Mah jongg players warm up for second winter tournament
Monday, Dec. 7, 1998 | 11:14 a.m.
The second annual winter Marjorie Troum Mah Jongg Tournament West comes to the Monte Carlo this week with more than 100 of the region's top players expected.
This will be the fourth time the Monte Carlo has hosted a Troum-sponsored event. The Strip resort has been the site of three summer Las Vegas mah jongg tournaments since 1996. The West Coast tour has stopped in Las Vegas yearly since 1990, when the inaugural event was held at the old Dunes hotel-casino.
"We have established our tournament as a tradition in Las Vegas during the warmer months, and now we are working to make it a popular winter event as well," said Troum, daughter of the late Dorothy Meyerson, who standardized American mah jongg rules in the 1930s.
The tournament kicks off Wednesday and concludes Friday. Although entries are closed to out-of-towners, Las Vegans may pay the $70 entrance fee up to the 9:30 a.m. start Wednesday. For more information call (800) 708-7677.
Troum says the ancient Mandarin Chinese game has enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent years after being featured in several major motion pictures like "Driving Miss Daisy" and "The Joy Luck Club" and on popular television shows like the CBS sitcom "The Nanny."
"In October at the fourth annual Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival they had a showing of 'Mah Jongg Mavens and Memories,'" Troum said of the Alan Rosenberg film that played at the Music Hall in Beverly Hills. "More and more we are seeing mah jongg in many different forms of media."
She points to two New York Times stories this year on mah jongg and a Los Angeles Times piece on how the game has made a comeback in China.
Also, Troum, who runs a mah jongg supply company in California, says that while the game is still popular in Jewish communities, many other groups have picked it up, especially families and young people.
"I am selling a number of sets to families as Christmas gifts," she said. "Parents are teaching the game to their children."
Mah jongg features four players, with each contestant using 14 of the 152 small Chinese-symboled tiles to form hands. Unused tiles are discarded to opponents. A player says "mahj" or "that's it" when making a winning hand. An average game takes 15 to 20 minutes.
The Troum tour is co-promoted by Roberta and Steve Last of Travel Wizard in La Mesa, Calif.
archive
- Most Read
- Discussed
- Most E-mailed
- Binion’s to close all 365 rooms, lay off 100 workers
- Ex-NBA star to pay $12,835 monthly in gambling debt case
- Report: 70 percent of homeowners underwater
- Scuffle in pub parking lot leads to attorney’s arrest
- Rebels enter hoops rankings at No. 24
- The ins and outs of CityCenter traffic
- Palin craze puzzling, given ’08 disaster
- Harrah’s moves ahead with Planet Hollywood deal
- Man arrested for DUI after crashing into high school’s wall
- MGM Mirage begins lifting veil on CityCenter today
Blogs
The Kats Report
Dissimilar landmarks -- Binion's and CityCenter -- reflect today's Las Vegas
High School Sports Scene
Prep Football: State Championship
Elsewhere
UFC debut in Boston likely July or August (1 Comment)
The Kats Report
Planet Hollywood's Thomas McCartney headed for Tropicana (14 Comments)
Elsewhere
LV woman robs Kentucky strip club, police say (4 Comments)
Las Vegas Sands' Hong Kong IPO flops (3 Comments)
The Kats Report
Monday List: Top 13 Moments and Observations From Thanksgiving Weekend (4 Comments)
Calendar »
- 2 Wed
- 3 Thu
- 4 Fri
- 5 Sat
- 6 Sun
-
Nic Faniciulli at Godskitchen
Body English | 10:30 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Mischieve Wednesdays at T&T
Tacos and Tequila
-
Ben Sherman gift bag giveaways at Wasted Space
Wasted Space | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Technorati





