American Mahjong Royalty

Emme Seeley and The Dragon Party

George Washington University

George Washington University

Where a college Friday night begins with the clack of tiles.

At George Washington University, for a growing number of students, the weekend opens with the clack of tiles. That is the doing of The Dragon Party, a small and determinedly casual club that plays American Mah Jongg on Fridays, joker and card and all, and of its president, Emme Seeley.

Emme learned at about eight years old at her grandmother's side, in what she calls a game family. She found the club in her first year and never left, and she teaches the newcomers herself, the ones who come to the activities fair to say they have always wanted to learn. Her chief worry is not winning but succession: growing the club so the table she inherited outlives her time there. Prim called that the instinct of a steward.

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The Hosts and the Clubs

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Stacey WhiteThe woman who has kept the same Thursday for years. Angel KuoShe built the room and turned the lights on, in a library, for free. Heather Johanson and Katherine May SchwartzTwo neighbors who decided a whole town could use a fourth.

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