She teaches the card

Prim's Letter this week argued one thing from the first line to the last. The best gift in this game is not a set of tiles. It is the hour somebody spends beside you, teaching you to read the card. So when it came time to name a woman who has built a working life out of exactly that hour, Prim did not have to look far. She looked to Houston, and to Lacy Price.

Lacy is the founder of Mahjaholic. She is based in Houston and teaches private group lessons in American Mahjong, there and, as her site says, nationwide. In the Letter, Prim raised her cup to her in Who's Talking, the section where we tell you about someone the table should know.

Order out of chaos

Her beginning will sound familiar to a great many players. Lacy told VoyageHouston that she learned the game a few years before COVID with a group of friends who gathered weekly, laughed, snacked, and slowly pieced together the rhythm of the game. When lockdown came, the group took the game online, and she has said that in the middle of all that uncertainty, Mahjong gave her a sense of control, making order out of chaos, quite literally.

Later, as her daughters became more independent, she went looking for something creative, social and purpose driven outside the home. She launched Mahjaholic in 2023, in her words as a way to turn her passion into something more structured and shareable. She also became a brand ambassador for The Mahjong Line, the tile company, and she credits that partnership with giving her a platform early on. In the beginning, she told VoyageHouston, she spent a lot of time traveling, visiting friends and then teaching their friends.

“It’s more than a game; it’s a way to bring people together.”Lacy Price, to VoyageHouston

A teacher at your table

What Mahjaholic teaches is the very thing this week's Letter kept circling. Its lessons, the site says, emphasize pattern recognition and learning how to read the NMJL card, which it calls two of the most important skills in American Mahjong. Lacy helps beginners build a strong foundation and helps experienced players strengthen their strategy, all by official National Mah Jongg League rules.

The way she teaches matters as much as what. Every lesson is tailored to the group's experience, and an experienced instructor sits at your table throughout the game, reinforcing the rules, answering questions and helping you make confident decisions as the game unfolds. Mahjaholic teaches private groups only, with no public sign up classes, so a lesson is something you gather for: friends, a neighborhood group, a country club series, or a corporate or social event.

She does not stop at the lesson, either. Her resources page sends students to practice between lessons, against bots or live players, and her advice for that practice is advice Prim would give word for word: work through the hand yourself before asking for help, and always play the game to the end, because even when your hand does not come together you learn something from every game. Her Instagram, @mahjaholic, carries strategy tips, common mistakes and product reviews for players who want more.

The gift that is an hour

Here is the detail that made Prim set down her cup and smile. Mahjaholic sells gift certificates for private lessons and strategy sessions, which the site calls a fun and memorable way to share the game. That is the whole argument of this week's Letter, made into something you can actually buy. If you are anywhere near Houston, or if you would happily fly a teacher in for a table of friends, you can give somebody an hour at the table instead of one more object to dust.

Prim's view

Lacy's advice to anyone starting out, as she gave it to VoyageHouston, is to stay true to the rules and the history of the game, and also to make room for joy, laughter and connection. Prim could not have put it better. A teacher who insists on the real rules and still makes the afternoon fun is a teacher who sends people back to the table for years. Reading the card is the one skill that outlasts every card the League will ever print, and Lacy has chosen to teach exactly that. Prim tips her hat to Houston.