How a 19th-century Chinese men’s league game became a sensation in Jewish women’s groups in New York City still baffles some of the women who play it. Mah-jongg—a “pick and throw” game of slides and tiles engraved with Chinese characters—has since gotten a foothold among a younger crowd, despite its reputation as an old women’s game. (The Washington Post recently labeled it “grandma’s favorite game.”)

On Nantucket, they play around a square table every week, whether it’s in their own home, a friend’s house or an inn or hotel. The game has become so popular on the island, you might even find people playing on an inflatable table on the beach—one of a growing number of game accessories that have become collector’s items. While it might come as a surprise that mah-jongg became as popular as it has on the island, the women who play it every Monday afternoon over a bottle of wine saw it coming.

“At first, there was a stigma about it as just an old ladies’ game. How boring is that?” said Robin Slick, one of the leaders of the mah-jongg group on Nantucket. “But it’s taken over in a new way. It’s a social event where we play a game and drink wine.” Come Monday, they’ll be gathered around a square table with their own tile sets and probably a glass of rosé—just like they did the previous Monday and just like they will do the next Monday. Places like the Nantucket Hotel and The Summer House are also falling like dominoes to the mah-jongg craze. Sometimes, Slick will see impromptu games among people she’s never met, including one game on the sand at Galley Beach.

“A new generation took a dusty old game and made it cool,” said Tanya McQueen Forman, a TV producer who hosts summer mah-jongg games at her house in ’Sconset. While the game itself consists of a complicated set of rules about matching tiles and betting, these weekly mah-jongg gatherings aren’t so much about winning as they are an opportunity to simply meet up with friends.

While mah-jongg has been played on Nantucket for decades, the weekly gatherings took off during COVID, first as online get-togethers in the thick of the pandemic, and later as a regular activity at a rotating group of homes on the island. “It simmered during COVID, and it’s on fire now,” McQueen Forman said. “It’s finding a reason to put down your phone and play together, and sometimes the only commonality is mah-jongg. It doesn’t matter where you came from or how old you are. The game is the common thread.”

The game happens in a hurry, a series of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moves that keep players’ eyes glued to the table—though not too complicated that players can’t gossip while they’re playing. To play, a group of four assembles around a table, forming matching or consecutive sets of tiles to rack up points, a tile version of gin rummy.

In recent years, the game has taken on a life of its own. Meghan Markle talked about it on her lifestyle series, With Love, Meghan. The game also made an appearance in the 2018 romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians. Even fashion brands like Ralph Lauren and Hermès have designed luxury mah-jongg sets that sell for thousands of dollars. Two other companies now sell Nantucket-inspired sets.