East County residents enjoy ancient game

With a hand propping up her chin and a big smile, Joan Robbins sized up her competition.

Her eyes then moved back and forth from the center of a table, where her opponents had just placed their discarded tiles. Her own lineup of domino-shaped tiles were assembled in front of her.

Finally, Robbins broke her silence.

"Five dot," she said. 

The four other women responded.

"Four crak," Sallie Feldman said as she looked at her table mate, Claude Hamelin.

The five women, who are members of the Mah Jongg at 1 club in Lakewood Ranch, are speaking a language only the 25 women in the room would understand. Their group is dedicated to playing the ancient Chinese game mah jongg.

Comparable to the card game rummy, the game is one of skill, strategy and calculation.

“You need some luck, too,” Robbins said.

Mah jongg is played with a set of 144 tiles, which are shaped like dominos and have etchings on them of Chinese symbols and shapes, such as bamboo.

Players must complete a sequence from one of the more than 50 choices on their pamphlets. The first one to do so calls mah jongg".

Although the game originated overseas, it’s a popular option in Lakewood Ranch.

More than 75 women in four clubs — Mah Jongg at 1, Mah Jongg Queens, St. George's Mah Jongg and Evening Mah Jongg — play at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall each week.

“It’s a Chinese Poker game for women, but instead of cards and chips, we use tiles,” Robbins said.

Each club is diverse in membership numbers, age and level of seriousness in which they play.

It’s a not-so-secret society of women who enjoy the competition of a 15-minute round that could result in winnings of up to $5.

The evening group consists mostly of working women who can’t attend daytime game times and are bored with just playing Bridge.

Melissa Cirringione, a 54-year-old who started playing mah jongg with the night group a year ago, is taking her love of the game to new levels.

She’s traveling to Las Vegas in July with her friend, Ursula Jones, to compete in the Destination Mah Jongg World Championship Tournament.

Entry fee is $450 and winnings are thousands of dollars, she said.

“My friend, Jocelyn, started playing two years ago and I used to joke with her and ask why she was playing an old lady's game,” Cirringione said. “Now, I’m driving three hours to play some weekends and going to Vegas. This game is fun ... it’s really fun. It challenges your mind and keeps you thinking.”