American Mahjong Royalty

Chris Welsand

Mahj in the Midwest

Fargo, North Dakota

The teacher on the northern plains, and still a student.

Chris Welsand learned the game in 2025 and, by her own account, has played very nearly every day since. Then she became a certified instructor, through Oh My Mahjong and through the Mahj Life guild, and built a teaching practice across North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin in partnership with local businesses, with a newspaper feature and a morning television segment along the way.

Prim featured her as proof that the boom is making new teachers, in places the mahjong press rarely mentions. She has a particular fondness for the teacher who is also still a student, because she remembers exactly how it felt to be new and teaches straight to that feeling. One kindness from the letter worth keeping: Mahj in the Midwest is not the separate account called Midwest Mahjong. There is only one.

Written from what the letter said. Read the letter for the whole of it.

The Teachers

More of the royalty

Kristel PowellShe built a troop, and now she is building the next generation. Abbe BlackerThe queen bee of mahjong in the Twin Cities. Shauna of Las Vegas MahjongIn the city built on chance, she teaches the other thing.

See everyone the letter has featured