In Memphis, two sisters grow the game one lunch at a time

On June 19, dozens of women filled a barbecue restaurant in a suburb of East Memphis, Tennessee, for an afternoon of lunch, conversation and American Mahjong. The gathering was a Lunch and Play hosted by MahJ Squad 901, and a reporter from The Epoch Times was in the room. The paper's feature, published July 19, used that afternoon to open a larger story about why so many women are taking up the game.

At the center of it is a club founded by two sisters, Patricia Ford and Sandy Sissom, shortly after the pandemic, according to the report. Sissom told the paper that the squad now teaches throughout the mid-South.

From a kitchen table to Dillard's

The squad tells its own beginning on its About Us page: a few friends around a kitchen table, learning American Mahjong from Pat Ford, who is listed there as cofounder and lead instructor, with Sandy Sissom as cofounder and coach. Interest grew, the group needed welcoming places to gather, and local businesses that supported the game made room for them.

The page lists where the squad plays: Dillard's at Wolfchase, the lobby of The Peabody, coffee shops, fine restaurants and locally owned spots around Memphis, and even backyard swimming pools. The Epoch Times adds that the club holds events in the home goods section of Dillard's and has raised thousands of dollars for local charities.

The monthly Lunch and Play has its own coordinator, Callie Bolyard, according to the same page, which also sets out the spirit of the place. The group's bylaws, it says, commit the squad to being "fun, fair, and fabulous" while sharing the joy of the game.

“We just started playing, and it just kept growing and growing.”Sandy Sissom, cofounder of MahJ Squad 901, to The Epoch Times

What it costs to learn

For newcomers, the feature's figures are friendly ones. The Epoch Times reports that MahJ Squad 901 charges 60 dollars for a 10-hour class, and that the fee includes access to the group's events. Ford also offered a practical caution for anyone shopping for lessons: look into a teacher before paying, the paper reported, because some charge hundreds of dollars for a quick lesson.

A listing on Mahjong 4 Friends, a directory of teachers, places the squad in Memphis with Pat Ford as its teacher. It notes that she is a member of the Mahj Life Instructor Guild and teaches by National Mah Jongg League rules, and it lists in-person beginner and intermediate classes, open play dates, corporate wellness events and mini-tournaments.

A local club inside a national story

The Epoch Times set the Memphis scene inside a national one. Citing research that Bam Good Time published in April, it counts about 1,026 Mahjong clubs across the United States, with Texas, Florida, California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania home to the most.

The sisters' reason for building theirs is a personal one. Sissom told the paper that they had watched their mother lose friends as she grew older, and that they wanted to build a community that would last.

The afternoon kept rippling outward, too. One guest at the June Lunch and Play, Annette Mastron, later started a backyard pool event of her own, the Mah-Jongg Mermaid, played on floating boards, according to the feature.

How to find a seat

As of this writing, MahJ Squad 901 sells tickets to its events through its SimpleTix page, keeps a monthly calendar on its website, and takes questions through a contact form there. The site describes its events as open to every skill level and its classes as running from beginner to advanced.

Prim's view

Two sisters, one kitchen table, and now a barbecue restaurant full of women passing tiles over lunch: that is how this game really grows, one city at a time. I am especially fond of why they did it. They watched their mother's circle grow smaller with the years and decided to build a circle that would not.

"Fun, fair, and fabulous" is a lovely set of bylaws for any table, and I may quietly adopt it for mine. If you are anywhere near Memphis and have been practicing alone, a Lunch and Play sounds like the gentlest possible way to find three new friends and a seat.