What if your Mahjong tiles could tell you everywhere they’ve been - and everyone they’ve known?

Vintage tiles carry scratches, softened edges, that unmistakable click-clack…and maybe decades of stories we’ll never know. Who played with them? Who learned on them? Who became friends around them?

And then it hit me: our new tiles are collecting stories, too.

Someday, the sets we’re playing with today may become someone else’s vintage treasure.

So pull up a chair. We’re talking provenance, beautiful old tiles, the sound of Mahjong and the stories we’re leaving behind every time we gather around the table.

If these tiles could talk…oh, the stories they could tell.

Gather. Play. Connect.

If you’d like to continue the conversation beyond the podcast, I invite you to explore my books:⁠https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8

See a discarded tile that could replace an exposed joker? Don’t call it just yet! Today we talk about why a discard may only be called to create a new exposure or complete Mahjong, and why joker exchanges must be made with a tile already in your hand. And if someone discards an actual joker? That poor joker is gone forever. Completely visible. Entirely unavailable. RUDE!

If you’d like to continue the conversation beyond the podcast, I invite you to explore my books:⁠https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8

1-3-5 OR 5-7-9.

So… why not 3-5-7?

They’re all odd numbers. The card says “any suits.” And Jenni had a brilliant plan.

There was just one problem.

That wasn’t the hand.

In this episode of If These Tiles Could Talk, we tackle a question every American Mah Jongg player eventually faces:

How do you know what’s fixed on the NMJL card—and what you’re allowed to change?

We’re cracking the code: numbers, colors, groupings, parentheticals, floating pairs, and one very important little word:

OR.

Because the card can’t possibly tell us everything we can’t do.

It tells us what we CAN do.

And sometimes, the best question is simply asked.

Gather • Play • Connect

If you’d like to continue the conversation beyond the podcast, I invite you to explore my books:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8

Jokers may be wild, but the rules around them definitely aren’t.

Where can you use a Joker? When can you call a tile for an exposure? How do Joker exchanges work? And once you retrieve one… where exactly does it go?

In this episode of If These Tiles Could Talk, Cris walks through the Joker rules that create some of the most confusion at the Mahjong table — including one simple habit that can prevent a whole lot of unnecessary drama:

Make the exchange hand-to-hand.

Because in a noisy Mahjong room, declared intent matters — but your actions should make that intent unmistakable.

Jokers create enough confusion. Your exchange doesn’t have to.

If These Tiles Could Talk — Mahjong Musings with Cris Bonser

Gather. Play. Connect.

Continue the conversation with Cris’s books:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8

You draw a Joker.

You see her. You love her. You already have plans for your future together.

Then someone calls the previous discard.

But wait — you already drew!

Yes, you did. But did you rack?

In this episode of If These Tiles Could Talk, Cris breaks down the small but important difference between tapping and racking a tile, when play has officially progressed, and why that distinction can determine whether the beautiful Joker in your hand is actually yours to keep.

We'll also look at why tapping can still be great table etiquette, how tiny “windows of opportunity” affect the game, and why understanding the actual rules means we can spend a little less time being the Mahjong police.

The table takeaway?

Tapped isn't racked.

And perhaps more importantly:

Don't fall in love with a Joker until you've racked her.

If These Tiles Could Talk — Mahjong Musings with Cris Bonser

Gather. Play. Connect

Continue the conversation beyond the podcast; check out the book collection.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8

At what point does a passion for Mahjong become an obsession?

Asking for a friend.

In this episode of If These Tiles Could Talk, Cris examines the evidence: playing almost every day, teaching Mahjong, studying the card, practicing Solitaire Mode, owning a perfectly reasonable number of Mahjong sets — quantity irrelevant — and, apparently, buying microphones and cameras just to talk about it some more.

So…passion? Obsession?

Potato, potahto.

Because maybe the better question isn't how much Mahjong is too much Mahjong. Maybe it's why this game keeps pulling us back to the table — the challenge, the curiosity, the laughter, the friendships, and the people we might never have known otherwise.

And if somebody still thinks you play entirely too much Mahjong?

Invite them to the table. We'll see who's obsessed.

If These Tiles Could Talk — Mahjong Musings with Cris Bonser

Gather. Play. Connect.

Continue the conversation beyond the podcast; check out the book collection.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8

Welcome to the table.

In the very first episode of If These Tiles Could Talk, Cris Bonser shares how a spectacularly imperfect first attempt at teaching Mahjong eventually became something much bigger — a love for the game, the people around it, and the connection that happens when we gather around a table.

Whether you're staring at your first National Mah Jongg League card wondering what you've gotten yourself into, or you've been playing long enough to have very strong opinions about Jokers, the Charleston, and that discard someone absolutely should not have made… there's a seat for you here.

Because the tiles may get us to the table.

But the people keep us there.

If These Tiles Could Talk — Mahjong Musings with Cris Bonser

Gather. Play. Connect.

Continue the conversation beyond the podcast; check out the book collection.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cris-Bonser/author/B0GL96J5S8