Play Mahjong at The Mill on Leavenworth Every Monday

Every Monday from 7 to 9pm, you can now play mahjong at The Mill on Leavenworth. This runs through October 12. No experience needed. No tiles to bring. Just show up.

Welcome to Mahjong Monday at The Mill. I'm Chen Huang, founder of Omaha Mahjong Club. I was born and raised in Beijing, where mahjong isn't a hobby it's part of daily life. My parents played it. My grandparents played it. Centuries of Chinese people have played Mahjong. We play that same game.

I grew up watching the tiles move across the table, hearing that click and clatter before I ever understood the rules. Mahjong has been played this way for hundreds of years, and it hasn't needed to change.

That's what we bring to Mahjong Mondays at The Mill on Leavenworth every week.

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Do you need to know how to play mahjong?

No. Beginners come to mahjong Monday all the time. We teach as we go, and most people are playing real hands within 20 to 30 minutes. It's $20, and that includes your beginner lesson. We provide the tiles. You bring nothing but curiosity.

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Do you need a Mahjong card from the National Mah Jongg League?

No. And this is worth explaining, because a lot of people ask. The NMJL card belongs to a different, commercialized version of the game, mostly played in the U.S. It's not wrong, it's just not what we teach.

Authentic mahjong, the version played in China for centuries, doesn't use a card at all. It relies on memory, reading the table, and understanding the flow of tiles: bamboo, bing, and wan. That's the game we're preserving on mahjong day at The Mill.

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Why The Mill on Leavenworth?

Beyond the fact that The Mill is one of the most people places we could ask to host an event, the other reason is that Mahjong was never meant to be played alone or in silence. It's a social game. It's meant to happen over tea, over conversation, with friends and strangers sitting shoulder to shoulder at the same table.

The Mill on Leavenworth has that same spirit. It's a coffee shop (with a great tea selection!) built for people to linger, talk, and connect. Mahjong Monday there feels like an extension of what mahjong has always been: a reason to sit down with people and stay a while.

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What to expect on mahjong night

You'll walk in, get paired with a table, and get a quick walkthrough of the tiles and the basic flow of a hand, and how a winning hand comes together. From there, you play. Our regulars are happy to help beginners along, and most people leave their first mahjong night already thinking about the next one.

Whether you've played mahjong your whole life or you've never touched a tile, mahjong Monday at The Mill on Leavenworth is for you. Come curious. Come ready to learn. Come ready to sit at a table with people you haven't met yet.

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