The history of Mahjong could split in two: before 1920, when it was only played in China, and after that year, when it became popular in the rest of the world.
The Mahjong could be compared to a card game by the way it’s played, especially to those of the rummy family.
Before mahjong, a great number of card games were played in China.
The Chinese were varying the less elegant elements of this game and incorporated a number of rituals surrounding the playing method , that was already carved on stone. These improvements, that concluded between 1910 and 1920, produced a game of mathematical and aesthetics beauty.
When the west discovered the game in 1920, madness for the Mahjong increased and conquered a great part of the world. British, Americans and Japaneseses took the game and adapted to their own style.
The Mahjong came to America through Joseph P. Babcock, representative of Soochow of Standard Oil Company,who began to import games on a large scale to the US in 1922. For turn it into a commercial success, Babcock simplified the game. It’s also assigned to Mr. Babcock the beginning of the practice of putting English numbers on the chips, and in September of 1920 registered and printed his rules for the first time. But it was not until two years later when a timber trader from San Francisco, called W. A. Hammond formed the San Francisco’s Mahjong Sales Company and started to import large quantities of games.
Now,players of the online versions are delighted with the beauty and details of the games hand carved
from between 1,920 and 1,930 and seek antiques shops and flea markets to get some of these versions. The new players have been related to this game through some versions of solitaire and little by little they understand the intrigue challenges that the Mahjong offers.