The History of Mahjong, a Game from China
Have you ever played Mahjong? The game, which is played with 144 sets of tiles and various Chinese characters and symbols, has become one of the most popular games. But did you know about this amazing game? Here are some historical facts about the game Mahjong.
The History of Mahjong
1. Mahjong was invented in the late 19th century
Rumour has it that the game of Mahjong is more than 2,500 years old. However, the oldest historical records ever found reveal that Mahjong was created in the 1880s, explains the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Center website.
Researchers say that this game originated in the late 19th century in Kiangsu, Anhwei and Chekiang Provinces located near Shanghai. Mahjong is associated with the Mah-tiae game because it has the same set of tiles and traditional rules.
2. More Popular than Chess
Mahjong became popular and many played it. After 1905, the game spread throughout China and was more popular than chess. In fact, before that chess was the most famous game. Soon, Mahjong also spread to other countries. Mahjong is played in cafes by ex-pats and then introduced to their country.
3. In 1920, a book about Mahjong was published
Mahjong’s popularity began to spread to various countries which started from Joseph Park Babcock. In 1920, he published a book on the rules of the game Mahjong. This book is called the red book and was instrumental in introducing the rules of Mahjong.
Joseph Babcok had studied Mahjong since he lived in China. In his book, he simplifies the rules of the game so that his readers (who are from America) better understand the game.
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4. In the same year, the company from the United States managed to sell up to 12,000 sets of Mahjong
Although there was an American anthropologist named Stewart Cullen who wrote a paper on Mahjong in 1895, the game was not fully introduced until the 1920s. So, who spread Mahjong in America?
The company Abercrombie & Fitch was the first company to sell Mahjong sets. Unmitigated, they managed to sell up to 12,000 sets of Mahjong! So in demand, they sent an envoy to China to buy all available Mahjong sets.
Source from daftar judi online site ‘Nea Big Read’
