This Chinese table game, described as ‘the new pickleball,’ is surging in the DC area

The sound of clinking glasses pierced over the din at Lucky Danger in D.C.’s Chinatown. Past the tables filled with diners and happy hour patrons on a Wednesday night, toward the back and beyond another bar in the restaurant’s inner sanctum, the washing is taking place.

The “dishwasher,” however, is an automatic mahjong table; and the “dishes” in this case, are mahjong tiles. “Washing” is the term used to shuffle them.

Overseeing the Wednesday night learn-to-play mahjong classes is Tim Ma, resplendent in red, a kindly presence giving hints to new players who picked up the game quickly, and telling those who needed a few more tries what tiles to discard and which ones to keep.

Mahjong is a game that originated in China. It’s usually played with four players, who pick up and discard tiles