The Pasadena Senior Center sets a Tuesday table for American Mahjong

The Pasadena Senior Center in Pasadena, California lists a weekly American Mahjong Club among its clubs and calls it new. According to the club's listing, it meets on Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m., and anyone who wants to know more is invited to call the center at (626) 795-4331.

The listing is short. It does not name an instructor, set a skill level or list a separate fee, and the page itself carries no date. An archived copy from May 2026 shows the same wording, so the invitation had been posted by spring.

Why the center offers it

The center makes its case for the game in a single sentence. It says studies have shown Mahjong is a good game for keeping the mind sharp, and that it is recommended as a way to keep the brain in good health. The listing says nothing about competition or prizes; its reason for the club is the health of the people playing.

The same argument has been made in Pasadena before. In October 2025, Pasadena Now wrote about a free American Mah Jongg Club at the Lamanda Park Branch Library and described a 12-week study that found playing Mahjong improved executive function in older adults, with gains in attention, logical thinking and episodic memory. The library club was open to players of all levels aged 18 and up, sponsored by the Friends of the Pasadena Public Library, and players could bring their own set and yearly card or use the library's.

The senior center's listing names the American game specifically. That is the version played from the card the National Mah Jongg League publishes each year, with everyone at the table playing from the same card. Pasadena Now noted that the League was founded in 1937.

“a great game for keeping the mind sharp”Pasadena Senior Center, American Mahjong Club listing

Who the center serves

The Pasadena Senior Center is at 85 East Holly Street, according to its listing with the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce. That listing describes it as a donor-supported nonprofit that receives no local, state or government funding, with a mission to improve the lives of older adults through caring service. It names social interaction, fitness, education, volunteer work and basic support services among what the center provides.

The club sits within that work. Its listing appears among the center's other clubs, under the same Activities and Events heading as the rest of its programs, and it asks nothing of a newcomer but a phone call.

How to join

The listing's own advice is the best route: call the center at (626) 795-4331. Because the page does not say whether the club is open to nonmembers, whether newcomers are taught at the table, or where in the building it meets, a phone call will answer all three before the first Tuesday. As of this writing, the club page is the place to check that the day and time still stand.

Order of the Tile is not affiliated with the Pasadena Senior Center or the Pasadena Public Library and does not sell sets or lessons.

Prim's view

I have a soft spot for a club listing that fits on an index card. No fuss, no fine print, just a day, an hour and a phone number. It reads like a friend leaning across the lunch table to say we are starting a game on Tuesdays, you should come.

And I agree with the center's reasoning, which is the nicest kind of agreement. A Mahjong table keeps the mind busy, but it also keeps friends talking for an afternoon, every week, on purpose. If you are in Pasadena and free at one o'clock on a Tuesday, pick up the phone. Bring your curiosity, and ask whether you should bring your 2026 card too.