Annual mah jongg tournament hurt by sluggish airline travel

Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2001 | 8:18 a.m.

The Marjorie Troum Mah Jongg West Tournament, in its 13th year in Las Vegas, starts Wednesday at the Golden Nugget, and organizers are hoping for a strong field of locals to offset a diminished out-of-town contingent.

"We are depending on a good turnout from Las Vegas players because some of our regulars are still timid about flying since Sept. 11," said Troum, daughter of the late Dorothy Meyerson, who wrote the first standardized U.S. mah jongg rules in the 1940s.

Registration for Las Vegans will be accepted up to five minutes before the 9:30 a.m. start of the three-day tournament.

While the sign-up deadline for out-of-towners passed on Nov. 5, it has been a tradition since the 1989 inaugural Las Vegas event at the old Dunes hotel to accept the applications of Las Vegans at the latest possible moment.

In past years about 80 to 100 top mah jongg players from the West Coast, including about 40 Southern Nevadans, have participated in the local events.

The entry fee for this year's tournament is $80. Cash prizes and trophies will be awarded to the top finishers, Troum said.

The tile game developed by the ancient Mandarin Chinese features four players at a table. Each contestant uses 14 of the 152 small Chinese-symboled tiles to achieve a winning hand. Unused tiles are discarded to opponents.