A city parks department in Beaver Dam hands you the tiles as well as the class

The City of Beaver Dam Recreation Department in Wisconsin has an American Mahjong course for beginners on its fall calendar, and it comes with the equipment. The course, listed as American Mah Jongg, Intro to #04, meets on Fridays from October 2 through October 23, 2026, at The Watermark, 209 S. Center St., Beaver Dam, with Pam Flock and Toni King as the instructors, according to the department's listing on Active.com.

The line that matters most sits on its own: "Mah Jongg tile sets and table mats are provided." A newcomer does not have to own anything to sit down.

The description is aimed at people who want to learn something new while making lasting friends. It says the instructors would love to share a game it calls multi-faceted and stimulating, and that students will learn the various formulas for reaching Mahjong, consistent with the National Mah Jongg League, the body behind the American game. It promises a relaxed setting meant to build confidence as well as skill.

A course that comes round again

The number in the title is a clue. The department runs its introduction in cycles. Its listing for Intro to #03 has the same two instructors, the same room and the same promise of tiles and mats, and meets on Fridays from September 4 through September 25, 2026.

So a beginner in Beaver Dam who cannot make September has October, and the numbering says this is not the first time round. Registration for both runs through the recreation department, and the department is the place to ask about the fee and the meeting time before you sign up.

Where a beginner goes next

The department has also listed open play at The Watermark, run by the same instructors: on Tuesdays from September 8 through September 29, according to its Open Play Tuesdays listing, and on Fridays from October 2 through October 23, according to its Open Play Fridays listing.

Those listings say open play is for "seasoned" players who know the rules, the pace and the strategy well enough to play without an instructor. You can come alone or with friends and be seated to fill open places, in a room the listings describe as social and relaxed, where mixed skill levels are welcome. Sets and mats are provided there too. Open play is listed as free, with one note: an annual non-resident fee applies to anyone living outside Beaver Dam city limits, prorated the first year and then $25 each January.

The Watermark is the department's own community center. The city's Parks and Recreation page says the department runs it and offers activities and services there for people ages 50 and up, and the city's senior programs page lists card games, board games, a book club and mental fitness among them. The department can be reached at 920-887-4639 or [email protected], and its online registration is linked from the Parks and Recreation page.

Every detail above is as published on the department's listings, and any of it may change. Order of the Tile is not affiliated with the City of Beaver Dam Recreation Department and does not sell classes or tile sets.

Prim's view

A beginner deciding whether to try this game often meets the price of a set before she has played a single hand. That is a strange order of things, like buying the piano before your first lesson. Beaver Dam has turned it around. You come, you play on their tiles, and you find out whether you love it before anything goes in a shopping cart.

What I admire even more is the ladder. Four Fridays of teaching, then open play in the same building with the same two people, Pam Flock and Toni King, whose names appear on every listing. Good teaching does not stop at the last lesson. It walks you to a table and pulls out a chair. If you are anywhere near Center Street this fall, I would let them pull one out for you.