Cape Girardeau's mayor declares a Mahjong Day as players raise money for rescue dogs

It is not every day a city puts the tiles on its official calendar. On Sunday, November 1, Mayor Robbie Guard of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, read a proclamation declaring that day Cape Girardeau Mahjong Day, and he read it in the room where it belonged: The Perch Mahjong Lounge, in the middle of a fundraiser for rescue dogs.

As KBSI FOX23 reported, the proclamation recognized the game's role in encouraging social interaction, mental engagement and a sense of belonging. The mayor described mahjong as more than a game of strategy and skill, and as a meaningful way to foster friendships, encourage laughter and create lasting memories.

“Sometimes the most meaningful connections are made when we put down our phones and we gather around the table.”Mayor Robbie Guard, as reported by KBSI FOX23

Hunting for Mahjong, for the dogs

The afternoon was called Hunting for Mahjong, and according to KBSI, all of the proceeds went to Mac's Mission, a rescue organization in Cape Girardeau. For the players, that meant every game they sat down to was also a gift to a dog waiting for a home.

Players had a choice, the station reported. They could sit down for social games with friends, or enter a tournament of six timed games. Around the tables there was pop up shopping, raffles, a silent auction, door prizes and a gift for every player. Guests could also sponsor a rescue dog for a $20 donation to help it on the way to a permanent home.

Dianna Gibbs, a member of The Perch who told KBSI she plays there once and sometimes twice a week, said the cause gave her one more reason to come. She called herself a big supporter of rescue dogs, and said that anything the players could do for the puppies was well worth their time.

A river town that found the tiles

The Perch is part of a larger story in Cape Girardeau. In April, KFVS12 reported that interest in mahjong had grown so quickly that players were meeting in homes and at pop ups in restaurants, and that the owner of the Rockwood Inn had turned the hotel's basement into what she called the area's first mahjong parlor, with a weekly Mahjong Monday. She told the station her group plays American Mahjong, building a hand to match a line on the card, and that she had met many wonderful people that year through the game.

KBSI's report on Mahjong Day does not say which card The Perch plays, so Prim will not say it for them. What both reports describe is the same thing: a town where a game once tucked away in living rooms now has rooms of its own, regulars who come every week, and enough goodwill to fill a fundraiser.

Sandy Penzel, another member of The Perch who plays about once a week, told KBSI that once you start playing there, you just start making new friends. The station pointed readers to the lounge's Facebook page for more information.

Prim's view

This is Prim's opinion. A proclamation costs a city nothing, and that is exactly why it means something. A mayor chose to stand up in a mahjong lounge and say, in effect, that what happens at these tables is good for his town. Prim agrees with him entirely, and she has rarely heard the case put better than his line about putting down our phones and gathering around the table.

If you play in southeast Missouri, Prim suggests you mark November 1 for next year and ask whether the hunt will run again. And if your own town has a group that raises money at the table, a short note to your mayor's office might be the nicest thing you do this season.