Hello and welcome. I am Maggie Vance, a retired school librarian living in Savannah, Georgia. Eighteen years ago, a neighbor invited me to fill in as a fourth at her Thursday afternoon American Mahjong table. I have rarely missed a Thursday since.
Why did I start The Thursday Charleston? Because most mahjong reviews online are written by people who only look at tiles in a photo studio, or by mass-market websites that have never passed three tiles across during a blind pass.
At our table, we care about the things that actually matter during a three-hour game:
- Can all four players read the corner numbers at forearm's length without tilting their progressive lenses?
- Do the tiles sit comfortably on a standard 18-inch rack with an attached pusher without straining your wrists?
- Are the Red, Green, and White (Soap) Dragons distinct enough that nobody calls the wrong discard?
- Are you paying a fair price for quality tiles, rather than paying $425 for extra bags and plastic racks you do not need?
If you are new here, start with our most-read review of the season: how the Pink Christmas American Mahjong Set passed our Forearm-Length Readability Test.