Mähj, a quarterly magazine for the game, arrives in print

Mähj, a quarterly print magazine about Mahjong, has put out its first issue. In early March 2026 the magazine's home page said the first issue would be released that month, and by late April the same page announced Issue No. 1 as out now. A subscription is $150 for four quarterly issues, with shipping included, according to the magazine's about page.

The founder and editor is Kathy Wise, editorial director of D Magazine in Dallas. She announced the project herself in a D Magazine post on November 7, 2025, describing it as a new national magazine for the game, saying pre-orders were live that day, and naming her partner on the first issue: Marshall McKinney, the former creative director of Garden & Gun.

Seasons, winds and a city in every issue

The idea borrows from the game itself. Each issue takes its theme from the seasons and winds and goes deep into one American city or region, the magazine says. Its home page set out the year: Spring, Dallas; Summer, Charleston; Fall, New York; and Winter, San Francisco. Wise had said in her November post that the magazine would start with spring and Dallas.

Inside, according to the about page, each issue mixes interior design, entertaining, strategy, history, culture, philanthropy, travel and shopping, and adds custom illustrated scorecards and note pages, so that each issue can double as a diary of the game. The first issue, the magazine says, runs from the resurgence and strategy of American Mahjong to Thai American chef and restaurateur Nikky Phinyawatana, who shares her family's history with Hong Kong Mahjong and her favorite Thai recipes for entertaining. Later issues are planned to cover Gen Z Chinese Mahjong clubs in San Francisco and New York and the history of play in the Jewish community.

The object matters as much as the words. The magazine says each issue is printed on archival-quality paper, with premium printing and binding meant to give it the presence of a collectible coffee-table book.

“They want to be social off-screen even more than on.”Mähj, on its about page

Two magazine veterans at one table

Wise learned to play thirty years ago, from a friend's Jewish grandmother, while she was a law student at The Ohio State University, according to the magazine's biography of her. She practiced as a litigator for a decade before turning to magazines, became the top editor of C&I, a luxury lifestyle publication based in Dallas, and joined D Magazine in 2016. The resurgence of the game, the biography says, is what moved her to found a national publication devoted to it.

McKinney earned a master's degree in journalism at Ole Miss and worked in the art department at Outside magazine in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the magazine says. He later settled in Charleston, South Carolina, to help launch Garden & Gun alongside editor in chief Sid Evans, and the magazine credits him with 16 years of leadership there.

How to read it

Subscriptions and gift subscriptions are sold through the magazine's website. As of this writing, its home page says readers who subscribe through May 1 are still eligible to receive the premiere issue. The about page says international shipping is planned for a later phase, with a sign-up list for anyone who wants word when it opens.

The magazine also invites the makers, instructors, hosts and creators of the Mahjong world to write in if they would like to be featured, through the contact address on its about page.

Order of the Tile is not affiliated with Mähj and does not sell subscriptions to it.

Prim's view

A print object asks something a feed does not. It asks you to hold still. That is a posture I am fond of, and it happens to be the posture of a good player in the quiet minute before the first tile moves.

I am especially charmed by the scorecards and note pages. A magazine that leaves room for your own handwriting expects you to keep it, and to come back to it after a winning night with a pen. Planning a year by the seasons and winds is the kind of idea that seems obvious only after someone has had it. I will be watching for the Summer issue, when the tour turns to Charleston.