tournament is meant to bring together all the different pockets of people playing mahjong across the Island.

Mahjong gatherings have been popping up all over the Island. — Hailey McLaughlin

“Wouldn’t it be fun to bring all the people together to see each other, to meet each other?” she said.

Kathy Hochberg, a retiree and year-round Islander since 2016, began playing in 2018 with three other women. Longtime Islander Myra Stark taught the group how to play, and the women met weekly, switching off who hosted.

“We had an opportunity to socialize and become good friends,” said Ms. Hochberg.

The group continued to play online during the Covid-19 pandemic. One member of their five-person group, Barbara Kraus, died in 2020, and Ms. Stark died in 2025. Inviting another friend to be the fourth, the group continues to meet on Tuesday nights, deepening their friendships and paying tribute to their friends.

“We laugh a lot. We tease each other a lot. Well, I’m usually the one teasing everybody, but we tease each other,” said Ms. Hochberg. “We remember Myra and Barbara as often as we possibly can.”

Ms. Hochberg remembers her family members encouraging her to play mahjong when she was young, she said.

“I thought, no, no, no, that’s for older people,” she said. “I don’t want to play that. No, good heavens, I want to be out there, raising you-know-what.”

There will be a fundraiser mahjong game on Oct. 17 at the Grange Hall. — Hailey McLaughlin

Linda Dean, who runs a weekly mahjong game at Farm Neck with up to 16 women, didn’t start playing until after her children headed off to college.

“As we age, and our bodies fail us, the most amazing thing about women is we have our games,” said Ms. Dean. “Not only the camaraderie — the giggles, the laughs, women are really fabulous — but the games. That gets you through the worst times in your life.”

As mahjong has gained momentum among younger people and celebrities, businesses are picking up on the craze. Island gift shops sell mahjong-themed merch, and mahjong companies sell sets of different colors, designs and themes, such as pickleball and the Grateful Dead.

Ms. Dinerman said she hopes that the expense of designer sets — which can cost hundreds of dollars for the tiles alone — won’t discourage younger people from picking it up.

So far, it hasn’t. Ms. Kouflie said she occasionally plays with her sons, 11 and 13, and teaches women of all ages who are on-Island for vacation, free of their work and parenting schedules.

She slots in her own online practices during her kids’ sporting events, and said that other women often approach her to discuss the game or invite her to other sessions.

While the Gazette was speaking to Ms. Dinerman, Ms. Trani and Ms. Reynolds, three separate women approached the table to comment on mahjong and ask where they could find their own groups.

“I just have to tell you ladies, I’m not one of the cool kids that plays mahjong, but listening to you guys sounds very cool,” said one woman.

“We can teach you, if you’re interested,” Ms. Reynolds responded.

“Anybody can learn,” Ms. Dinerman added. “You just have to want to.”