A Greenville children's museum opens after hours for American Mahjong

On Thursday, July 23, The Children's Museum of the Upstate in Greenville, South Carolina, will trade its daytime crowd of young explorers for grown-ups and tiles. The museum's event page calls the evening the inaugural Mahjong at the Museum, a 21-and-over fundraising event benefiting the museum. It runs from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., with play beginning at 6.

FOX Carolina published a video segment on the fundraiser on July 15, with FOX Carolina's Anna Arinder reporting.

An evening built around the game

The page promises lively rounds of American Mahjong in a social setting, after hours, among fellow players. Heavy hors d'oeuvres come from Chef Stephanie Bolden, with beer, wine and nonalcoholic drinks, and the museum adds a shopping experience with Kendra Scott.

There is a playful incentive built in, too. Every winning hand earns a raffle entry, the museum says, so the more hands a player wins, the more chances she has at a raffle prize. Players who own a set are encouraged to bring it, and tickets must be bought in advance.

“welcoming, approachable, and community-focused”The Children's Museum of the Upstate, describing Mahjong at the Museum on its event page

Twenty seats for beginners

The evening is aimed mainly at seasoned players, but the museum set aside twenty Beginner tickets for guests who would like to learn. Instruction and gameplay support for those guests come from the museum's partner for the night, Mahj Made Easy, and a Beginner ticket is required to receive instruction.

When the museum's page was archived on July 6, it listed a Beginner individual ticket at $170 and a Beginner table for four at $580, each with beginner instruction, guided play, food and drinks. Open Play tickets, for experienced players, were listed at $150 for one and $560 for a reserved table of four. As of this writing, the museum's event page is the place to check what remains.

Mahj Made Easy is a name Upstate players already know. In a May 27 story on the game's revival in the region, The Spartan Weekly News described it as a popular resource for people learning the game, one that promotes lessons, guided play and events at wineries, boutiques and restaurants. The same story found clubs around Spartanburg offering beginner nights, leagues and lessons.

Why a children's museum

Every ticket supports the museum itself. According to its Our Story page, the museum began as one mother's dream of a play-based learning space for young children in the Upstate. TCMU Greenville opened on July 31, 2009, and a Spartanburg location followed on May 19, 2018.

The Greenville museum, at 300 College Street, covers more than 80,000 square feet with 30 exhibits, the page says, and in 2014 it became the first children's museum recognized as a Smithsonian Affiliate. Its stated mission is "to ignite a community of compassionate problem solvers through intentional and inclusive play."

Prim's view

A museum built for play, opening after bedtime so the grown-ups can play: I could not have invented a happier fit. Four people working out a hand at a shared table, trading a joke along with the tiles, is a small and cheerful version of that very mission.

My favorite detail is the raffle entry for every winning hand. It turns a good night at the table into a good night for the museum. And twenty seats for beginners, with a teacher at their elbow, means someone in Greenville will walk out on July 23 knowing a game she did not know at 5:30.