Tiles and smiles: Mah-jongg group settles in at Vernon Hills restaurant

Mah-jongg swept the nation in the 1920s. Now five women in their 70s are carrying the tradition into the 2020s at a Vernon Hills restaurant.

For several years, the five longtime friends have claimed a corner of the City Works Eatery and Pour House every Wednesday. But the group, with some slight changes in personnel, has been playing together for more than 15 years.

The group is easily identified by both the sounds of tiles clicking and the easy laughter bubbling from their table.

“I’ve known them a long time. And we do have a good time. And we do laugh a lot,” said Lincolnshire resident Debbie Hoffman.

The fun is infectious, as the staff at City Works will attest.

“It’s a little world that they get lost in,” general manager Kellie Lass said. “It’s so much fun to watch them enjoy themselves.”

At first glance, they appear to be playing Scrabble, with the tiles arranged on racks. But a closer look reveals Chinese characters and symbols.

The Chinese game was brought to the states around 1920 by Joseph Park Babcock, who learned it in China while working for Standard Oil. He wrote the first book of rules.

The game is typically played with 152 tiles, separated into three numbered suits, plus what are called honor and bonus tiles. The players are given 13 or 14 tiles initially, drawing and discarding tiles until, in the American version, the tiles match a pattern on a card resembling a lunch menu. At that point, the winner shouts, “Mah-jongg!”

“You need luck, but you really need to know what you’re doing,” Lincolnshire resident Estelle Karp said. It is especially important, she said, to develop knowledge of the annual card used for hands and scoring issued by the National Mah Jongg League.

There is no nonsense with the City Works group, with the games lasting anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes.

“If an outsider was watching us, they would say we’re very competitive,” Indian Creek resident Ellen Samson said. “We try to play four games an hour. We want a fast competitive game.”

Debby Lamden of Lincolnshire said playing keeps her sharp.

“I used to play canasta, but I stopped playing because it was boring. This is always a challenge. It keeps my mind going.”

For these women, it is a game that has been handed down through the generations.

Hoffman said she learned the game from her mother. At the time, she was more of a tennis player, but she wound up playing mah-jongg one night a week.

That routine changed when she stopped working and became a day player.

“You’re with other people. You’re not just sitting around. It’s good for my mind,” she said.

Sandy Reckles, who lives in Mundelein, began playing when she was in her early 20s.

“My roommate said, ‘You know what? I’m going to teach you how to play mah-jongg. We’re going to get a game. We’re going to leave the kids with the men. And I’ve been playing ever since with different groups.”

Karp, who played the game while growing up in New York, said it has fostered lasting relationships. Karp has developed friendships with fellow players who have moved to places like Florida and Pennsylvania but still keep in contact.

“You form such close bonds with the people because you see them every week and they’re asking me, ‘Oh, how was your grandson’s graduation?’ It becomes almost like a family,” Reckles said.

She said the group is comfortable at City Works.

“For a while, we were going to different places,” she said. “Once we got here for a while, we were like, ‘This is it. We’re happy here.’”

Lass said other groups play mah-jongg there, but the septuagenarian quintet is the primary one.

“We actually try to make sure that it’s all set up for them before they get here,” she said. “So they come right at open and they’ll stay till lunch is almost over.”

Samson said the games are mainly social and get her out of the house.

“It’s fun to play, but winning isn’t the most important thing,” she said.

szalusky@dailyherald.com