Mah jongg was probably developed in China as a game for the upper classes. Before the 1920s, every Chinese province had its own variation of play and dialect name for it. The name is said to mean “sparrow,” and has been transliterated as "ma tsiang," "ma chiang," "ma cheuk," and "ma ch'iau." A sparrow or a fanciful “bird of 100 intelligences” is featured on one of the tiles.

Invented by a Fisherman

Legend has it that Mah Jongg was created about 3,000 years ago by a fisherman named Sze who lived with his nine brothers on the shores of the East Chien Lake near Nignpo. Fishing was an important way of life on East Chien Lake, but a fisherman's catch was limited by the fact that all the fishing was done from the shore. Sze decided he could probably catch more fish if he did it from a boat rather than from the shore of the lake.

Sze bought several boats, and he paid a hundred fishermen from other villages to fish from these boats. While the plan worked well during calm seas, when the wind picked up, and the water began to pitch the boats about, all of these "land fishermen" became seasick and had to be taken back to the shore.

Sze and his family council decided that seasickness was all in the mind, and that it would go away if the fishermen had something that could be used to distract them. The distraction Sze created was a game that he called "Mah Diau." The plan worked, and Sze became very rich.

The fishermen who forgot their seasickness were said to have played their game using 108 pieces of cardboard; each of the four players held 13 cards. Sometime afterward, there was a Chinese general named Chen stationed with his army near the town of Nignpo. General Chen's army was charged with catching bandits, but, during the night, the general's guards tended to fall asleep, and so the bandits slipped through the lines and worked their mayhem.

Soldiers Add More to the Game

General Chen heard of the fishermen's game, and acquired several sets so his soldiers could play it and keep awake. However, it did not hold the soldiers' attention the way it should have; the soldiers still slept on their watch, and the bandits still slipped through.

The general dealt with the problem by creating some new cards, including "chung" (red), "fah" (green), "pah" (white), as well as north, south, east, and west. This brought the number of cards up to a total of 136. The soldiers stayed awake; and, in fact, the officers sometimes had trouble getting them to sleep after their watch was over, since the soldiers wanted to play the game all the time.

Eventually, someone else added more cards, including spring, summer, autumn, and winter, "mei" (plum blossom), "ian" (orchid), "chuk" (bamboo), and "ruh" (chrysanthemum).